An activity for gifted and talented students to learn the concept of keystone species

In this study, it is aimed to design an analogy-oriented activity to be used in teaching the concept of keystone species to students. The study was carried out with 25 gifted and talented students aged between 10 and 14 who were registered to the Science and Art Centers around in Turkey ( Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Antalya, Mugla, Manisa, Balikesir, Kayseri). This research was intended for these students to associate the concept of keystone species in environmental education using creative thinking skills with the help of a model. The study can be described as a special case study aiming to produce conclusions about a situation. With the designed activity, it was also aimed to contribute to the learning of the concept of keystone species in a meaningful fashion through carrying out analogy work with the keystone in architectural structures. The results of the activity were evaluated with open-ended questions that the students answered to. It was observed that the students could explain the concept of keystone species by associating it with the keystone used in architecture in line with the definition of the concept. Considering the results of this study, it can be said that gifted and talented students generated an analogy for the keystone species. The designed activity was evaluated at the end of the study in environmental education courses in terms of its applicability. It was found that the developed activity was applicable as it enabled the active participation of the students.