e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(4):79-93 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.048

Researching Students Gifted in Science Using the Method of Eye Tracking

Jana Škrabánková, Eva Trnová

Doc. PaedDr. Jana Škrabánková, Ph.D., Head of Research Centre for Education of Gifted Students, Department of Pedagogy and Andragogy, Faculty of Education, University of Ostrava, Fráni Šrámka 3, 709 00 Ostrava - Mariánské Hory, Czech Republic, E-mail: janaskrabankova@seznam.cz

RNDr. Eva Trnová, Ph.D., Department of Physics, Chemistry and Vocational Education, Faculty of Education, Masaryk University, Poříčí 7, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic, E-mail: 26136@mail.muni.cz

Eye Tracking is a modern diagnostic method which has been recently applied in several studies. This method is based on observing human eye movement, monitoring a spot an eye is focused on, its distance, or the time duration of such focus. The course of the look, the sequence of eye fixations and movement can be widely used in cognitive sciences. This is where we class the area of pedagogical-psychological research of gifted students.
A recent pilot study of gifted students using the Eye Tracking method aimed to answer the question regarding whether it was possible to monitor the text and image processing of students gifted in science. Students participating in the study were given texts and images on a screen and asked to solve various learning tasks. Meanwhile, the processes they used to perceive the text and images were recorded. The goal of our research was to analyse the way students worked with the text, including details like whether they return to certain spots and how many times they do it within one line or one page, which words need to be focused on more than once, or how the size of their pupils changes when students think. The obtained information presents a basis for the eye movement reconstruction of individual students. Our pilot study verified that it was possible to use Eye Tracking as an experimental method even in pedagogical-psychological research of gifted students. The above mentioned also implies that there are numerous opportunities to use Eye Tracking as an experimental method in pedagogical-psychological research and that no research has so far been done on gifted students. The researchers of the Research Centre for Education of Gifted Students of the University of Ostrava have the device serving for the presented study on gifted students in science for disposition.

Keywords: Diagnostics, eye movements, Eye Tracking, students gifted in science

Published: August 1, 2015  Show citation