The aim of this study is to examine gifted students' evaluations of their education programs in terms of their project production and management by considering the basic principles of gifted education and training programs. In evaluating the effectiveness of programs for gifted students, it is regarded as important to consider the evaluations of the individuals for whom the programs are implemented. Project production and management was taken as the basis for the principles and guidelines of the programs implemented for gifted students. A mixed research design was used in the study. In the quantitative part of the research, the views of 300 randomly selected gifted students, who were attending the project production and management (PPM) and special talent development (STD) programs at Science and Art Centers (SACs) throughout Turkey, regarding their evaluation of the education programs, were analyzed. In the qualitative part of the research, the project production and management of the gifted individuals in the upper and lower groups according to their program evaluations were evaluated descriptively by examining the project proposals they developed. In the analysis of the quantitative data, it was determined that the participants had positive views about the effectiveness of the program, but that there was a significant difference between the upper and lower groups in terms of program evaluation scores. Considering this situation, the data of 10 participants in total (five participants included in each of the upper and lower groups) were subjected to qualitative analysis in the second stage. As a result of the study, it was determined that all of the gifted students in the upper and lower groups were able to produce projects, but that in the categories specified in their projects, there were differences in favor of the upper group in terms of depth, originality, taking their talents into account, acting consciously, acting in accordance with the plan, participating in more prestigious competitions, and quality.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between mathematical modelling and reflective thinking and to examine the effects of employing mathematical modelling processes on perception of mathematical modelling competencies and reflective thinking skills for real-life problem solving of gifted students participating in Project Production and Management Program at Turkish Science and Art Centers. Correlational path analysis of 300 students data revealed that Mathematical modelling is a significant predictor of reflective thinking skills, and the constructed model was found to be of a good fit with excellent path coefficients. Experimental design with pre-post-maintenance-tests with comparison group was employed with 60 students purposefully selected chosen from the above regression study. Reflective thinking and mathematical modelling levels of experimental group students who employed mathematical modelling processes for Project Production and Management increased significantly more from pre- to post-tests, and the significant difference was found to be maintained.

Introduction: It can be claimed that mathematical modeling, which is a key concept in terms of creating original projects with the developed models, is important in the education of gifted youth. Determining their modeling competencies and identifying the stages that they need to develop will provide essential data in terms of deciding on what kind of educational practices and program differentiation will be carried out. The study aims to develop a scale for mathematical modeling competencies and to determine its psychometric properties.Method: This is a descriptive study which was carried out with the participation of gifted students in two different groups. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on the data obtained from 301 participants in the first group, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the data obtained from 185 participants in the second group.Findings: The scale includes items to be rated on a level of agreement including “Strongly agree”, “Agree”, “Moderately agree”, “Disagree” and “Strongly disagree”, and there are no items that need reverse coding. The sub-factors of the scale were determined as ‘identifying the real-life problem’, ‘understanding and simplifying the problem’, ‘mathematizing’, ‘working mathematically’ and ‘interpretation and validation’. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficients were calculated as 0.958 for the scale and .811, .900, .883, .820 and .927 for the sub-factors, respectively. Fit indices of the scale (χ2 / df = 2.00, GFI = .90, RMSEA = .075, SRMR = .063, IFI = .97, NNFI = .97, CFI = .97, NFI = .94, PNFI = .86) determined.Discussion: The developed scale is a 5-point Likert-type scale and there are no items that need to be reverse coded. According to the findings obtained from the analysis, it was concluded that the 31-item scale with a 5-factor structure is a valid and reliable scale. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the 31-item scale with a five-factor structure had sufficient psychometric properties to be used in future studies. The scale helps to measure both as a whole in the modeling process and partially in its stages. In this context, the scale developed within the scope of this research can be used for determining the stages that students are best at and those that require improvement.

The dynamic interplay between teachers’ beliefs and practices significantly impact the quality of instruction and the trajectory of talent development in young students. This case study explores the beliefs and practices of two elementary teachers instructing gifted ELs in mathematics. The constant comparison method was used to analyze data collected from classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and field notes. Three factors were found to affect the (in)consistency between teachers’ expressed beliefs and observed practices: compatibility among core and peripheral beliefs, knowledge about evidence-based practices, and classroom management skills. Students exhibit higher levels of participation, communication, and engagement in critical thinking skills when their teacher embraces constructive perspectives in teaching mathematics, demonstrates pedagogical expertise, and employs a proactive classroom management approach. Conversely, students encounter restricted opportunities to independently construct their own understanding of mathematics when their teacher holds maladaptive beliefs about teaching mathematics, has limited knowledge of evidence-based practices, and has an authoritarian classroom management style. These findings underscore the need for a new approach to professional development (PD) that encourages teachers to critically examine the connection between their beliefs and instructional practices and their impact on the student’s mathematical talent development.

The purpose of the study is to assess the implementation of values education in K-12 schools based on teachers’ views. A total of 4153 teachers in various field and level (i.e. primary, secondary) constituted the sample of the study. Developed by the authors, a Questionnaire on Values Education Implementation with 33 items on a five point Likert type scale (5-strongly agree to 1-strongly disagree) was used to collected data from teachers. Description of the data were grouped into four components; aims, content, learning-instruction process and evaluation process. As for the component of “aim”, teachers believed that the aims of values education clear and understandable and the aims are concurrent with the aims of other course curricula. In terms of content, most of the teachers indicated that the values selected for the infusion were in line with our culture. In terms of learning process, teachers reported that the activities in related to values were successive to one another, teachers were seen to be role models for achieving the aims values education, principals should make a claim to values education for effective implementation. As for evaluation, teachers believed that evaluation criteria set for values education were clear. On the others hand, teachers reported that the classroom were crowded and this was not appropriate for values education implementation and separate course should be designed for the values education. In short, this study revealed teacher’ views on the implementation of values education in K-12 grades in Antalya. Keywords: values education, teacher views