Growing Capacity in Gifted and Talented Education Through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM)

Source abstract

A graduate-level gifted and talented education (GTE) course for in-service teachers was revised aiming to prepare teachers to integrate science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education into existing curricula to create challenging learning experiences for students identified as gifted and talented. Two university-based teacher educators in science education and GTE, respectively, engaged in action research in order to develop and refine a semester-long STEAM project in the GTE course to accomplish this goal. In all, two elementary, one Music, and one World History teacher participated. Case study analysis explored the teachers’ approaches to developing STEAM-based lessons to expand their GTE toolkit, as well as teacher-reported effects on their students. The lessons implemented are discussed in light of guidance from reviewed literature, including student-centeredness, inquiry-driven, problem-based, peer interaction, and local contextual relevance.