Comparative Analysis of Elementary Gifted and Non-Gifted Students’ Perceptions about Causes and Effects of Global Warming and Their Data Interpretation Ability

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of elementary science gifted students and general students to understand and interpret the causes and effects of global warming. For this study, an open-ended questionnaire was conducted to subjects (32 gifted students and 45 non-gifted students). The collected data were analyzed by frequency analysis and qualitative analysis, and the results were as follows: First, both gifted and non-gifted students commonly perceived soot, carbon dioxide, and exhaust gas as a major cause of global warming, but both of them also had different non-scientific concepts. Second, although gifted and general students perceived glaciers and sea level increase as common effects of global warming, gifted students had more scientific concept than general students. Third, in the data interpretation ability, the gifted students were more detailed and observing data than the general students. Based on the results of the study, some suggestions for raising awareness about the causes and effects of global warming were suggested.