Scientific Journal Of King Faisal University: Basic and Applied Sciences

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Scientific Journal of King Faisal University: Humanities and Management

The Effectiveness of a Biotechnology Enrichment Programme in Improving Gifted Students’ Reflective Thinking Skills and Academic Achievement

(Khalid A. Hammouri and Mohamed A. Al-Hmari)

Abstract

This study assesses the effectiveness of a biotechnology enrichment programme in improving reflective thinking skills and academic achievement among a sample of 44 gifted students at the male-only Hunain School (secondary school) in Abha. The programme presents content related to specific issues with direct relevance for students’ scientific and practical interests, as well as encompassing discussion of controversial topics. They are equally divided into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. Following an experimental method and a reflective thinking scale Kember et al. (2000) and Academic Achievement are used to promote the verifiability and reliability of the results. The results indicate that the enrichment programme is effective in developing reflective thinking skills and promoting academic achievement in the experimental group. The research recommends that similar such programmes be adopted for gifted students in other contexts.


KEYWORDS
Gifted students, enrichment, biotechnology reflective thinking, academic achievement

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