ÜYEP

Founded in 2007 by the Anadolu University Department of Gifted Education, with support from Anadolu University and TÜBİTAK, ÜYEP was transformed into an application and research center in 2014. It is the first and only program in Turkey in terms of its scope.

The center's overall goal is to conduct scientific research in the areas of intelligence, giftedness, and creativity, to identify gifted students through intelligence assessments, and to provide differentiated education and guidance services to help students maximize their intellectual potential. ÜYEP is an educational and social environment where students discover their talents and find opportunities for self-improvement. ÜYEP classrooms are where the seeds of future scientists are sown.

ÜYEP Education Principles

• All students have valuable potential. Good education significantly increases the success and learning satisfaction of most students in at least one area.
• Some students demonstrate exceptional talent and outstanding achievement at a very early age. Given the necessary support, many of these students continue to develop their talents throughout their lives and achieve extraordinary success.
• Talent development continues throughout life. As children grow, previously unnoticed potential or underdeveloped abilities begin to emerge and become more evident in various areas.
• New opportunities allow talent to emerge and develop over time. Even when no evidence is evident, it cannot be claimed that talent does not exist. The absence of immediate evidence does not mean that evidence will not exist forever.
• The purpose of identifying gifted students is not to categorize, label, or satisfy curiosity, but to create appropriate educational opportunities that will develop talent.
• Accurately identifying students' talents and interests cannot be accomplished with information obtained at one time or from a single source. Accurate identification is possible by gathering information from various sources and by ensuring this process is continuous and comprehensive. Talent research's emphasis on identifying students' characteristics and their learning needs, aligned with these characteristics, helps us focus on the "best" that can be achieved for students.
• Participation in activities and experiences that utilize special talents is an effective starting point for identifying and developing these talents.
• Creative productivity is the mature form of giftedness. Over time, potential transforms into giftedness, and giftedness transforms into creative productivity. Achieving creative productivity from potential requires both being unconventional (open to new experiences, curious, risk-taking, and probabilistic) and simultaneously challenging discipline. Creative productivity manifests itself in high-quality products that have value.
• Knowing students' special talents and learning styles, structuring instruction appropriately, and enabling students to discover and effectively utilize their talents within this new environment are crucial for their ability to develop.
• Talent develops not only in school but also wherever individuals actively interact and utilize their talents. Talent development requires the involvement of not only the school but also other elements of society, especially the family, in education. Talent development requires an individual's intellectual investment, perseverance, consistent effort, discipline, and a strong work ethic.
• Effective talent development programs offer a variety of service levels and opportunities. These opportunities do not supplement the daily school program, but rather expand, enhance, and elevate it to a higher level.
• Talent development requires collaborative work and commitment from personnel across various disciplines, professional planning, and ongoing implementation. Short-term practices and plans contribute little or nothing to talent development.
• Creating both individual and group profiles of students' abilities, skills, and interests is a crucial process that significantly informs planned talent development practices. Informative tools such as tests, rating scales, performance-based assessments, observations, portfolios, and self-assessments are used to guide talent development planning.
• Ensuring that students understand their own abilities and interests and use this knowledge to set individual goals and develop career plans is an important role of talent development practices. As in other adult education and lifelong learning practices, ensuring continuity in development and innovation in talent development practices and achieving these requires continuity in the professional development of all personnel of talent development programs.