ABSTRACT
Science apprenticeship programmes offer gifted and highly capable high school students the opportunity to participate in research projects in a university setting. Science apprenticeship programmes can serve the needs of these talented and curious youngsters, which are often not met in the regular school science curriculum. Such students are characterized by their motivation to apply their creativity, critical thinking and reasoning capabilities to explore in depth topics that interest and challenge them (Gardner, 2008). These needs can be accommodated via research apprenticeships that embody the complexity of authentic scientific investigations (Taber, 2007). It is thus expected that participation in cutting-edge scientific research projects foster these students’ enthusiasm for learning science.
