A Survey on Learning Adaptation and Course Satisfaction of Artistically Talented Students in Senior High Schools

enhancing their learning performance and pursuing self-realization. Following the implementation of the 12-year basic education policy, the K-12 Education Administration of the Ministry of Education (MOE) undertook a long-term follow-up and guidance program for gifted students from 2016-2020 based on a middle-term plan for promoting the quality development of gifted education. The project systematically tracked the learning pathways of students receiving gifted education services to gain a holistic understanding of their learning status (Kuo et al., 2020). The research team designed an online learning questionnaire (divided into elementary, junior, and high school versions) to collect the learning adaptation profiles of gifted students at school. However, this questionnaire only investigated the learning adaptation of students with superior intelligence or academic talents and did not include gifted students with artistic talents. Therefore, this study extended the survey to include artistically talented students to gain a comprehensive understanding of gifted students with different strengths. The 12-year basic education policy poses great challenges to school curriculum development, as it requires teachers to develop gifted programs on the basis of student profiles and their special educational needs for talent development in subjects such as music, art, and dancing. Therefore, it would be helpful for teachers and schools to collect student feedback on learning satisfaction for various courses as a reference for the school’s follow-up curriculum design. Our research tools included a version of the High School Student Learning Questionnaire (HSSLQ) modified for artistically talented students and the Taiwan Longitudinal Study and Gifted Support Network (TLSGSN) website. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part was a learning adaptation survey, which investigated different aspects of learning status, and the second part was a curriculum satisfaction survey, which addressed first-year courses for artistically talented students in senior high schools. a. The HSSLQ (artistically talented version) was modified from the HSSLQ constructed by Kuo et al. (2020). The learning adaptation survey included three dimensions: learning development, life adjustment, and future career. A 4-point Likert scale was used. Participants responded to questions with either “strongly agree,” “mostly agree,” “mostly disagree,” or “strongly disagree,” and these were scored from 4 to 1, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to analyze the fit of competitive activities, hands-on activities, off-campus teaching, special lectures, online learning, teaching by demonstration, practical exercises, performance activities, and teamwork. Students chose “like” or “dislike” and “beneficial” or “not beneficial” in response. They could respond with “not applicable” if they had not experienced a class type. The students’ feedback will be compiled into a catalog of courses for future analysis. This study investigated the learning adaptation of second-year gifted senior high school students specialized in art, music, and dance in Taiwan. The survey was undertaken using the TLSGSN website. According to the Special Education Statistics Annual Report 2020, there were 536 grade 11 students in the music category, 748 grade 11 students in the art category, and 170 grade 11 students in the dance category. In total 1,454 artistically talented grade 11 students participated. This questionnaire was facilitated by the research project commissioning unit of the MOE sending a letter to each school asking teachers to guide students in completing the questionnaire online. The response rate for the first section was 100%. Six students in the music category and 21 students in the art category did not complete the second section, which had a response rate of 98%. Sex differences were considerable, especially for dance students, of whom only three were boys. Our major research findings are as follows: a. The mean response scores for students regarding learning development, life adjustment, and future career were 3.18-3.52, 2.92-3.24, and 3.11-3.33, respectively. Kuo et al. (2020) found that the mean response scores for the three subscales were 3.13, 3.00, and 3.14, respectively. This shows that when applying the same assessment tool, the self-evaluated learning adaptation scores of gifted senior high school students mostly fell between 3.00 and 3.50, indicating considerable learning adaptation. b. The mean scores for the three subscales of learning development, life adjustment, and future career were 3.22, 3.01, and 3.15 respectively. The differences in mean scores between the three sections were significant (learning development: F = 29.68, p <.001, η2 =.04; life adjustment: F = 25.90, p <.001, η2 =.03; and future career: F = 13.69, p <.001, η2 =.02). c. Dance students reported significantly better learning adaptation across the three subscales than art and music students did (learning development: F = 29.68, p <.001; life adjustment: F = 25.90, p <.001; and future career: F = 13.69, p <.001). d. Male students reported significantly better learning adaptation than female students; male students in the art category scored significantly higher for life adjustment (F = 4.40, p <.001) and future careers (F = 2.55, p <.01) than did female art students. e. Art students from central Taiwan reported significantly better life adjustment than art students from northern and southern Taiwan (F = 3.72, p <.05). f. Respondents exhibited great satisfaction with gifted education courses and teaching methods: 83.1-95.3% of respondents indicated that they liked their courses and 93.2%-100.0% indicated that they found their courses beneficial. g. The study found that students preferred and considered it beneficial to be given individual tutorials, demonstrations, or chances to practically implement techniques. h. Recommendations are made for educational administration and future research.