{"id":1793,"date":"2012-04-04T22:46:01","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T02:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2012-04-04T22:51:42","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T02:51:42","slug":"research-proposal-goals-and-methods-of-gifted-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/2012\/04\/research-proposal-goals-and-methods-of-gifted-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Goals and Methods of Gifted Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richelle Benjamin
\nProfessor Jack Dougherty
\nEDUC 300
\n4 April 2012<\/p>\n

Research Proposal<\/p>\n

\u201cHow have the goals and methods of gifted education changed since the 1950s? What do these goals and methods say about the intended purpose of gifted education?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Gifted children are students recognized by the school system as pupils with exceptionally high levels of intelligence and creativity. Schools identify a need to provide these students with an alternative form of education, generally referred to as Gifted and Talented education. Gifted and Talented programs exist with the purpose of catering to the needs of gifted students. In general, they seek to provide gifted students with a challenging curriculum that will allow the student to continue to progress in his or her education, instead of being held back by a curriculum catering to average or below average students. Recognition of the need to distinguish the education of gifted students from other students has existed since the 1950s. What my research paper will do is examine how the opinions and approach to gifted education have varied during the past sixty years as it has been discussed in books and scholarly articles. More specifically, I will examine how the goals and methods for teaching gifted students have progressed through these years. I would like to look at several aspects of gifted education, including whether or not the students are incorporated into the regular classroom, what subjects teachers focus on, and what skills gifted education instructors focus on establishing within the student. I intend to see a shift in focus in each decade as gifted education changes to accommodate to the needs of a progressing society.<\/p>\n

I began my research in two places: in the library\u2019s main collection of books and using Trinity Online Resources. In the main collection, I found many books dealing with gifted students and gifted education\u2014an entire section, in fact. I sorted through the books to select the ones I thought were most relevant. These included books specifically mentioning the \u201cteaching of\u201d gifted students or the \u201ccurriculum for\u201d gifted education. These books would apply more to my research question, as they would provide more information on the methods of teaching gifted students. I made sure to grab books from different decades as well, to be sure that I was looking at goals and methods through a span of time starting in the 1950s. Online, I used TOR to research articles that would be relevant to my research. In creating my preliminary list of resources, I focused, once again, on articles that specifically focused on the teaching of gifted students versus the establishment of gifted programs or the controversy behind them.<\/p>\n

I would like to continue my research with more analysis of primary sources. I would like to expand my list of sources to curriculums of different decades and firsthand accounts from teachers involved in educating gifted students.<\/p>\n

List of Sources (With Selected Annotations)<\/p>\n

Cropley, Arthur, and John McLeod. \u201cPreparing Teachers of the Gifted.\u201d International Review of Education \/ Internationale Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Erziehungswissenschaft \/ Revue Internationale de l\u2019Education<\/em> 32.2 (1986): 125\u2013136. Print.<\/p>\n