ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a historical perspective of the development of science-gifted education, focusing particularly on science high schools in Korea, as it is aimed at providing educational contexts critical to understanding the policies and practices discussed. It tries to provide some insights into the current status of Korea's economic growth that has resulted from its human resources in advanced science and technology. The first time that the need for science gifted education was mentioned in Korea was in 1973. In 1978, the Ministry of Education commissioned KEDI (Korean Educational Development Institute) to conduct two studies directly related to gifted education: on need for gifted education in general and other on science gifted education in particular. At the turn of the twenty-first century, since society had become knowledge based, many countries around world recognised that a key element of national competitiveness was advanced human resource training aimed at producing creative knowledge and practicing education that strives to implement it effectively.
