الفروق في مستوى التفكير الناقد بين الطلبة الموهوبين وفقا اكتشافهم

Abstract EN

The study aimed to examine differences in critical thinking level among gifted students according to the time they were identified.

It used a descriptive-comparative method, and employing The Cornell Critical Thinking Test, which investigate four aspects: induction, credibility, deduction, and assumptions.

The sample included 95 students in the seventh grade; 14 of them were identified as gifted in the third grade of primary school, and 81 were identified in the sixth grade.

They were verified as a hegemonic sample through the social, scientific and economic background survey.

The results of Mann Whitney test showed that no statistically significant differences in the average grades between gifted students who were identified in third grade and those who were identified in sixth grade in their critical thinking.

Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences in three aspects of critical thinking between non-enrolled and enrolled students in fostering programs except in one aspect which is the inductive reasoning.

Finally, there were no statistically significant differences in the average grades in the level of critical thinking between students who were identified in third grade and those identified in sixth grade.

However, these results cannot be generalized due to the small sample size of the study’s population of students who were identified in third grade; however, it indicates a problem in the approach of identifying gifted students in early childhood.

The number of students in the third grade was only 14, and fostering programs were provided to three of them.; however, they showed no differences in the level of critical thinking, which may indicate the poor effectiveness of the school fostering program.

These results led the researcher to reconsider the timing and frequency of the detection of gifted students at the primary level and to review the policies and model of caring for gifted students in early childhood.