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Most conceptions of giftedness have been based on intellectual and academic potential or aptitudes for high-level performance in a valued human endeavor. Individual characteristics have been used as markers for acknowledging advanced development at each stage of development. Moreover, these conceptions have driven our responses to advanced development in schools, in the work world, and in the larger society. As a society in general, we have chosen to ignore positive individual differences in favor of focusing on individual pathologies. Yet, some pockets of our society have always acknowledged the need for talent development through selective admission to mentorships and tutorials, advanced education, and work settings including the military, sports, and political spheres. This chapter discusses the research on conceptions of giftedness and the curriculum interventions that address a domain-specific approach at different stages of development. It explores: (1) the argument and evidence for a domain-specific conception of giftedness, (2) the identification models that prevail in practice, featuring the Stanley talent search model as the most systematic, and (3) an approach to intervention that features the Integrated Curriculum Model, a differentiated model of curriculum found effective with K-12 populations. The role of educators to foster talent development rather than let it lie dormant also receives comments. Finally, implications are drawn for an integrated tapestry of learning that may serve as a model for advanced interventions at all stages of development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Giftedness is a multifaceted construct and, as such, can be conceptualized in numerous ways. In this chapter, it is argued that giftedness can be conceptualized as a propensity to use creativity-generating intellectual styles. Intellectual styles refer to people’s preferred ways of processing information and dealing with tasks. This chapter is composed of three parts. The first part introduces the construct of intellectual style and provides justifications for the present conception. The second part reviews two types of research evidence supporting the conception: The first type comprises studies aimed at identifying the intellectual styles of the gifted; and the second type consists of studies examining the relationship between intellectual styles and several attributes long considered to be crucial to the notion of giftedness. The final part discusses the implications of the research findings for identification of gifted students and for special gifted education programs and inclusive gifted education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The number of theories and conceptions endeavoring to understand gifted and talented behavior are surprisingly numerous because of different scholarly convictions, practices impacted by culture, and motives to study and further the achievement potential of this relatively small but extraordinary group of individuals. In spite of intense study all over the world, we do not seem to be much closer to a common understanding of what giftedness and talent are in the scholarly community. This chapter does not present yet another theory, but it does propose a framework of important issues to consider in trying to forge all current theories and conceptions together motivating scholars to seek consensus on the basis of well-established knowledge in biology and evolutionary theory. These offer fundamental and scientifically uncontroversial knowledge shedding important light on the subject matter of education, psychology, and other social sciences and their derived practices. An evolutionary understanding offers new perspectives and will inevitably create a more sustainable knowledge base for understanding the social significance of giftedness, talent, and its education in a collective society by setting boundaries to what is likely to be possible, and perhaps of greater importance, to also suggest what is, in fact, impossible. The latter is likely to limit the impact of cultural and ideological biases on scholarship and educational practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

In this chapter, I present a theory of giftedness that emphasizes that giftedness should be defined not just in terms of general-intellectual skills, as it has been in the past, but in terms of adaptive-intellectual skills—a person’s ability to make a positive, meaningful, and potentially enduring difference to the world. People who are adaptively intelligent not only are “smart” in a traditional sense, but they also have the skills to become active engaged citizens and ethical leaders. I discuss the theory, the research, and the implications of the work for gifted identification and instruction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Conceptions of giftedness and talent have undergone significant changes since Galton (Hereditary genius: An inquiry into its laws and consequences. London, UK: Macmillan, 1869) and Terman (Genetic studies of genius: Vol. 1, Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1925). The general consensus seems to be that human potential is pluralistic rather than monolithic, dynamic rather than fixed; talent is shaped through developmental interaction with the environment over time in a bidirectional, probabilistic manner, rather than uni-directionally determined. In line with this general trend, I present Evolving Complexity Theory (ECT), a theory of talent development I have built with a developmental systems approach, as an attempt to account for a diverse range of talent outcomes. In this chapter, I first present major arguments of ECT phrased as a set of eight interrelated propositions regarding what develops, how it develops, and when it develops. I then compare ECT with other conceptions of talent development to show how a theoretical synthesis like ECT contributes to our understanding of developmental potential and its short-term and long-term development. Finally, I discuss practical implications of ECT, particularly with respect to educational policy, identification, educational intervention, and psychological guidance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

In this chapter Finnish conceptions of giftedness and talent are presented. The Finnish conceptions are explored in the context of an educational system in which a strongly rooted egalitarian ethos and individualistic values are concurrently present. The teachers’ and students’ conceptions related to giftedness and intelligence and conceptions in the national core curriculum for basic education are discussed in the frameworks of domain-specific and developmental theories of giftedness. The implications of Finnish conceptions of giftedness and talent for teaching and learning in school are discussed. Differentiated teaching is advocated as a promising approach for educating gifted students in a Finnish context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

A wide variety of phenomena influence manifestations of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom. This interdisciplinary exploration sheds light on some of these phenomena and on how they energize or suppress these important dimensions of human ability. A few examples from the exploration include the need for long-range vision; the usefulness of interdisciplinary exploration as a tool for strengthening the integration of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom; the effects of climate change; the influence of metaphorical world views on our thoughts and actions; and the harm done by corrupt, social media platforms. Various recommendations for strengthening and synthesizing intelligence, creativity, and wisdom also are addressed. These include, injecting greater ethical awareness into the currently corrupt corporate world; taking advantage of the benefits of cognitive diversity; strengthening the influence and networking of transformationally gifted experts in various fields; and making ethical academic publishing more accessible to larger audiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

We argue for a wide range of innate differences in ability in any domain, and that children with high levels of ability in a particular domain share three characteristics: they learn rapidly (precocity), they are intensely driven to learn (a rage to master), and they learn differently from typical children (they march to their own drummer). In the visual arts, high levels of ability have been most often noted in the ability to draw realistically. We show that this ability is independent of IQ and present some evidence that this ability is related to local processing skill. We also note one case study of a child who showed all three characteristics of giftedness but whose drawings were abstract rather than realistic. Thus it is possible that there are two routes that gifted child artists follow―one the early representational/realism route and the other the early abstraction route. We conclude the chapter by discussing our recommendations for how artistically gifted children should be taught and present the Reggio Emila approach in Italy as an excellent approach to the education of both typical and gifted children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

In this chapter, we highlight creativity’s role in giftedness. We first highlight the three Ds present in how creativity can apply to giftedness: its developmental trajectory, issues of domain specificity, and array of diverse perspectives. We highlight some theories of creativity that are particularly relevant for the field of giftedness, and then we discuss some specific concepts that we believe will guide us forward to help creativity play a more important role in giftedness. A core principle is that of creativity for all. This concept includes multiculturalism (considering non-Western perspectives), embracing the contributions of many mini-c creators as opposed to a single great Big-C creator, the potential of new technologies to help identify and promote creativity, and the ways in which creativity can help identify underrepresented gifted children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Looking at theories of giftedness and creativity through the framework of open systems theory is a way to examine diverse components in a different light. The ecosystem metaphor is used in this chapter to describe elements from a variety of theories related to gifted and creative behavior and production. The author of this chapter uses systems theory to identify commonalties in a network of related constructs, theories, and models, many of which are influential in the field of gifted education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Uses chaos theory to portray the human brain-mind as a nonlinear dynamic system. From this perspective, small influences on a far-from-equilibrium system can promote a transition to higher levels of self-organization. The author also makes the case that chaos theory can incorporate a broad range of phenomena pertinent to understandings of creativity and giftedness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

One of the ongoing challenges for gifted and talented education is that the measures used to select students for advanced educational opportunities rarely identify those most likely to make creative contributions later in life. The smartest students are rarely the most inventive. Conversely, extremely creative people are often overlooked as average or without obvious potential during their educational years. A need exists to understand what factors mediate the relationship of talent to creative potential so that better ways of fostering creative talent early can be devised. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The interactions between living in the urban context and being bilingual are factors that have inhibited recognizing students’ potential and abilities to be identified as gifted. Changing beliefs and adopting practices that enable urban bilingual students to have the opportunity to access and experience differentiated curriculum and challenging language development strategies can be defined as a process for urban bilingual students to overtly express the traits that can identify them as gifted learners. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Giftedness as a construct is increasingly found relevant in all of life’s endeavors. It is a construct with a long history in schools. As institutions tasked with the academic preparation of young people, schools must consider the practical application of any conception adopted. The constraints of schools and their institutional purpose determine what giftedness is in that setting. The optimal conception of giftedness within these boundaries provides for the development of exceptional abilities, while supporting the psychological well-being of students. It requires a commitment from schools to provide resources, supports, and opportunities that foster the development of students’ talents, with an eye toward their success beyond the K-12 experience. Students must also commit to their own talent development, bringing their abilities, interests, and the psychosocial skills required to bear in their approach to the school-provided opportunities. This chapter addresses the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in a practical, school-based conception of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The achievement and opportunity gaps between low-income students and their more economically advantaged peers present serious challenges for gifted education. Further, for rural students these excellence gaps may be even more pronounced, and the recognition of giftedness and subsequent program options are thus limited. The need to re-orient educators to think in terms of definition of giftedness, identification based on opportunity to learn, and provision of curricular interventions form the core of this chapter. Drawing on early work on curriculum for gifted students across populations and the lessons learned in working in rural schools (Callahan et al., Am Educ Res J 52:137–167, 2015) and ongoing work in a five-year project focusing on promoting gifted education in rural schools, we present a definition of giftedness based on specific academic ability, an identification process derived from the conception of place in the consideration of talent, steps in identification that incorporate the conception of opportunity to learn, and an outline of curricular interventions that also incorporate place-based pedagogy as a core element in selection of content. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

This chapter focuses on creative-productive giftedness and proposes that young people showing creative potential and an investigative mindset should also have access to special opportunities, resources, and encouragement. It also describes the evolution of the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness, with its three interacting clusters of traits: above average (not necessarily superior) ability, task commitment, and creativity. Various considerations that have guided the development of the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness include the differences between two kinds of assessment. The first, assessments of learning, focuses on what students already know based on cognitive and achievement test scores. This approach to the development of giftedness and talents in all areas of human productivity takes into consideration factors related to another type of student data called assessment for learning. Factors include sensitivity to traits such as curiosity, interests, preferred instructional styles and expression styles, enjoyment of learning, collaboration, communication, cooperation, planning, and self-regulation. Recurring questions about the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness are discussed, as is the overall goal of both this definition and the recommended programming approach called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. That goal is to increase the world’s reservoir of creative and productive young people who will contribute to the scientific, economic, social, and cultural development of mankind and to preserve the earth’s resources for future generations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Uses a broad-scope model to summarize, categorize, and integrate a large number of constructs pertaining to creativity and giftedness. These constructs include much of the literature in the domains of creativity and giftedness, some recent developments in cognitive science and neurophysiology, and some theories drawn from diverse disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Proposes a method for integrating theories of giftedness and creativity, making the case that the latter should subsume the former. The author also uses the construct of world view to categorize theories into organismic and mechanistic theory "families." Finally, the author claims that using the organismic world view provides a macro framework that can ease the resolution of incompatibilities among the theory families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Due in large part to technological advances, society has changed in unprecedented ways and at a breakneck pace. Yet conceptions of giftedness and models for gifted education have not kept pace with these changes. One conceptual change widely applied to other fields is the use of sociocultural theories, which are rarely applied to the study of and education for giftedness and talent development. Such perspectives emphasize the interrelated nature of the individual and their social and cultural contexts. A sociocultural approach to giftedness focuses less on the individual student and more on the ways in which that student is supported by and interacts with their immediate social context. The emphasis in a sociocultural approach to talent development is primarily on the need to provide enriched contexts for students as they interact with each other and cultural tools, resulting in the emergence of talent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Borrowing from cognitive-science research, the authors of this chapter use comparisons of novices and experts to illuminate the nature of giftedness. They use research findings on flexibility, metacognition, and knowledge organization to clarify processes that promote development from novice levels to expert levels in a domain. Recommendations for theory-building conclude this chapter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)