Engaging Gifted And Talented Students With Ipad: Using Educational Apps To Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills

Gifted and talented students require careful selection of activities and assignments to help
them develop an interest in the task given to suit their mental ability. Gagne’s Differentiated
Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) highlights the importance to identify student’s
learning ability to match the activities, assignments and exercises prepared for them. One of
the enrichment strategies implemented in PERMATA Insan College, Islamic Science
University of Malaysia is the 21st century learning education approach that equipped every
student and lecturer with an iPad. Classroom activities and assignments were developed to
meet various objectives and learning outcomes outlined in all subjects to meet the
requirements guided by the knowledge on students’ mental ability and academic
performance. In 2015, as part of an enrichment programme, 19 students were selected to
participate in a regional Islamic Education Summit and they were trained to prepare iBooks
as a form of lesson interpretation. They utilised apps such as iBooks Author, Book Creator
and Explain Everything to develop iBooks. Students documented the iBook production
process and participated in a group interview to reflect on their experiences. This paper
revealed how the iPad apps could be an effective form of enrichment for gifted and talented
students of PERMATA Insan College.
Keywords: iPad apps, gifted and talented, experiential learning