Promoting Elementary-School Teachers’ Diagnostic Skills to Recognize their Students’ Academic Potential

We present a five-year project aimed at improving teachers’ skills to detect mathematical and scientific talent in elementary school students. Within the project, teachers from 23 German schools and researchers cooperate to extend teachers’ diagnostic competencies, substantiate their practices scientifically, and to learn from each other’s experiences in the detection and promotion of STEM talent (i.e. networked improvement community). The project is theoretically based on domain- specific talent development models for mathematics and natural science. In the course of the project, teachers interact with e-learning modules, participate in training sessions, attend workshops that bridge scientific theory and educational practice, and regularly evaluate these components of the project. We present the conceptualization of the project as well as first results.