Investigation of gifted students' problem-solving skills

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the level gifted students' problem-solving skills in terms of their gender and grade level. A total of 68 fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade gifted students enrolled in a Science and Art Center participated to the study. In this quantitative survey study, Problem-solving Inventory for Children developed by Serin, Bulut Serin, and Saygili (2010) was used to collect data from the participants. This instrument consists of three dimensions, which are namely confidence to problem-solving skills, self-control, and avoidance. In order to determine the level of problem-solving skills, an independent-sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were utilized. The results indicated that the level of gifted students' problem-solving skills was not high. Moreover, while gender did not play role in their problem-solving skills, some grade levels of the participants were significantly superior to other levels regarding to problem-solving skills. In general, it was seen that problem-solving skills of gifted students gets lower as their grade level increases. Based on the findings, some implications were recommended. © 2015 Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists.