Evaluation of the dimensions of the Mawhiba-IAU summer enrichment program

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine the most critical dimensions of summer enrichment programs (SEPs) for gifted students. The researchers conducted the study in Saudi Arabia with students from grades nine to 11 at a gifted summer program in a public university. The total number of students was 172 gifted students (62 female and 110 male). The study was guided by two research questions, and a 43-item survey was used to collect the data. The authors used correlation, t-test, and multiple linear regression for data analysis. They found that psycho-social skills, logistics, and science content dimensions were correlated significantly with students’ overall satisfaction in SEPs. The researchers found that nearly 27% of the variance was attributed to the psycho-social skills program dimension, while the logistics dimension accounted for 24%; the science content dimension accounted for 21% of students’ satisfaction. The researchers found that, for male students, the logistics dimension was the highest contributing dimension to satisfaction, while the science dimension was the highest for female students. No significant differences were found between the gender on overall satisfaction and the psycho-social skills dimension. The authors encourage other researchers to examine these dimensions with students in different settings and types of gifted programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Gifted students
• Maslow's hierarchy
• gifted education
• summer enrichment program

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mawhiba for their invaluable support for this program. Their commitment to gifted education has played a pivotal role in the successful execution of our study. We are immensely grateful for their support, resources, and encouragement, which have greatly contributed to the depth and quality of our research findings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Omar M. Muammar

Omar Mohammad Muammar is an associate Professor of Giftedness, Creativity, and Leadership; Fellowship in Leadership, Fellow of Academic Leadership Center, associate professor of giftedness, creativity, and leadership in special education department, college of education. He was appointed as Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, a CEO of Leadership Center, a dean of academic development, chaired the special education department, earn the Ph.D. from University of Arizona in 2006. Currently work as a consultant to King Abdulaziz Foundation of Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), he was the manager of strategic plan in Mawhiba in 2007. He led and supervised many gifted initiatives and departments in Mawhiba and designed many gifted programs (identification and enrichment). The led the first winning award of gifted summer program sponsored by Mawhiba 2018. He attended many international gifted programs in USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Finland. He was awarded a William Fulbright scholarship in 2001. He as a master’s degree in Gifted Education from Arabian Gulf University 1998, bachelor in Math Education. He published many research articles in national and international journals and contributed to books in gifted education.

Fahad S. Alfaiz

Fahad Alfaiz, assistant professor in Self-Development Skills Department, King Saud University, is working in the fielded of giftedness for around twenty years. He worked in different institutions in Saudi Arabia, such as King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) and the Department of gifted Education in Ministry of Education.