Chapter 1

Understanding Giftedness: Introduction or on the Importanceof Seeing Differently

Larisa V. Shavinina

We have to find a new view of the world... If you can find any other view of the world which agreesover the entire range where things have already been observed, but disagrees somewhere else, youhave made a great discovery. It is very nearly impossible, but not quite...

Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate

Abstract This chapter provides a very general intro-duction to the handbook, thus creating a broad pictureon what to expect in the chapters that follow. Specif-ically, the chapter presents a short overview of themultifaceted research on giftedness and advances ingifted education discussed in the chapters of this hand-book. Its uniqueness and novelty are also described.The main contents of each chapter are summarizedand approaches taken by chapter authors are briefly de-scribed.

Keywords Giftedness · Gifted · Education · The na-ture of giftedness · Cognitive · Developmental · Social· Personality approaches to understanding giftedness

Great discoveries are at the heart of any scientificadvancement. As Feynman highlighted, great discov-eries are nearly impossible, but not quite. . . if we aretalking about the field of giftedness and see it differ-ently. In order to make discoveries, the content of anyhandbook should be unique and new in many respects.This handbook is clearly distinctive from other hand-books in the area of high abilities and will prove to beoriginal and novel in a number of ways.

First, the handbook introduces fresh research ongiftedness, which was not considered in Heller, Monks,Sternberg, and Subotnik (2000) and in Colangelo andDavid (2003) handbooks (e.g., musical talent, gifted

L.V. Shavinina (B)Universite du Quebec en Outaouais, Gatineau, Quebec, Canadae-mail: larisa.shavinina@uqo.ca

learners who drop out, legal issues in gifted educa-tion, feminine perspective on giftedness, just to men-tion a few) and was not presented in other books andscholarly journals (e.g., happiness of the gifted and tal-ented, entrepreneurial giftedness, multiple giftednessin adults, managerial talent, interdisciplinary ideas ingifted education, innovation education for the gifted),just to note a few.

Second, the handbook presents new research direc-tions in the area of giftedness, which was not con-sidered in Heller et al. (2000) and in Colangelo andDavid (2003) handbooks, but was published in schol-arly journals only in recent years (e.g., talent in cinemaor new trends in the neuropsychology of giftedness).

Third, the handbook presents recent developmentsin giftedness research and practice that took place afterthe publication of Heller et al. (2000) and Colangeloand David (2003) handbooks (e.g., recent advances ingifted education in megacities like New York and Lon-don, UK).

Finally, the handbook analyzes latest advances inthose directions of research and gifted education whichwere discussed in Heller et al. (2000) and Colangeloand David (2003) handbooks, but were significantlydeveloped in recent years, that is, after the publica-tion of those handbooks (e.g., online academies for thegifted).

It is also interesting to note that some chapters be-long to a few of the above-mentioned categories of thegiven handbook’s novelty and uniqueness (e.g., imagi-nary worldplay as an indicator of creative giftedness).Plus, Colangelo et al.’s report on acceleration is also a

L.V. Shavinina (ed.), International Handbook on Giftedness, 3DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-6162-2 1, c© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

4 L.V. Shavinina

new development in gifted education in general and ingifted education policy in particular.

Taken together, all these facets of the uniquenessand novelty convincingly indicate that this new hand-book is indeed a much needed endeavor. Therefore,my goal in bringing leading experts on high ability to-gether in this handbook is to present a fully comprehen-sive picture of contemporary research on giftedness byintegrating the recent diverse findings and to outline di-rections for further research, thus advancing the field.In choosing chapter authors, I was particularly inter-ested in those new models, theories, and approaches,which they proposed. My deepest belief is that anyhandbook on any scientific topic should not only reportthe current findings in the field but also advance thatfield by presenting challenging new ideas. In one wayor another, each chapter in the handbook adds some-thing new to our existing edifice of knowledge aboutgiftedness via unique analytical points of view of lead-ing experts in the field who are responsible for much ofthe current research on high ability. This is one of themain merits of this handbook, which is international inscope, reflecting African, American, Asian, European,and global perspectives.

The chapter authors take a number of different ap-proaches, both empirical and theoretical, reflecting avariety of possible perspectives and research methodsaimed at understanding giftedness. I will briefly men-tion these approaches below. The descriptions of eachchapter are intentionally very short in order to enticereaders to seek further detail contained within eachchapter.

The handbook is divided into 14 (XIV) parts. PartI comprises Chapter 1, Understanding Giftedness: In-troduction or on the Importance of Seeing Differently,which sets the stage for understanding giftedness byproviding a general introduction to the work. Parts II–XIII, consisting of 76 chapters, represent distinctive,although sometimes overlapping, approaches to under-standing giftedness, gifted education, and a variety ofrelated issues. Specifically, Part II of the handbookdescribes work aimed at the understanding the multi-faceted nature of giftedness, its basic mechanisms, andits various facets. This part comprises nine chapters.

Chapter 2, The History of Giftedness Research, byHeidrun Stoeger, presents a brief history of scientificstudy of giftedness. Heidrun’s task was especially dif-ficult because she was explicitly asked not to discussthe concept of giftedness and not to analyze theories

of giftedness, because these are subjects of David YunDai’s and Janet Davidson’s chapters, respectively.

In Chapter 3, Essential Tensions Surrounding theConcept of Giftedness, David Yun Dai perfectly ana-lyzes points of agreement and disagreement betweenvarious research trends currently existing in the field ofgiftedness. David concludes his deep analysis by call-ing for a more integrated understanding of giftednessdue to its complexity and multidimensionality.

Chapter 4, Contemporary Models of Giftedness, byJanet E. Davidson, reminds us that one of the power-ful methods for understanding, identifying, and study-ing gifted individuals is through theory-based models.Janet thus reviews three types of contemporary modelsincluding hierarchical, neural efficiency, and complexsystems.

In Chapter 5, A Feminine Perspective on Giftedness,Linda Kreger Silverman and Nancy B. Miller proposea conceptual framework for understanding giftednessfrom a feminine perspective. Specifically, they addressthe issue of extreme importance for the field of gifted-ness, namely, how does giftedness develop differentlyin females so that it is less recognized?

Chapter 6, An Expert-Performance Approach to theStudy of Giftedness, by K. Anders Ericsson, KiruthigaNandagopal, and Roy W. Roring is the chapter wherethe authors present the expertise approach which ex-plains how individuals can attain elite levels of perfor-mance. The bottom line is that extended training, thatis, years and decades of daily deliberate practice, is be-hind giftedness.

In Chapter 7, Debating Giftedness: Pronat vs. Anti-nat, Francoys Gagne summarizes extensive scientificfindings and concludes that natural abilities really ex-ist (the Pronat position) and that recent attacks by re-searchers who deny their existence (the Antinat posi-tion) can be easily repelled empirically. This chapterperfectly addresses one of the most important issues inthe area of giftedness, namely the genetic basis of highabilities.

Chapter 8, The Arbitrary Nature of Giftedness byNancy B. Hertzog, discusses five ways in which label-ing and identifying children for gifted programs is anarbitrary decision. The proposed vision for the field ofgifted education is to recognize and celebrate the diver-sity of children, as well as to develop and nurture thestrengths of all students.

In Chapter 9, Gifted and Thriving: A Deeper Under-standing of Meaning of GT, Michael F. Sayler focuses

1 Understanding Giftedness 5

on happiness of the gifted and talented. According tothe author, thriving begins with talent development butlooks beyond high-level performance to deep satisfac-tion and what allows the gifted and talented to flourishacross their life span.

Chapter 10, A Unique Type of Representation Isthe Essence of Giftedness: Towards a Cognitive-Developmental Theory by Larisa V. Shavinina,presents a new theory that explains the fundamentalnature of giftedness. In short, the essence of giftednessis related to the gifted’s unique, objective type ofrepresentations of everything that is going on aroundthem. It means that gifted individuals see, understand,and interpret everything differently. Their uniqueintellectual picture of the world or their unique visionmakes them the gifted.

Part III of the handbook, The Neuropsychology ofGiftedness, concentrates on neuroscientific aspectsof research on high ability. This part contains threechapters.

In Chapter 11, Neuropsychological Characteristicsof Academic and Creative Giftedness, John G. Geakedemonstrates that the brain of the gifted functions dif-ferently by reviewing evidence for such difference inneural function and structure that can account for highlevels of cognitive abilities.

Chapter 12, The Neural Plasticity of Giftedness byM. Layne Kalbfleisch, presents a general theory of gift-edness according to which giftedness is a type of neuralplasticity that manifests itself in specific states of mindof the gifted.

In Chapter 13, Working Memory, the CognitiveFunctions of the Cerebellum and the Child Prodigy,Larry R. Vandervert claims that amazing achieve-ments of the gifted in general and child prodigiesin particular are the result of domain-specific highattentional control learned beginning in infancy andmodulated between the prefrontal cortex and thecerebellum.

Part IV of the handbook, Developmental and Cog-nitive Foundations of Giftedness, introduces the devel-opmental and cognitive bases of giftedness. It includesfive chapters.

Chapter 14, Developmental Trajectories of Gift-edness in Children, by Christoph Perleth and AnnettWilde, is about a wide range of issues related tothe development and identification of giftedness inchildren prior to elementary school age. To this end,the authors analyze various approaches explaining

how giftedness manifests itself in young age and howit can be identified in children.

In Chapter 15, Highly Gifted Young People: De-velopment from Childhood to Adulthood, Miraca U.M. Gross examines the development of highly giftedchildren and adolescents by analyzing their cognitivestrategies, motivational orientation, conceptions andexpectations of friendship, moral reasoning, and ben-efits of radical acceleration.

Chapter 16, Talent Development Across the Lifes-pan by Roger Moltzen, uses a completely opposite ap-proach than the two previous chapters in this part ofthe handbook. Specifically, the author employs retro-spective strategy to investigate the process of talent de-velopment in the case of extraordinary individuals. Forinstance, the retrospective studies reveal that many em-inent adults were perceived as anything but gifted inchildhood.

In Chapter 17, Creative Cognition in Gifted Youth,Katherine N. Saunders Wickes and Thomas B. Wardanalyze cognitive processes that the gifted bring to bearon creative tasks. The authors particularly focus on re-trieval of conceptual knowledge, abstraction, and trans-formation.

Chapter 18, A Metagognitive Portrait of GiftedLearners, by Marion A. Barfurth, Krista C. Redden,Julie A. Irving, and Bruce M. Shore summarizesresearch on metacognition and giftedness. Specifically,it discusses how the gifted think and solve problems,introduces the concepts of flexibility and preferencefor complexity, offers suggestions for future research,as well as describes educational applications.

Part V of the handbook, Personality of the Gifted,Individual Differences, and Gender-Related Issues, ex-amines a wide range of issues related to personalityvariables of giftedness, individual differences, gender,and associated non-intellective qualities that play animportant role in realizing extraordinary potential. Itcontains four chapters.

Chapter 19, Personality Qualities That Help orHinder Gifted and Talented Individuals, by RevaFriedman-Nimz and Olha Skyba, explores issuesand identifies trends in research on personality vari-ables as they are manifested in the context of thedevelopment of high ability. The authors analyzeresearch on key personality qualities such as self-perception, self-evaluation, motivation, attribution,and intrapersonal intelligence and then recast it intofour frames of reference for understanding personality

6 L.V. Shavinina

of the gifted: traits, processes, prediction, anddevelopment.

In Chapter 20, Emotional Life and Psychotherapyof the Gifted in Light of Dabrowski’s Theory, P. SusanJackson, Vicky F. Moyle, and Michael M. Piechowskiexamine the emotional sphere of the gifted from theviewpoint of Dabrowski’s theory, including emotionaland spiritual giftedness, discuss psychotherapy for thegifted, and present two cases illustrating developmentthrough positive disintegration in the gifted.

Chapter 21, On Individual Differences in Gifted-ness, by Andrzej Sekowski, Malgorzata Siekanska, andWaldemar Klinkosz, reviews a multifaceted set of is-sues related to individual differences and giftedness.Drawing on findings from psychology of individualdifferences, the authors describe levels of individualdifferences, their manifestations in particular fields ofhuman activity, their social consequences, and futureresearch trends.

In Chapter 22, A Theory of Talent Development inWomen of Accomplishment, Sally M. Reis and Erin E.Sullivan offer a new theory of female talent develop-ment that is based on research of highly accomplishedwomen. They analyze spheres in which women expresstheir talents, factors that may promote or inhibit thedevelopment of gifts, and gender differences in expe-riences that contribute to female success.

Part VI of the handbook, Twice-Exceptional GiftedIndividuals and Suicide-Related Issues, is about thephenomenon of twice-exceptionality and suicideamong the gifted. This part includes three chapters.

Chapter 23, Twice-Exceptional: Multiple Pathwaysto Success, by Judy Lupart and Royal Toy, explores thetopic of twice-exceptionality and giftedness. It specif-ically considers various twice-exceptional subgroupssuch as gifted students with learning disability, intel-lectual disability and/or autism, Asperger’s syndrome,attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and sensory im-pairment, as well as discusses main areas relating tomeeting the full range of needs for twice-exceptionalstudents including identification, curriculum, instruc-tion, and teacher preparation.

In Chapter 24, Gifted Learners Who Drop out:Prevalence and Prevention, Michael S. Matthewsstates that although relatively few gifted learnersactually drop out of school, it is a serious problemfor those students who leave high school withouta diploma. The analysis of recent advances in thisresearch direction suggests interventions for min-

imizing this problem among academically giftedlearners.

Chapter 25, Understanding Suicidal Behavior ofGifted Students: Theory, Factors, and Cultural Expec-tations, by Laurie A. Hyatt and Tracy L. Cross, reviewsin detail a multifaceted range of issues related to sui-cide among the gifted such as its incidence and causes,as well as possible vulnerability to suicide as a conse-quence of some social and emotional problems facedby gifted individuals.

Part VII of the handbook, Types of Giftedness, ex-amines the different types of giftedness. It consists ofsix chapters.

Chapter 26, In Search of Emotional–Social Gift-edness: A Potentially Viable and Valuable Concept,by Reuven Bar-On and Jacobus G. Maree, is devotedto two types of giftedness, namely emotional andsocial ones. The relationship between emotional–social intelligence and giftedness is examined basedon the authors’ research in the field of emotionalintelligence.

In Chapter 27, The Two Pioneers of Research onCreative Giftedness: Calvin W. Taylor and E. Paul Tor-rance, Kyung Hee Kim reviews the contributions ofthese two famous researchers on high ability to thestudy of creative giftedness. Their theoretical and prac-tical achievements are carefully analyzed.

Chapter 28, Creative Giftedness: Beginnings, De-velopments, and Future Promises, by James C. Kauf-man, Scott B. Kaufman, Ronald A. Beghetto, Sarah A.Burgess, and Roland S. Persson, considers research onthe subject that took place in more recent years. The-oretical and practical aspects of the study of creativegiftedness are discussed, especially its implications forthe assessment of creative abilities.

In Chapter 29, Imaginary Worldplay as an Indica-tor of Creative Giftedness, Michele Root-Bernstein ex-plores in detail complex imaginary worldplay of giftedchildren that is a good predictor of great achievementsin adulthood. The imaginary worldplay can be viewedboth as a “learning laboratory” and an early apprentice-ship in creativity for the gifted.

Chapter 30, Development of Gifted Motivation:Longitudinal Research and Applications, by AdeleEskeles Gottfried and Allen W. Gottfried, proposesthat gifted motivation is a special type of giftednessdistinct from intellectual giftedness. It refers to peoplewho are superior in their strivings and determinationpertaining to a task at hand. The authors present theory

1 Understanding Giftedness 7

and empirical findings, as well as describe implicationsfor education of the gifted and identification of giftedmotivation.

In Chapter 31, Leadership Giftedness: Is It Innate orCan It be Developed? Karen B. Rogers explains whatmakes leadership a special type of giftedness in termsof both outcomes and nurturance. She first of all re-views the literature on giftedness in leadership and thendiscusses research conducted to determine whether theinnate characteristics and behaviors of leadership canbe developed more fully through a leadership develop-ment program.

Part VIII of the handbook, Domain-Specific andMultiple Giftedness, concentrates on domain-specificand multiple giftedness and it consists of 11 chapters.

Chapter 32, Scientific Talent: The Case of NobelLaureates, by Larisa V. Shavinina, is about the natureof giftedness in science. It specifically addresses theessence of scientific talent in the case of the most ac-complished scientists, namely Nobel laureates. A greatdeal of the chapter focuses on Nobel laureates’ unique,objective types of representations and extracognitiveabilities.

In Chapter 33, Understanding MathematicalGiftedness: Integrating Self, Action Repertoires andthe Environment, Shane N. Phillipson and RosemaryCallingham propose that being gifted in the domainof mathematics is best described by the Actiotopemodel of giftedness because of the clear interactiverelationship between self (psychology, action reper-toire, subjective action space, and goals), the externalenvironment, and attainment of excellence.

Chapter 34, Cinema Talent: Individual and Collec-tive, by Dean Keith Simonton, shows that cinema is anunusual form of achievement in that it involves both(a) extensive collaborative effort and (b) considerablefinancial resources. The chapter examines a series ofinvestigations aimed at understanding the operation ofboth these characteristics in large samples of award-winning films. The empirical studies demonstrate thattalents of screenwriters and directors are especiallycritical for film success.

In Chapter 35, Reading, Writing, and Raising theBar: Exploring Gifts and Talents in Literacy, RachelSchnur and Sarah Marmor discuss a whole set of issuesrelated to gifted and talented readers and writers. Theyexplore the relationship between readings and writingin such children, suggest quality literature to encouragecritical thinking, and provide a living model for gifted

students to write well, as well as stress the need forexcellence in writing skills.

Chapter 36, The Elusive Muse: Understanding Mu-sical Giftedness, by Roland S. Persson, examines musi-cal giftedness from different epistemological points ofview, thus highlighting agreements and disagreementsexisting in its research. A conceptual model of musicalgiftedness is outlined; the issues of heredity and ac-cumulated practice are discussed; and differences be-tween the development of Western classical musiciansand popular musicians are analyzed.

In Chapter 37, Giftedness and Talent in Sport,Jacques H. A. van Rossum presents a thorough ac-count of talent development in sports broadly defined.The author explores the characteristics of successfulathletes, addresses the issue of the amount of practicenecessary to reach a high level of performance,discusses the role of parents, coaches, peers, and teammates as significant others, as well as examines talentfacilitators and talent inhibitors.

Chapter 38, On Entrepreneurial Giftedness, by Lar-isa V. Shavinina, indicates that the phenomenon of en-trepreneurial giftedness is terra incognita from a re-search viewpoint. The chapter introduces this conceptand thus fills an apparent niche in research on high abil-ities. It explains the nature of entrepreneurial gifted-ness via analyzing its early manifestations, discussingits developmental trajectories, and considering micro-social factors that facilitate the emergence of gifted en-trepreneurs.

In Chapter 39, Ilk Hunting: Newbies, Cyber-Punks,Coders and the Search for Elusive, Ego-Twisted,Talented Computer Hackers, Thomas E. Heinzenand Louis M. Picciano analyze a relatively new typeof giftedness, namely computer hacker talent. Theauthors show that apart from the dark side of theirtalent, hackers also (a) advance pure knowledge anddemonstrate the applicability of a good theory; (b)clarify the ethical boundaries of creative giftedness;and (c) profoundly threaten the democratic processwhile providing protection against those threats. Itis interesting to note that Bill Gates and other nowfamous leaders in computer industry were talentedhackers in some points in the development of theirsuccessful careers.

Chapter 40, What Makes a Gifted Educator? ADesign for Development, by Marion Porath, is aboutgifted teachers. This is a teacher who is gifted in hisor her ability to inspire and support truly meaningful

8 L.V. Shavinina

learning. The chapter reviews the existing literatureon gifted teachers, presents students’ perspectiveson meaningful teaching, and suggests directions forlearning more about what makes a gifted teacher.Research on social giftedness forms the framework forthe author’s analysis.

In Chapter 41, Understanding Managerial Talent,Larisa V. Shavinina and Marianna Medvid discuss theexisting findings explaining the nature of managerialtalent. It describes the Gallup organization’s studyof more than 80,000 great managers worldwide andpresents a new theory of managerial talent aimed atunderstanding the fundamental essence of this phe-nomenon. The theory states that the managerial talentemerges at the intersection of unique vision, unusualcreative and innovative abilities, highly developedintuition and wisdom-related skills, excellence-basedperformance, and entrepreneurial giftedness.

Chapter 42, Multiple Giftedness in Adults: The Caseof Polymaths, by Robert Root-Bernstein, challenges allfacets of the specialization thesis, namely (a) special-ization is a requirement for adult success, (b) skills andknowledge do not transfer across domains, and (c) thedomain dependence of creativity makes general cre-ativity impossible. The chapter describes individualswho have made contributions to multiple domains, dis-cusses literature demonstrating polymathy among cre-ative adults, and presents data from an ongoing studythat supports this creativity–polymathy connection.

Part IX of the handbook, Giftedness, Society, andEconomy, brings to attention a set of diverse issues thatemerge at the intersection of the topics of giftedness,society, and economy. For the very first time the majorbook in the field of giftedness highlights these issues.The part consists of five chapters.

Chapter 43, Families of Gifted Children, by Abra-ham Reichenberg and Erika Landau, reviews currentresearch findings on the important role of the family inthe development of gifted children. Specifically, the au-thors demonstrate that children’s developmental trajec-tory of talent is considerably influenced by their familylifestyle, values, goals, and other environmental char-acteristics. Outlines for future research regarding thefamily impact on gifted children are also described.

In Chapter 44, Large-Scale Socioeconomic, Politi-cal, and Cultural Influences on Giftedness and Talent,Don Ambrose’s analysis goes far beyond the influenceof immediate micro-social contexts on the realizationof potential high abilities. The author examines the ten-

uous growth of democracy in some regions and its per-nicious erosion in others, increases in socioeconomicinequity within and between nations, and the effects ofcompeting ideologies. He also discusses such culturalphenomena as changing value systems worldwide, cul-tural responses to globalization, and various religiousand secular conceptions of the ideal civil society.

Chapter 45, Gifts, Talents, and their Societal Reper-cussions, by Dean Keith Simonton, demonstrates so-cietal benefits of adulthood achievements of today’sgifted children. The author found that a large propor-tion of the contributions to any domain come from asmall number of contributors. Therefore, any societalfailure to promote the development of potential of theseproductive elite can have consequences out of propor-tion to the whole world.

In Chapter 46, The Unwanted Gifted and Talented:A Sociobiological Perspective of the Societal Functionsof Giftedness, Roland S. Persson addresses such criti-cal issues as (a) impossibility for some gifted individ-uals to develop their talents despite the fact that theylive in an environment that has both the means andthe possibility to facilitate such development; (b) over-emphasis on a certain group of abilities in giftednessresearch, whereas the study of others is ignored; and(c) the unwanted gifted. The phenomena of stigmatiz-ing and marginalizing gifted individuals are thus dis-cussed.

Chapter 47, On Giftedness and Economy: The Im-pact of Talented Individuals on the Global Economy,by Larisa V. Shavinina, states that the gifted are pri-marily responsible for innovations worldwide and in-novations are at the heart of today’s economy. It meansthat the degree of societal interest in talented children,and societal investment in gifted education, will be ul-timately reflected in the level of innovations in eachparticular society, that is, in its economic prosperity.This is why innovation is closely related to giftedness,and why giftedness is related to economy.

Part X of the handbook, Assessment and Identifica-tion of Giftedness, focuses on the measurement of highabilities. It consists of four chapters.

Chapter 48, The Measurement of Giftedness, byLinda Kreger Silverman, provides the most compre-hensive account available today on how to identifythe gifted. The author thoroughly analyzes Raven’sProgressive Matrices, Stanford-Binet scales, andWechsler scales, which are viewed as the most widelyused IQ tests in selecting gifted children worldwide.

1 Understanding Giftedness 9

She also examines an all-encompassing range of issuesrelated to the appropriate assessment of giftedness, aswell as recent advances in the assessment practice.

In Chapter 49, Identifying Academically TalentedStudents: Some General Principles, Two Specific Pro-cedures, David F. Lohman discusses the identificationof academically talented children from the perspectiveof aptitude theory. Aptitude means the degree of readi-ness to learn and to perform well in a particular situa-tion or domain. The aptitudes for academic success in-clude (a) prior knowledge and skill in a domain, (b) theability to reason in the symbol systems used to com-municate new knowledge in that domain, (c) interest inthe domain, and (d) persistence in the type of learningenvironments offered for the attainment of expertise inthe domain. The chapter provides examples of proce-dures for combining ability test scores, achievementtest scores, and teacher ratings in a principled way toassist in the identification of a talent pool.

Chapter 50, The Johns Hopkins Talent Search Modelfor Identifying and Developing Exceptional Mathemat-ical and Verbal Abilities, by Linda E. Brody, presentsthe Johns Hopkins Talent Search model, which was pi-oneered in the early 1970s by Julian Stanley and hasnow spread to many countries around the world. Thechapter reviews the principles and practices of the tal-ent search, as well as the programmatic strategies thathave been created or identified to develop the talents ofadvanced learners. The results of over 30 years of re-search that have been conducted at Johns Hopkins andelsewhere that support these principles and practicesare also discussed.

In Chapter 51, A New Approach to the Identificationof Intellectually Gifted Individuals, Larisa V. Shavin-ina offers a new perspective on the psychological as-sessment of intellectual abilities of the gifted based onthe new cognitive-developmental theory of giftednesspresented in this volume. The chapter focuses on thenine methodological and procedural principles, whichform this approach. Examples of new intelligence testsare also presented.

Part XI of the handbook, Recent Advances in GiftedEducation, examines the latest progress in gifted edu-cation and consists of 16 chapters.

Chapter 52, New Developments in Gifted Education,by Gary A. Davis, has its goal to provide a brief, gen-eral introduction to advances in gifted education thattook place in recent years. The author compares today’smost important topics in gifted education with those of

about 25 years ago. He concluded that, with one ex-ception, the central topics of gifted education are aboutthe same these days as a quarter century ago. The oneexception concerns the identification and teaching ofgifted minority students.

In Chapter 53, The English Model of Gifted Educa-tion, Deborah Eyre introduces a relatively new modelfor educating the gifted that has been in use in Englandfor 10 years and now forms the basis of the compre-hensive national program offered to pupils of all agesand in all government-funded schools. The chapter de-scribes its educational characteristics and discusses thevarious elements of the model. A key strength of theEnglish Model is that it uses elements from existingmodels of gifted education to create an approach thatpositions gifted education deeply within overall educa-tion policy and within wider social policy objectives.

Chapter 54, Enhancing Creativity in Curriculum, byJoyce Van Tassel-Baska and Bronwyn MacFarlane, ex-plores major ways that creativity can be infused effec-tively within a curriculum designed for the gifted. Theauthors highlight specific design approaches that maybe employed to ensure that creative thinking and inno-vation have been embedded into educational opportu-nities for gifted learners. Examples of this curriculumare provided to illustrate various design motifs. Issuesof implementation with respect to the use of technol-ogy, professional development, and school-based lead-ership are also addressed.

Based on the highly acclaimed report Nation De-ceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s BrightestStudents (Colangelo, Assouline, & Gross, 2004),Chapter 55, Acceleration: Meeting the Academic andSocial Needs of Students, by Nicholas Colangelo andSusan Assouline, discusses the 20 most importantpoints about acceleration, the 18 forms of acceleration,a treatment of the myths that surround the general issueof acceleration, as well as the research supporting thebenefits of academic acceleration. A case study of thedecision-making process, which remains difficult forparents and educators of the gifted, is also presentedas an application of the information provided by theauthors.

Chapter 56, Teaching for Wisdom in Public Schoolsto Promote Personal Giftedness, by Michel Ferrari,views wisdom as giftedness in knowing yourself andhow to live a successful and fulfilling life. This is avery old definition, broadly traceable to the Socraticphilosophers, which recommended certain exercises

10 L.V. Shavinina

that students were encouraged to master, such as ex-amining one’s life at the end of each day to determinein what one had been successful and in what unsuc-cessful. The author analyzes these exercises and exam-ples of individuals who were gifted in them, as well asconsider the implications of these practices for giftededucation.

In Chapter 57, DISCOVER/TASC: An Approach toTeaching and Learning That Is Inclusive yet MaximizesOpportunities for Differentiation According to Pupils’Needs, Belle Wallace and C. June Maker present apowerful framework for curriculum development thataccommodates the varying rates of pupil development.Although “intelligence” and “giftedness” may havea genetic base, they stress that these potentials areessentially developed and driven by the processes thatare used in problem solving and that all learners arecapable of improving their problem-solving processesacross the 10 human abilities: emotional, social,spiritual, somatic, visual/spatial, auditory, mathemat-ical/symbolic, linguistic, mechanical/technical, andscientific. Their joint work advocates an inclusiveapproach to the concept of giftedness.

Chapter 58, Future Problem Solving in Gifted Edu-cation, by Bonnie L. Cramond, is about the growth ofthe Future Problem-Solving Program from its begin-ning by E. Paul Torrance at one high school in Athens,Georgia, USA, in 1974 to its 30th anniversary as an In-ternational Program with over 250,000 students aroundthe world participating from grades 1 to 12, and to thepresent. The various components and rationale of theprogram are described with examples of problems andstudents’ innovative solutions. The chapter will endwith a discussion of the benefits of this program for thestudents who participate as well as for the larger so-ciety, and an argument for widening its scope beyondgifted education will be made. I personally believe thatthe full potential of this program has not yet been re-alized, as well as its hidden tremendous impact on thewhole world. This is why I invited Bonnie L. Cramondto contribute this chapter.

In Chapter 59, Practical Intelligence and Wisdomin Gifted Education, Mary Anne Heng and Kai Yung(Brian) Tam present a broad conceptualization of prac-tical intelligence that involves the notion of wisdom,highlight the role of experiential knowledge, reflection,and habits of virtue, and speak to a symbiotic relation-ship between self and the larger community. The issueof wisdom and democracy is discussed. The Evolv-

ing Self Model, with conceptual roots in the ideas ofConfucius and Dewey, is proposed that helps the giftedseek self and serve communities, as well as suggestsservice learning as a powerful tool for the academic,social, and moral engagement for them.

Chapter 60, Recent Developments in Technology:Implications for Gifted Education, by Michael C.Pyryt, analyzes how technological advances can im-pact the education of the gifted. The appropriate use oftechnology for educational assessment, programming,and evaluation is considered. Examples of programsthat utilize technology to enhance the educationalexperiences of gifted and talented children are pro-vided. The Pyryt Enrichment Matrix is introducedas a vehicle for examining the degree of curriculumdifferentiation that is occurring.

In Chapter 61, High Intellectual and Creative Edu-cational Multimedia Technologies for the Gifted, Lar-isa V. Shavinina presents high intellectual and creativeeducational multimedia technologies (HICEMTs) asone of the possible methods for gifted education in thenear future. HICEMTs will constitute one of the in-novative breakthroughs in science and technology ofthe twenty-first century and will lead to a new waveof innovations in psychology and education in generaland gifted education in particular. HICEMTs appearat the intersection of many subdisciplines of psychol-ogy, including general, cognitive, developmental, ed-ucational, personality, media, cyber, and applied psy-chology, education, and multimedia. The general andspecific natures of HICEMTs are described. The im-portance of HICEMTs is discussed from the point ofview of educational, psychological, societal, economic,and technological perspectives.

Chapter 62, A Technology Based Application ofthe Schoolwide Enrichment Model and High-EndLearning Theory, by Joseph S. Renzulli and SallyM. Reis, focuses on an Internet-based enrichmentprogram based on a high-end learning theory thatfocuses on the development of creative productivitythrough the application of knowledge rather thanthe mere acquisition and storage of knowledge. Theprogram, called Renzulli Learning System (RLS)extends the pedagogy of the SEM to various formsof enrichment as well as first-hand investigative andcreative endeavors.

In Chapter 63, The Iowa Online Advanced Place-ment Academy: Creating Access to Excellence forGifted and Talented Rural Students, Clar M. Baldus,

1 Understanding Giftedness 11

Susan G. Assouline, Laurie J. Croft, and NicholasColangelo concentrate on the Belin-Blank Cen-ter’s Iowa Online Advanced Placement Academy(IOAPA) that was initiated in 2001. The goal of thisonline academy is to provide access to a standardof excellence—AP courses and exams. The heart ofthe IOAPA program is the commitment to preparingstudents to succeed in AP. This is achieved by a com-bination of three educational programs. The chapterexamines the success of these programs.

Chapter 64, On Bringing Interdisciplinary Ideas toGifted Education, by Bharath Sriraman and BettinaDahl, reminds us that ideally education should nurturetalent in the classroom and create well-rounded indi-viduals akin to the great thinkers of the Renaissance.That is, individuals who are able to pursue multiplefields of research and appreciate both the aesthetic andthe structural or scientific connections between mathe-matics, arts, and the sciences. The authors analyze anunderaddressed aspect of giftedness, namely the role ofinterdisciplinary activities and problems to foster talentin and across the disciplines of mathematics, science,and humanities, increasingly important for emergingprofessions in the twenty-first century.

In Chapter 65, Innovation Education for the Gifted:A New Direction in Gifted Education, Larisa V. Shavin-ina presents innovation education as a new direction ingifted education. In order to actualize and develop theunique talents of the gifted, we have to concentrate oninnovation education. Innovation education refers to awide range of educational interventions aimed at iden-tifying, developing, and transforming child talent intoadult innovation. That is, those societal actions aimedat preparing gifted children to become adult innova-tors. The chapter describes the main components of in-novation education and discusses its importance for theeconomic prosperity of the whole world.

Chapter 66, Dual-Language Gifted Education andIts Evaluation, by Ernesto M. Bernal and Jaime H.Garcıa, analyzes the two exceptionally important top-ics in gifted education: dual-language education andits program evaluation. It discusses such critical issuesas accountability, especially for program improvement,and the research aspects of program implementation.Successful addressing of these issues leads to continu-ous curricular improvement for the gifted.

In Chapter 67, Observed Trends and Needed Trendsin Gifted Education, Michael F. Shaughnessy andRoland S. Persson review observed current trends in

gifted education as well as discuss tendencies thatneed to be developed. Based on interviews with anumber of leading researchers and thinkers in the areaof gifted education, the authors identify and considerthe number of important issues for the future of giftededucation.

Part XII of the handbook, Policy Implicationsand Legal Issues in Gifted Education, is about latestprogress in gifted education policy and legal aspects ofgifted education. This part consists of three chapters.

Chapter 68, United States Policy Development inGifted Education: A Patchwork Quilt, by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, examines gifted education policy in theUnited States. The chapter states that policy in giftededucation remains a patchwork quilt of legislative andadministrative rules and regulations, mostly at the statelevel. Although a federal definition exists with an ac-companying modest funding package, the No ChildLeft Behind Act, focused on raising achievement forlow-performing students, has driven out gifted educa-tion as a priority for federal attention. There is a vari-ance of policies among all 50 states that causes nationalreform in gifted education to be less cohesive, compre-hensive, and inclusive than it needs to be.

In Chapter 69, Identifying and Developing Talent inScience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics(STEM): An Agenda for Research, Policy, and Prac-tice, Rena Subotnik, Martin Orland, Kristin Rayhack,Julie Schuck, Ashley Edmiston, Janice Earle, EdwardCrowe, Pat Johnson, Tom Carroll, Daniel Berch, andBruce Fuchs highlight the need to produce greaternumbers of highly educated and innovative scientists,engineers, and mathematicians for securing a brighteconomic future for the United States. The authorsdiscuss the current US approach to serving adolescentswho are talented and interested in STEM, analyze theobstacles to meeting national goals, and offer solutionsfor consideration by the research, policy, and practicecommunities.

Chapter 70, Gifted Education and Legal Issues, byFrances A. Karnes and Kristen R. Stephens, exploresthe legal processes (negotiation, mediation, due pro-cess, litigation) that parents of the gifted can utilizein seeking appropriate identification and services fortheir children. The efforts of the Office for Civil Rights(OCR) in resolving disputes pertaining to gifted learn-ers are also discussed along with the role that legisla-tion and court cases have had in policy development ingifted education.

12 L.V. Shavinina

Part XIII of the handbook, Giftedness Research andGifted Education Around the World: Institutional andRegional Examples, provides an overview of the re-cent efforts made at both institutional and micro- andmacro-regional levels aimed at studying, developing,and educating gifted children. My idea was to offer ex-amples of best practices in the cases of one of the old-est research center, of two megacities—New York andLondon, UK,—as well as of whole countries and partsof the world. It should be emphasized that the goal ofthis part was not to cover absolutely all countries andregions. It provides only certain examples and consistsof seven chapters.

Chapter 71, Swimming in Deep Waters: TwentyYears of Research About Early University Entrance atthe University of Washington, by Kathleen D. Nobleand Sarah A. Childers, is about the Halbert and NancyRobinson Center for Young Scholars (Robinson Cen-ter) at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle,USA, and its role in giftedness research and practice.The chapter describes the Early Entrance Programinitiated in 1977 that is about radical acceleration fromsecondary school to the university, as well as its sisterprogram, the UW Academy for Young Scholars.

In Chapter 72, How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?Gifted Education in New York City, Dona J. Matthewsopens a discussion of problems and possibilities in ur-ban gifted education in the case of New York City(NYC). The author reviews diverse forces that are atplay locally, including bottom-up and top-down politi-cal pressures, concerns about equity and social justice,media responses, and changing legislation and stan-dards. Resulting changes in NYC educational practiceare interpreted as a movement toward a mastery modelof giftedness.

Chapter 73, London Gifted & Talented: A CaseStudy in High Challenge Urban Education, by Ian War-wick, examines both London’s strengths and the chal-lenges it faces in gifted education. It analyzes the roleof London Gifted and Talented and London Challengein realizing the potential of gifted and talented chil-dren by investigating some of the models for teachingand learning that these organizations developed and tri-aled across the UK capital by working with students,schools, and local authorities facing the most challeng-ing circumstances.

In Chapter 74, Giftedness and Diversity: Researchand Education in Africa, Jacobus Gideon Maree andCarol Noela Van der Westhuizen, present a compre-

hensive review of gifted education in Africa. Focusingon significant advances in the field of giftedness thathave informed the theory and practice of gifted educa-tion in the past decade, they argue that the challengein sub-Saharan Africa is to extend the existing bodyof knowledge in gifted education to better understandgiftedness in the context of third-world and developingcountries.

Chapter 75, Recent Developments in Gifted Educa-tion in East Asia, by Shane N. Phillipson, Jiannong Shi,Guofeng Zhang, Den-Mo Tsai, Chwee Geok Quek,Nobutaka Matsumura, and Seokhee Cho, demonstratesthat in spite of sharing a common cultural heritage, lat-est advances in giftedness research and gifted educa-tion in several countries and regions within East Asiashow that each country and region is currently distin-guished by different approaches to gifted education.However, the challenges facing many of these coun-tries and regions are remarkably similar, such as mis-conceptions as to the role of gifted education withincommunities that are dominated by extensive and per-vasive examination systems, and the limited roles ofindigenous research in conceptions of giftedness andcurriculum development.

In Chapter 76, Gifted Education in the Arabian Gulfand the Middle Eastern Region: History, Current Prac-tices, New Directions, and Future Trends, Taisir Subhi-Yamin discusses provisions available to gifted and tal-ented children in the Arabian Gulf region and the Ara-bic countries in the Middle East. The author reviewsvarying cultures in the region, each with their ownpractices, terminology, and conceptions of exception-ality. Major issues in the area of the identification anddevelopment of giftedness and creativity are examinedand new directions in gifted education are highlighted.These issues include gifts or talents as entities, the phi-losophy of gifted education, identification, programs,educational technology and the “digital world,” futureresearch, and challenges that lie ahead.

Chapter 77, Gifted Education and Research on Gift-edness in South America, by Eunice M. L. Soriano deAlencar, Denise de Souza Fleith, and Violeta Aran-cibia, examines the state of giftedness research andgifted education in the South American countries. Asthese nations do not share the same cultural, linguis-tic, ideological, social, and economical backgrounds,there are differences in the terminology, practices, andpolicies implemented for the gifted in this continent.However, these countries are characterized by the same

1 Understanding Giftedness 13

scarcity of programs for training teachers and psychol-ogists, shortage of financial support for implementingprograms and services for the gifted, preference for en-richment educational strategies, and predominance ofmisconceptions among parents, educators, and admin-istrators.

Part XIV of the handbook, Conclusions, contains asingle chapter, Research on Giftedness in the 21st Cen-tury, by Albert Ziegler, which serves to integrate theother chapters in the handbook. This chapter points outcommon as well as unique features of the various facetsof giftedness research discussed in the chapters of thehandbook and suggests directions in which future re-search, practice, and policy might lead us. Specifically,the author addresses the issues of (a) what giftednessresearch is all about; (b) whether present rationaliza-tions for the existence of this field of research can re-main justified; and (c) possible synergies with expertiseresearch and innovation research in the future.

The chapters of this handbook therefore demon-strate that giftedness is inherently multidimensional,multifaceted, interdisciplinary, personally demanding,socially consequential, cross-cultural, and frequentlysurprising. As a result, understanding the scientificprinciples that explain the nature of giftedness requires

a variety of research approaches. Authors presenteda wide range of approaches to understanding thefundamental essence of giftedness and of educationaloptions aimed at the development of the gifted. Thishandbook thus provides what is perhaps the mostcomprehensive account available of what giftednessis, how it is developed, how it is measured, how itis educated, and how it affects individuals, societies,and the world as a whole. And—what is probably themost important—the handbook launched many newresearch directions in the field of giftedness and giftededucation that have not been discussed earlier. Thishandbook thus greatly advances giftedness researchand gifted education worldwide by making a lotof great discoveries—exactly as Richard Feynmanrecommended.

References

Colangelo, N., & David, G. (2003). The Handbook of Gifted Ed-ucation. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Heller, K. A., Monks, F., Sternberg, R. J., & Subotnik, R. F.(2000). The International Handbook of Giftedness and Tal-ent. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science.