The effect of Taba's questioning strategies on the higher cognitive processes of Bahraini academically gifted students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Taba Teaching Model on the growth of the higher level cognitive skills of Bahraini academically gifted students. The SEA Test, a test of higher level cognitive skills, developed by Callahan (1981) was used to measure the participants, higher cognitive skills before and after the implementation of the recommended Teaching Model, four questioning strategies, in enrichment classes. The participants were 51 academically gifted students enrolled in grades 7, 8, 9 and 10 in three government schools in Bahrain. These students were taught by five different teachers. The teaching took place in the period between the beginning of November 1997 to the end of May 1998. The t-test showed significant differences between the participants' means on the pretest and posttest (t = 10, p < .000). When breaking the total number of participants into small groups according to their teachers' levels of Teaching model implementation, grade level and different classroom teachers, the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests showed differences between the 7th- and 10th-grade groups (Z = 1.907, p < .05) and 9th- and 10th-grade groups (Z = 2.798, p < .01), the groups of Teacher Hana and Teacher Mona (Z = 1.907, p < .05), the groups of Teacher Adel and Teacher Mona (Z = 2.643, p < .01) and the groups of Teacher Mona and Teacher Nadia (Z = 2.032, p < .05). In concurrence with other studies (Schiever, 1986; Brooks, 1987) conducted in the United States of America, this study produced evidence to support the use of the Taba Teaching Model with academically gifted students. And in agreement with both Schiever (1986) and Brooks (1987), to obtain better results, the Taba Teaching Model should be used more frequently over a long period of time and with emphasis on integrating teaching the higher cognitive skills with content area curriculum.