Characteristics of Elementary Science-Gifted Education Teachers' Reflection on Their Science Teaching

This study investigated the characteristics of elementary science-gifted education teachers' reflection on their science teaching. To do this, the reflective journals of 33 elementary science-gifted education teachers were analyzed in terms of 'productive reflection'. The results revealed that most of reflective journals included the aspects of 'instructional strategies and instruction for science-gifted education (100.0%)'and 'science-gifted students (90.9%)'. ' Curriculum for science-gifted education (42.4%)' was also frequently included although fewer than two previous aspects. However, ' subject matter knowledge' and ' assessment in science-gifted education' were included less than 10%. The mean score of the inclusion scores was 2.48 on a scale of 5 points and was not significantly correlated with the teaching careers in science-gifted education. 18.2% of the journals showed no integrations, which were unproductive reflection. 66.7% of the journals integrated only two aspects and 24.2% of the journals integrated three aspects. Only 6.1% of the journals integrated four aspects and no journals integrated all five aspects. Especially, the integrations between ' science-gifted students (81.8%)' or ' instructional strategies and instruction for science-gifted education (81.8%)' and the other aspects were most frequent. The integrations between ' Curriculum for science- gifted education (30.3%)' and the other aspects were also frequently included. However, the integrations between ' subject matter knowledge (6.1%)' or ' assessment in science-gifted education (0.0%)' and the other aspects were hardly included. The mean score of the integration scores was 2.12 on a scale of 5 points and was not significantly correlated with the teaching careers in science-gifted education.