Gifted Students in informatics think out various ways of problem solving through programing, and through the process of choosing suitable methods among them, they also acquire higher cognitive ability, such as logical thinking ability and problem solv...
Gifted Students in informatics think out various ways of problem solving through programing, and through the process of choosing suitable methods among them, they also acquire higher cognitive ability, such as logical thinking ability and problem solving ability. Besides, they can check out their thinking process by resolving problems through error correction process.
However, the curriculums of the programing education for the gifted students in informatics, which are carried out currently in many science education institutes for the gifted, donot match the stages of their cognitive development and may disturb the acquisition of high-level functions, such as improvement of high cognitive function, since they focus on the way of using languages and grammars.
Accordingly, a lesson design which could induce learners' interest and inner motivation is necessary for the practice of effective programing concept education for the gifted students in informatics.
This study designed a programing class for the gifted students in informatics by using educational programing language, Scratch, and by grafting Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model onto Treffinger's Self-directed Learning Model among teaching and learning models for the gifted children.
The use of Scratch in programing education for the gifted students in informatics offers newer and more interesting programing learning experiences than the conventional programming languages, like Visual Basic and C, and is yet similarly effective in concept acquisition. Besides, it has a possibility of improving high cognitive ability, such as creativity and problem solving ability, through the process of completing programing works, such as animations and games, and through the sharing of the programs.