Steam Based Color Wheel Applications and Outcomes with Gifted and Talented Students

This study aimed to compare two different implementations of a STEAM-based color wheel, digitally designed with CMY science-based paint colors, one grounded in measurement precision and the other in experiential precision, and to reveal the advantages offered by these two implementations within the framework of the integrated STEAM learning model. A total of 16 students participated in the color wheel painting activity, including five gifted middle school students identified in the domain of general intellectual ability, six middle school students identified in the domain of artistic talent, and five university students selected as talented individuals in the field of art. The findings demonstrated that STEAM-based activities and their associated practices meaningfully integrated participants’ existing skills with the new competencies they developed throughout the process. In this respect, both gifted and talented middle school students and talented university students completed the activity successfully. In addition, the results indicated that students actively employed skills such as attention, visual perception, proportional reasoning, comparison, decision-making, and creative problem-solving during the implementation process. While measurement-precision-based practices supported systematic thinking and controlled procedural steps, experiential-precision-based practices made students’ artistic interpretations, visual evaluation skills, and original forms of expression more visible. These findings suggest that the STEAM approach provides both structured and flexible learning opportunities for individuals with diverse talent profiles. Furthermore, the teaching of color was found to represent not only a technical or artistic process, but also a holistic learning experience that fosters interdisciplinary connections. The findings also demonstrated that students restructured their prior knowledge throughout the implementation process and engaged in a more holistic learning experience in terms of interdisciplinary thinking, the development of aesthetic awareness, and the production of a shared outcome. In this process, skills such as collaboration, patience, evaluation, and responsibility were also supported.