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Giftedness is, in large part, a function of creativity in generating ideas, analytical intelligence in evaluating the quality of these ideas, practical intelligence in implementing the ideas and convincing others to value and follow the ideas, and wisdom to ensure that the decisions and their implementation is for the common good of all stakeholders. The model is referred to as WICS—wisdom, intelligence, creativity, synthesized—although the order of elements in the acronym is intended only to make it pronounceable. This chapter considers the elements of creativity, intelligence and wisdom, in that order, because it represents the order in which the elements often are initially used. As gifted performance evolves, however, the elements become interactive and so order becomes less relevant. The chapter then considers how the concepts can be employed in teaching and assessment, and finally, how they can be employed in identifying the gifted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

There is considerable evidence that intelligence as a brain function occurs through the synchronized integration of information processing, involving a myriad of interconnected functional modules. Consistently, the brains of gifted children show relatively higher levels of cerebral interconnectivity when engaged in cognitive tasks. An important part of the evidence for integrated brain function as the seat of intelligence comes from studies into cross-modal processing, where sensory information in one modality, e.g. vision, is processed in multiple sensory areas, e.g. auditory, sensory. Thus, so-called learning styles such as VAK (Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic) based on processing information in a single modality, fail to acknowledge how the brain actually works. This could explain why no independent evidence has been found for the learning efficacy of VAK and similar learning style inventories. Moreover, as an anti-integration pedagogy, VAK is implicitly anti-intellectual and anti-giftedness. Savants are an intriguing example of high-functioning individuals. Despite their extremes of performance, this chapter argues that in terms of their neural interconnectivity, the brains of savants are qualitatively different from those of children we usually classify as gifted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Ian Warwick has been working with inner city students and educators for many years now to develop a broad-based approach to gifted education that can be available to every student and teacher. He has written this chapter with Dona Matthews on an initiative currently in place in London. They observe that there are enormous benefits not only for families and students, but also for schools and for society as a whole when educators see cultural diversity as a strength to be capitalized on, rather than a problem to be solved. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

This chapter reports on the outcomes of a three-year project, commissioned by the British government, involving fourteen local education districts drawn from a range of socioeconomic settings. The project was carried out as a set of action research projects, with practitioners working collaboratively with university academics, exploring practical strategies for enhancing educational provision for gifted children aged 4 to 7. Each project was designed to address the local schools' and education districts' needs within the context of a rapidly developing national agenda for gifted and talented education in the UK. Analysis of the fourteen case studies generated a number of issues with implications for classroom practice and policy. The findings from the projects enrich and extend the knowledge base and understanding of gifted and talented education in foundation and key stage one settings (4 to 7 years) in England and Wales. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter addresses the issue of whether the dominant conception of 'gifted and talented' is justified by psychological research, and what effects holding this conception have for learners. It argues that both the research base and practical and moral considerations should lead us to exclude ideas of innate and unchangeable degrees of 'giftedness' from our educational practice as incorrect, inhuman and counter-productive. It is easy to forget that 'brightness' or 'giftedness' are inferences and attributions, not statements of self-evident fact. In this chapter we want to go back to the behaviors and dispositions on which these inferences and attributions are based and explore the ways in which they might have been learned, and thus could be subject to further systematic modification. We ask: To what extent do young people learn to act in ways that will lead parents and teachers to attribute 'brightness' to them? To what extent are such behaviors capable of further modification? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The contemporary Russian educational system is struggling with the many economic and social issues that resulted from the global instability following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when much of the financial, political, and social support for education in general and gifted education in particular eroded. This chapter addresses the current state of affairs in mathematics and science education for the gifted in post-Soviet Russia and describes (a) the infrastructure of gifted education; (b) the identification of giftedness; (c) the nature and scope of gifted and specialized programs (and schools), with a separate discussion of programs in mathematics and science; and (d) the trajectory of talent development and realization (i.e. performance in mathematics and science olympiads for youth compared with adult employment). The chapter expands and supplements the discussion offered in Yurkevich and Davidovich (this volume; see record 2008-17742-013) on general trends in the education of gifted children in Russia and focuses specifically on such trends in the teaching of mathematics and science, the domains in which gifted education in Russia has previously been recognized as one of the world-leaders (Grigorenko 2000). Today, there are many interesting innovations in teaching the social sciences and humanities to gifted children, but this field is still in development and needs further crystallization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Over the past few decades, there has been a change in prevailing definitions and understandings of intelligence, in the ways that giftedness is identified and in the programming that is recommended for exceptionally capable learners. After a brief description of the historical and conceptual underpinnings of this paradigm shift, we discuss here its practical consequences, including connections to current psychological research on mindsets, and to teaching that promotes both intellectual and emotional learning. Throughout, our focus is on what this means for understanding and supporting high-level development in diverse kinds of learners. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

(An earlier version of this chapter appears in K. Tirri and M. Ubani [eds.] [2007], Holistic Education and Giftedness.) In developed countries, education, like medical provision, is a key focus of social welfare. Recent years have seen a tendency to compare education to medicine in the call for evidence-based policy and practice (Hargreaves 1996; Slavin 2002). The problematical aspects of this are significant and have been explored elsewhere (Parlett and Hamilton 1987; Thomas 2004). In this chapter, I suggest an area for more fruitful comparison between the two domains: a consideration of how the ethical principles informing the medical profession might shed light on the ethics of gifted education. Since the time of Hippocrates, medical practitioners have been concerned to ground their activities in a set of ethical principles that govern the doctor-patient relationship and reflect wider conceptions of a good society. These principles may be grouped into four key areas: respect for autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeasance (doing no harm) and justice. I consider here the extent to which these principles overlap with and might inform the ethics of gifted education. In particular, I seek to identify and explore key ethical issues and tensions in gifted education related to them, including respect for autonomy—consent and the right to underachieve; beneficence—what good is done by gifted education, and to whom; non-malfeasance—the character and competing claims of potential harms to gifted students and others; and justice—equal rights for giftedness as a special educational need, distributive justice, and parity of esteem. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The authors grapple with the fundamental questions surrounding creative giftedness and talent, addressing issues of definition, development, identification and education. They recommend infusing creativity into teacher development, as well as taking it into consideration in gifted identification and curriculum design and delivery, and also affirming the importance of supporting the development of creative giftedness in all students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

After reviewing literature on Asperger syndrome, the author describes in some detail a case study of a child who has been diagnosed with Asperger's and shows evidence of giftedness. In a consideration of educational implications of this kind of dual exceptionality, she emphasizes the importance of attending to strengths and interests, as vehicles for learning to cope with challenges. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Global Success (GS) is a complex reflection of personal excellence, achieved as a result of tackling challenges. The GS concept has been built from a holistic perspective, and considers the multitude of forms that an individual's personal successes might take. GS addresses the complex linkage of each form to all other forms of personal success at a certain moment of an individual's life. The global interaction among all these forms of success affects each of the various aspects of every human being. GS, as a developing theory, suggests that the identification and multi-dimensional analysis of one's personal values, or axiological system, from a lifespan perspective, is important for understanding the interrelationship between success and giftedness. Usually, the concept of success is perceived as a sociological construct and is understood more as an outcome than as a dynamic developmental process. I think that global success involves many more dimensions than is captured in the usual social, external connotations of success. I propose that it be understood as incorporating a person's entire life construction. Also, we consider the impact of GS on what giftedness means from a gifted individual's point of view. In order to achieve a better understanding of the significance of personal global success to real-life contexts, such as the learning experience for gifted students in schools, we refer to current psychological theories of learning, and to curriculum models. We also recommend the development of life-long educational strategies to improve global success. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The author illustrates the importance of honoring cultural differences as they lead to different conceptions and experiences of what giftedness is, how it develops and how it is best fostered. His chapter on lay conceptions of gifted education in China provides a window on the kinds of fresh conceptions that can be useful to educators and psychologists everywhere. He concludes his chapter and this thematic section by discussing the Chinese practice of ren (benevolence), suggesting the integration of a socio-emotional component into gifted education by fostering the self-cultivation that transforms and changes one's beliefs, attitudes, and values, and leads to a deep concern for the well-being of others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The author writes about findings from his survey and interviews with over 800 gifted and talented education coordinators throughout England, and about the problems that are caused in practice by their confusion over foundational principles, including definitions of terms. He argues for the importance of a developmental, practical definition that embodies an understanding of the dynamic nature of giftedness, and leads directly to effective implications for educators. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The author has been a strong advocate of evidence-based approaches to gifted education and counseling for many years now, and describes in this chapter the state of affairs in Germany. He makes a compelling case for systematic program evaluation, as well as serious attention to teacher and counselor training in gifted development that every jurisdiction would do well to heed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Grounded in her experience as a student and as an experienced educator, the author advocates that educators attend to motivational and other psychosocial factors in all students, observing that giftedness develops when students experience their educational challenges as interesting, relevant, and achievable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The authors describe the Renzulli Learning System (RLS), a way that teachers can use technology to differentiate effectively for a broad range of individual differences and diverse student needs, and increased pressures to improve student achievement. The main goal of the RLS is simultaneously to increase achievement and the enjoyment of learning by making available an easy-to-use, research-based system that promotes student engagement. Research on the role of student engagement is clear and unequivocal: high engagement results in higher achievement, improved self-concept and self-efficacy, and more favorable attitudes toward school and learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

(This chapter takes the form of an interview with Carol Dweck about her and her graduate and post-doctoral students' current work, especially as this relates to the field of giftedness. Conducted by Susan Veronikas and Michael F. Shaughnessy, the interview was first published in Gifted Education International 19, 2004, 27-33 and has been updated by Carol Dweck for this volume.) The author describes her research on the malleability of intelligence, and the important effect that mindsets can have on intellectual and academic functioning and success, demonstrating that intelligence, creativity, and giftedness are not the fixed traits that much historical work in the field assumes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

In France, educational practices concerning gifted and talented young people have long been the object of discussion. These discussions can be traced back to work carried out by Binet (1911), whose name is usually associated with studying pupils with learning difficulties, but whose research also led to pedagogy for young people with high results in his intelligence test. There is a real contrast when we compare the attitude of the educational authorities in France toward the gifted on one hand, and the talented on the other. Conclusions in this chapter include the need for teacher education concerning giftedness, and for providing the same kind of support to intellectual and academic development as is provided for athletic and artistic development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This chapter is written from the stance of a practitioner researching his own practice as an educator in the field of giftedness. I describe how a model of gift-creation has emerged through critical responsiveness to my own practice, and I offer a parallel description of the conditions under which gifts can be grown, rather than identified. These descriptions underlie an argument for shifting professional focus from dominant twentieth-century Western rationalist approaches to the field of gifted and talented education, with their deterministic, dualistic, individualistic, pragmatic, tool-for-result, and knowing-centered associations, towards a concept of giftedness which is co-constructed (not identified) in a social, relationally respectful, activity-oriented, dialectical, tool-and-result manner and context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In this chapter the current empirical research on morality and giftedness is reviewed with an emphasis on ethical sensitivity. The component of moral judgment has been the most studied aspect in morality. Although high ability students have been shown to be superior in moral judgment when compared to average ability students, morality includes other components as well, such as sensitivity, motivation, and character. In this chapter the component of ethical sensitivity is introduced with both quantitative and qualitative empirical results regarding gifted students. Recommendations for the moral education of gifted students are made based on the research findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)