Activities for gifted students in social and emotional areas in elementary schools

Gifted students often have social and emotional problems, which are usually different from their peers’ problems. In dealing with these problems, they need appropriate help and support. This master’s thesis gives a theoretical background on these problems and also provides suggestions on the types of activities that may help in dealing with them. The research problem seeks to investigate how to properly help gifted students in social and emotional areas. Participants of the investigation were elementary school teachers (N= 299) and elementary school counselors (N= 30). In the study, I have designed and used The Questionnaire for Teachers About Importance of Performing Activities for Gifted, to perform a survey. Furthermore, I have also used The Check List to analyze all individualized programs for gifted students at selected schools, which were filled in by school counselors. In this study, the quantitative and qualitative research complement each other. Within quantitative research, the following methods were used: factor analysis, chi square test for proportion, one-sample t test and independent-samples t test. Within qualitative research, the final theoretical formulation was implemented to arrange and manage a great number of answers and to find the connections between them. As a result of this study I have found that individualized programs for gifted students do not include sufficient activities in social or emotional areas. When planning individualized programs, the students’ needs in cognitive areas are mostly considered, even though more than half of the teachers (52%) notice that the gifted students they teach have problems in social or emotional areas. Results of the analysis also indicate that the most important activities for gifted students in social or emotional areas are those that give them the opportunity to socialize, learn social skills and meet true peers, indirectly through work and learning. It is also important to help gifted students to improve their self-esteem and to foster their positive self-evaluation. Counseling gifted students should be based on gifted students’ intrinsic motivation and should focus on facilitating them to be more independent