Striving for excellence : the challenge of educating highly able/gifted students

Abstract

Some students are more academically able than others. Some teachers believe that the academically able/gifted students can easily make it on their own. More often, emphasis in the literature is directed at how educators can help the students of lower academic ability, rather than pointing towards methods of teaching which can be used to motivate able learners. Research has indeed shown the existence of gifted underachievers. This paper looks briefly into a study which was conducted with the aim of establishing who the gifted students are and what qualitative differences exist between the gifted and their average same-age peers studying physics. The need to give a different but not elitist education to the gifted is highlighted in order to give an opportunity to gifted learners to reach their full potential. Recommendations will be put forward to emphasize the importance of improving awareness of the special needs of the gifted, promoting ways to best cater for these students at school and at home.