Scientific Journal Of King Faisal University
Basic and Applied Sciences

ع

Scientific Journal of King Faisal University / Humanities and Management Sciences

The Theory of Participatory Giftedness: A New Direction for the Conception of Giftedness in the Saudi Educational Context

(Faisal Y. Alamiri)

Abstract

Recent accelerating developments in education have led to rethinking giftedness and how gifted programmes follow such developments. The study introduces a new direction for defining giftedness aligned with the theory of participatory giftedness. The study discusses the philosophical and scholarly foundations of the Participatory Model of Giftedness and the extent to which this model might be adaptable in the Saudi educational context, based on the opinions of a sample of six participants who work as supervisors of gifted programmes in public schools. A qualitative approach was used to collect data through focus group interviews. In general, the study indicates how participants acquire new attitudes and visions towards the conception of giftedness and its practices in the Saudi educational context. The study addresses the need to consider the philosophical and epistemological foundations and understand the nature of giftedness and how it emerges and develops in order to reach a comprehensive conceptualisation of giftedness and provide appropriate opportunities to enhance all students’ talents and abilities.

KEYWORDS
Participatory giftedness, context, interaction, creative productivity.

PDF

References

Alamiri, F. (2013). Empowering Saudi Arabian Primary Teachers through Participatory Action Research to Improve their Professional Knowledge and Practices Regarding Gifted Learners. PhD Thesis, La Trobe University, Australia.
Alamiri, F. (2015a). ‘A participatory model of giftedness (PMG): A new conception for defining and practicing gifted education in Saudi Arabia’. In: Educating Gifted and Talented Children, Odense, Denmark.
Alamiri, F. (2015b). ‘A participatory model of teacher professional development (PMTPD) in gifted education’. In: Australian Association for Research in Education, AARE, Fremantle, Australia.
Alamiri, F. (2018). The university of jeddah model for talent development: a new direction for attracting and nurturing gifted youth in Saudi Arabia’s higher education. APFG Newsletter Issue, 5(1), 39–46 .
Alamiri, F. (2019a). The theory of participatory giftedness: A new direction for contextualizing giftedness in Saudi Arabia. APFG Newsletter,  6(2), 8–10.
Alamiri, F. (2019b). Alentajiah alebdayiah fi albeiah alsafiah fi thaw alnomthag altsharoki llmawhibe ‘Creative productivity in a classroom environment in the context of participatory model of giftedness'. In: Paper Presented at the First Scientific Forum of the Teachers of Gifted, Jeddah, Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia, 11–3/06/2019. [in Arabic]
Alamiri, F. and Faulkner, M. (2011). ‘Professional development in gifted education using a participatory action research model with teachers. in insights from an innovative research study in a saudi arabian primary school’. In: The 19th Biennial World Conference of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, Prague, Czech Republic. 
Alarfaj, A. (2011). Developing A Classroom Science Enrichment Programme for Gifted Pri-Mary School Boys in Saudi Arabia. PhD Thesis, University of Southampton, UK.
Aljughaiman, A. (2006). Barnamaj Reayat Almawhibeen Almadrassy ‘The School Gifted Program’. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for the Gifted. [in Arabic]
Aljughaiman, A.M., Nofal, M. and Hein, S. (2016). ‘Gifted education in Saudi Arabia: A review’. In: D.Y. Dai and C.C. Kuo (eds.) Gifted Education in Asia: Problems and Prospects (pp. 191–212). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Alkhyatt, M.M. (2010). Asasiyatt Albohoth Alkamiyah Wa Alnawiyah Fi Alawloum Alejtimayah ‘Basics of Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Social Sciences’. Jordan, Amman: Dar Alrayah for Publication and Distribution. [in Arabic]
ALNafi, A., ALKhatee, A., ALDhobaiban, S., ALHazmi, M., and ALSolyem, A. (2000). Barnamaj Alkashf Ann Almawhibeen Wa Reayatahoum ‘The Program of Identifying and Nurturing the Gifted’. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. [in Arabic]
Alqarni, M.A. (2010). Evaluation of Provisions for Gifted Students in Saudi Arabia. PhD Thesis, University of Wollongong, Australia.
Barab, S.A. and Plucker, J.A. (2002). Smart people or smart contexts? Cognition, ability, and talent development in an age of situated approaches to knowing and learning. Educational Psychologist, 37(3), 165–82.
Bartlett, J. (2016). Outstanding Differentiation for Learning in the Classroom. New York, NY: Routledge.
Borland, J.H. (2005). ‘Gifted education without gifted children: The case for no conception of giftedness’. In: R.J. Sternberg and J.E. Davidson (eds.) Conceptions of Giftedness. 2nd edition (pp. 1–19). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Borland, J.H. (2013). Problematizing gifted education. In: C.M. Callahan and H.L. Hertberg-Davis (eds.) Fundamentals of Gifted Education (pp. 69-80). New York, NY: Routledge.
Carman, C.A. (2013). Comparing apples and oranges: Fifteen years of definitions of giftedness in research. Journal of Advanced Academics, 24(1), 52–70.
Chandra H.M. (2019). Leading differentiated learning for the gifted. Roeper Review, 41(2), 102–18.
Clark, B. (2012). Developing the Potential of Children at School and at Home. 8th edition. New Jersey: Pearson.
Cluntun, A.N. (2002). Rehlah Maa Almawhiba: Aldaleel Alshamel ‘The Journey of Giftedness: The Comprehensive Guideline’. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Dar Tweeq for Publication and Distribution. [in Arabic]  
Cohen, L.M. (2006). Conceptual foundations for gifted education: Stock-taking. Roeper Review, 28(1), 91–100.
Cohen, L.M., Ambrose, D. and Powell, W.N. (2000). ‘Conceptual foundations and theoretical lenses for the diversity of giftedness and talent’. In: K.A. Heller, F.J. Mönks, R.J. Sternberg, and R.F. Subotnik (eds.) International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent. 2nd edition (pp. 331–44). Oxford, England: Elsevier. 
Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education. 7th edition. New York, NY: Routledge.
Creswell, J.W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. 4rd edition. Boston: Pearson.
Dai, D.Y. and Chen, F. (2014). Paradigms of Gifted Education: A Guide for Theory-Based, Practice-Focused Research. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Davis, G.A. and Rimm, S.B. (2004). Education of the Gifted and Talented. 5th edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Detterman, D.K. (2002). ‘General intelligence: Cognitive and biological explanations’. In: R.J. Sternberg and E.L. Grigorenko (eds.) The General Factor of Intelligence: How General is It? (pp. 223–244). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 
Dimitriadis, C. (2016). Gifted programs cannot be successful without gifted research and theory: Evidence from practice with gifted students of mathematics. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 39(3), 221–36.
Eyre, D. (2011). Room at the Top: Inclusive Education for High Per- Formance. London, England: Policy Exchang. 
Fals-Borda, O. (1991). ‘Some basic ingredients’. In: O. Fals-Borda and M.A. Rahman (eds.) Action and Knowledge: Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action Research (pp. 3–12). New York, NY: Apex Press.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, NY: Seabury Press.
Freire, P. (1973). Education for Critical Consciousness. New York, NY: Seabury Press.
Gagné, F. (2005). ‘From gifts to talents: The DMGT as a developmental model’. In: R.J. Sternberg and J.E. Davidson (eds.) Conceptions of Giftedness (pp. 98-119). 2nd edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University.
Galton, F. (1869). Hereditary Genius. London: Macmillan.
Galton, F. (1892). Hereditary Genius. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan.
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence Refrained: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York, NY: Basics Books. 
Gaventa, J. and Cornwall, A. (2008). ‘Power and knowledge’. In: P. Reason and H. Bradbury (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice (pp. 172–189). 2nd edition. London: SAGE Publications.
Gottfredson, L.S. (2002). G: Highly general and highly practical. In: R.J. Sternberg and E.L. Grigorenko (eds.) The General Factor of Intelligence: How General is It? (pp. 331–80). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Heacox, D. and Cash, R.M. (2019). Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Going beyond the Basics. 2nd edition. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Jarwan, F. (2016). Almawhiba Wa Tafaouq ‘Giftedness and Talent’. Amman, Jordan: Dar Alfiker for Publication and Distribution. [in Arabic] 
Kaplan, S.N. (2019). Advocacy differentiating differentiation. Gifted Child Today, 42(1), 58–9.
Kaufman, S.B., and Sternberg, R.J. (2008). Conceptions of giftedness. In: S.I. Pfeiffer (ed.) Practices (pp. 71-91). New York: Springer.
Marland, S.P., Jr. (1972). Education of the Gifted and Talented: Report to the Congress of the United Sates By the U.S. Commissioner of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 
Mönks, F.J. and Katzko, M.W. (2015). Giftedness and gifted education. In: R.J. Sternberg and J.E. Davidson (eds.), Conceptions of Giftedness. 2nd edition. pp. 187–200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moon, S.M. (2006). Developing a definition of giftedness. In: R.D. Eckert and J.H. Purcell (eds.) Designing Services and Programs for High-Ability learners: A Guidebook for Gifted Eduation. pp. 23-31. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Muammar, O.M. (2006). Saudi Arabia: Key issues regarding the education of gifted students. In: B. Wallace and G. Eriksson (eds.) Diversity in Gifted Education: International Perspective on Global Issues. pp. 308–309. New York: Routledge.
Oppong, E., Shore, B.M. and Muis, K.R. (2019). Clarifying the connections among giftedness, metacognition, self-Regulation, and self-regulated learning: Implications for theory and practice. Gifted Child Quarterly, 63(2), 102–119.
Park, P. (1992). The discovery of participatory research as a new scientific paradigm: Personal and intellectual accounts. The American Sociologist, 23(4), 29–42.
Park, P. (2001). Knowledge and participatory research. In: P. Reason and H. Bradbury (eds.) Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry and Practice. pp. 81–90. London: SAGE Publications.
Paul, K.A. and Moon, S.M. (2017). Developing a definition of giftedness. In: R.D. Eckert and J.H. Robins (eds.) Designing Services and Programs for High-Ability Learners: A Guidebook for Gifted Eduation. 2nd edition. pp. 28–38. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Plucker, J.A. and Barab, S.A. (2005). The importance of contexts in theories of giftedness: Learning to embrace the messy joys of subjectivity. In: R.J. Sternberg and J.E. Davidson (eds.) Conceptions of Giftedness. 2nd edition. pp. 201–216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reis, S.M. (2006). ‘Comprehensive program design’. In: R.D. Eckert and J.H. Purcell (eds.) Designing Services And Programs for High-Ability Learners: A Guidebook for Gifted Eduation. pp. 73-86. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Renzulli, J.S. (2005). ‘The three-ring conception of giftedness: A developmental model for promoting creative productivity’. In: R.J. Sternberg and J.E. Davidson (eds.) Conceptions of Giftedness. 2nd edition. pp. 246–279. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Robinson, A., Shore, B.M. and Enersen, D.L. (2007). Best Practices in Gifted Education: an Evidence-Based Guide. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Robinson, K. and Aronica, L. (2015). Creative Schools: Revolutionizing Education From the Ground Up. Australia: Penguin Random House.
Stanley, J.C. (1996). In the beginning: The study of mathematically precocious youth. In: C.P. Benbow and D. Lubinski (eds). Intellectual Talent: Psychometric and Social Issues. pp. 225-235. Blatimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 
Sternberg, R.J. (1998). Abilities are forms of developing expertise. Educational Researcher, 27(3), 11–20 .
Sternberg, R.J. (1999). Intelligence as developing expertise. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24(4), 359–75.
Sternberg, R.J. (2003). Giftedness according to the theory of successful intelligence. In: N. Colangelo and G.A. Davis (eds.) Handbook of Gifted Education. 3rd edition. pp. 88–99. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Subotnik, R.F., Olszewski-Kubilius, P. and Worrell. F.C. (2011). Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 12(1), 3–45.
Tandon, R. (2002). Knowledge as power: Participatory research as the alternative. In: R. Tandon (ed.) Participatory Research: Revisiting the Roots. pp. 40–53. New Delhi: Mosaic Books.
Terman, L.M. (1925). Genetic Studies of Genius: Volume 1. Mental and Physical Traits of a Thousand Gifted Children. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. 
Tomlinson, C.A. (2014). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
 VanTassel-Baska, J. and Stambaugh, T. (2006). Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Learners. 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Walberg, H.J. and Paik, S.J. (2005). Making giftedness productive. In: R.J. Sternberg and J.E. Davidson (eds.) Conceptions of Giftedness. 2nd edition. pp. 395–410. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ziegler, A., Stoeger, H. and Vialle, W. (2012). Giftedness and gifted education: The need for a paradigm change. Gifted Child Quarterly, 56(4), 194–197.