Inquiry Based Learning of Contemporary Physics Topics and Gifted Students

Abstract

The paper theoretically considers the possibility to use contemporary topics that are introduced to physics education for identification of gifted students. Although several instruments for identification of gifted are well known and are widely used, evidences provided by those instruments are very often affected by students’ social and intellectual background. New contemporary physics topics in education provide a milieu, in which students’ preliminary knowledge and experience is equalized and therefore also students from underprivileged background may excel. The paper gives a short overview of giftedness identification and discusses its effectiveness with respect to the student’s background, explains the idea of using contemporary physics topics for identification of underprivileged gifted, and provides an example of the approach.