The SAGE Handbook of Gifted and Talented Education

Belle Wallace, Dorothy A. Sisk, John Senior, Belle Wallace, Dorothy A. Sisk, John Senior, Author

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781526431158
• eBook ISBN: 9781526463081
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación inclusiva

The SAGE Handbook of Gifted & Talented Education provides a comprehensive and international overview of key challenges and issues in the field of gifted education, making this an invaluable volume for individuals in the fields of education, public and private school administration, psychology and beyond.

Containing contributions by a range of expert authors from around the world, chapters include discussions of the wide range of human abilities and talents which impinge upon academic success, with explorations of  various political, social and economic factors which influence how 'giftedness' and 'gifted education' is defined and understood in different regions around the globe.

PART 1. CONCEPTS OF GIFTEDNESS AND IDENTIFICATION: SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS 

PART 2: EDUCATIONAL PROVISION: PROGRAMS AND STRATEGIES

PART 3: GLOBAL RESPONSES TO EMERGING G&T PROVISION: DEFINING THE FUTURE

Part I Concepts of Giftedness and Identification: Social and Emotional Needs

Introduction

Dorothy A. Sisk

Researchers are still struggling to generate appropriate definitions and theories of giftedness in students and adults. This section addresses this struggle in the first chapter by Robert J. Sternberg, ‘Is Gifted Education on the Right Path?', in which he proposes his model Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) for identifying and developing giftedness. Sternberg stresses there is more to giftedness than intelligence. His model ACCEL can be used to develop transformational leadership to address real-world problems for a common good. Sternberg identifies skills needed for transformational leadership as analytical, creative, practical and wisdom-based ethical skills. In Chapter 2 Dorothy A. Sisk expands the definition of gifted to include spiritual intelligence. She shares the development of the theory of Spiritual Intelligence proposed by Sisk and E. Paul Torrance in their book Spiritual Intelligence: Developing Higher Consciousness (2001). Spiritual intelligence is defined as the capacity to use multi-sensory approaches including intuition, meditation and visualization to tap inner knowledge to solve problems of a global nature. Sisk views spiritual intelligence as having the capacity to integrate the multiple intelligences to solve global problems, and she agrees with Sternberg that real-world problems be addressed for a common good. In Chapter 3 ‘Exchanging Giftedness for a Better Gift’ Janet Davidson uses the literature of ‘gift giving’ to explore issues of identification and definition of giftedness. She suggests that we analyze our motivation for bestowing the designation of giftedness, and questions viewing gifted individuals as a national resource. Davidson recommends adapting a developmentally and focused definition of giftedness that is domain specific and includes psychosocial variables.

As our global world continues to become more and more multicultural, there is the issue of equity and the under-representation of culturally and linguistically different gifted students. This issue is addressed in Chapter 4, ‘Tapping the Untapped – Untold Stories: Revisiting the Concept of Giftedness Through the Mirror of Multi-Cultural India’ by Krishna Maitra and Yukti Sharma. They propose that we address the questions of ‘Where is Giftedness?’ and ‘In What Form?’ and explore the potentiality of giftedness as a construct that is responsive to the micro stories that different cultures create. This process could yield a multicultural education that would include the social, cultural and economic needs of students. This issue of access and equity is also addressed in Chapter 5, ‘Honoring Differences: Improving the Representation of Culturally Different Gifted Students Based on Equity’ by Donna Ford, Ramon Goings, Jemimah Young and Brian Wright. They call for this issue to become a top priority of educators and policy makers. They suggest a number of solutions, including involving parents, making multicultural education available for educators, hiring more teachers of color, using culturally responsive tests and materials, setting equity goals, and implementing culturally based definitions, theories and philosophies.

The relationship between creativity and genius has intrigued researchers and educators over the years, and Chapter 6, ‘Creativity and Genius’ by Dean Keith Simonton, addresses this question and discusses creativity and genius as manifestations of giftedness. He says formal education can prove irrelevant to creative development and the emergence of genius. However, even though creativity cannot be inculcated, it can be encouraged in a supportive environment in which creative potential can be realized, and students are encouraged to be open to new experiences. Equally important to the development of creative potential is the need and demand for instruments to detect creative potential that have up-to-date scoring systems.

In Chapter 7, ‘Why Bother Being Different?', Kelsey Procter Finley and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi explore the role of intrinsic motivation in excellence. This chapter discusses impediments to excellence and focuses on the psychological states and traits that are associated with intrinsic motivation that helps individuals persevere through external impediments to excellence, utilizing interviews conducted with highly creative individuals over a 20-year period.

In Chapter 8, ‘New Dynamic Approach to Measure Creativity: Implications for Identification and Education', Taisir Subhi Yamin introduces his new battery called Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPoC). It is a multivariate approach using the definition of creative process of Sandra Linke. She defines the creative process as a breakthrough discovery in any domain that causes a paradigm shift in a field.

There is increasing interest in atypical gifted learners, who are described generally as consisting of ethnic, racial and linguistic minorities, the economically disadvantaged, gifted females, twice-exceptional gifted,the gifted student with disabilities, the sexually/gender diverse, and the profoundly gifted. Intragroup characteristics of atypical gifted students need to be addressed as well as intergroup characteristics. In Chapter 9, ‘Profoundly Gifted: Outliers Among the Outliers’ by Stephanie S. Tolan, the profoundly gifted are described as a minority within a minority, with faster, wider-ranging, more intense and active mental processing affecting the child's experience of the world from birth onwards. These children are ‘out of sync', and addressing their genius potential requires a range of suitable educational strategies to meet their idiosyncratic needs. Tolan states that we need to provide them with the challenge and support they seek and get out of the way. Chapter 10, ‘Eminence in Talented Women by Domain: Issues, Similarities and Differences Utilizing the Piirto Pyramid as a Theoretical Framework’ by Jane Piirto discusses female talent in six domains. In visual arts, creative writing, science, acting, music and dance Piirto shares biographical sketches in which she found gender discrimination rife across all domains. She concludes that women battle environmental forces to rise to eminence. One area of gifted education that has shown considerable growth in both awareness and programming is that of the gifted child who is twice exceptional. In Chapter 11, ‘Accepting Exceptionality: Giftedness and ADHD’ by Kelly Lee and Richard Olenchak, they discuss the overlap of giftedness with ADHD and point out that the traits of giftedness and talent can easily be confused with those of ADHD. In addition, they identify barriers to the measurement of twice-exceptional students, such as that the two diagnoses can mask each other or downplay certain characteristics. Twice-exceptional children are also discussed in Chapter 12 by Linda Kreger Silverman in ‘Hidden Treasures: Twice Exceptional Students'. Silverman points out that it seems paradoxical to think that a child can be gifted and learning disabled at the same time; yet, they can exhibit the high intelligence and personality characteristics of gifted without the school achievement. Silverman stresses that classroom accommodations for these struggling 2e students can yield surprising success, and most of all 2e students thrive on relationships with caring teachers who see their gifts and teach to their strengths. Chapter 13 ‘Serving and Honoring Gender Diversity in Education’ by Robert Seney shares the progress that has been made in accepting the sexually/gender diverse student. Students who are gifted gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (GLBTQ) continue to be plagued by verbal harassment and physical abuse. Seney suggests that prominent GLBTQ adults be identified to serve as role models for gifted students and identification models for educators.

Over the years there has been considerable interest in the emotional development of gifted children and adults, and a need for empirical longitudinal studies. Chapter 14, ‘The Emotional Development of the Gifted and Talented’ by Joan Freeman serves to respond to this need. Freeman carried out a 35-year study on the long-term emotional effects of being gifted. She found that emotional problems among the participants in her study were due to specific challenges such as unrealistic expectations from others, grade skipping and family conflict. She noted that gifted and talented children have special emotional needs, notably exposure to the stimulation of like minds of their own age, honest communication, the opportunity to follow their interests, and acceptance as children. Along with the interest in emotional development, there has been concern over the friendships of gifted students and the gifted have often been viewed as loners.

In Chapter 15, ‘Friendships of Gifted Children and Youth: Updated Insights and Understanding’ by Bruce Shore, Tanya Chichekian, Petra Gyles and Cheryl Walker the authors refute this notion. They found in their research that the number of friends of gifted students increased at university, and social-emotional contributions were most often cited as the foundations of their friendships. One pillar on which gifted friendships were developed was competing for fun. The authors suggest that the rhetoric about gifted friendships changes from difficulty and challenge to differences in patterns and priorities. Perfectionism has been listed as a characteristic of gifted students by many researchers and educators, and Chapter l6 ‘Parental Influence on Perfectionism among Chinese Gifted Children in Hong Kong’ by Lai Kwan Chan discusses perfectionism in gifted children. She found that parenting styles or the practices of fathers and mothers did influence the development of perfectionism. She suggests an emphasis be placed on positive and effective parenting by educators and counselors to provide insight to parents on supporting their gifted children.

Reference

Sisk, D.A. and Torrance, E. P. (2001). Spiritual Intelligence: Developing Higher Consciousness. Buffalo, NY: Creative Ed. Press.

1 Is Gifted Education on the Right Path?

Robert J. Sternberg*

Introduction

Humans place themselves at the top of the evolutionary scale, whatever “the top of the evolutionary scale” happens to mean. Human attitudes toward their place in the universe are captured well by Lovejoy (1960), in his classic work, The Great Chain of Being. The general idea, which dates back to Plato and Aristotle, is that there is a Great Chain of Being, comprising, among other entities, God at the top, then humankind, and then successively lower animals. At the top of the Earthly beings are humans.

Unfortunately, perhaps, the logic of the Great Chain of Being has been extended by us humans not only across species but within-species. For example, Westerners have viewed different cultures or races of people as occupying differentially elevated and privileged positions on the Great Chain (Sternberg, 2004a; Sternberg, Grigorenko, & Kidd, 2005). Many eminent behavioral scientists, including Sir Francis Galton and Raymond Cattell, believed in some variant of the Great Chain (see https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/raymond-cattell). Moreover, traditional cross-cultural psychological studies of human intelligence involved (and still involve today) translating Euro-centric intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler intelligence scales, and then administering them to individuals in other cultures (e.g., Georgas, Weiss, Van de Vijver, & Saklofske, 2003).

But in the field of cultural studies of human intelligence, progress has be...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Advisory Editorial board
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustration List
• List of Tables
• Notes on the Editors and Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Concepts of Giftedness and Identification: Social and Emotional Needs
• Introduction
• 1 Is Gifted Education on the Right Path?
• 2 Spiritual Intelligence: Developing Higher Consciousness
• 3 Exchanging Giftedness for a Better Gift
• 4 Tapping the Untapped – Untold Stories: Revisiting the Concept of Giftedness through the Mirror of Multi-Cultural India
• 5 Honoring Differences: Improving the Representation of Culturally Different Gifted Students based on Equity
• 6 Creativity and Genius
• 7 Why Bother Being Different? The Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Creativity
• 8 New Dynamic Approach to Measure Creativity: Implications for Identification and Education
• 9 Profoundly Gifted: Outliers among the Outliers
• 10 Eminence in Talented Women by Domain: Issues, Similarities and Differences Utilizing the Piirto Pyramid as a Theoretical Framework
• 11 Accepting Exceptionality: Giftedness and ADHD
• 12 Hidden Treasures: Twice Exceptional Students
• 13 Serving and Honoring Gender Diversity in Education
• 14 The Emotional Development of the Gifted and Talented
• 15 Friendships of Gifted Children and Youth: Updated Insights and Understanding
• 16 Parental Influence on Perfectionism among Chinese Gifted Children in Hong Kong
• Part II Educational Provision: Programs and Strategies
• Introduction
• 17 Building Knowledge Bridges: Synthesising Early Years and Gifted Education Research and Practice to Provide an Optimal Start for Young Gifted Children
• 18 Engineering the Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A Case Study of the Process of Change in Education
• 19 TASC: Thinking Actively in a Social Context: A Universal Framework for Developing Thinking Skills and Problem-solving Across the Curriculum
• 20Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving: An International Collaboration
• 21 Designing Dynamic Learning Spaces for Gifted Learners: Authentic, Augmented and Actualized Places and Placements
• 22 How to Create and Sustain a Culture of Excellence that Benefits Highly Able Students to Enter Top Research Universities
• 23 Meta-analysis of 26 Forms of Academic Acceleration: Options for Elementary (Primary) and Secondary Learners with Gifts or Talents
• 24 What Works Better than the Rest? The Impact of Various Curricula Provisions for Gifted Learners
• 25 Continuum of Differentiation
• 26 The National Mentoring Program in Israel: A Model for Developing Leadership among Highly Gifted Students
• 27 Capacities, Challenges and Curriculum for Australian Learners with Exceptional Potential for English-language Learning
• 28 Career-life Counselling for the Gifted in Sub-Saharan Africa
• 29 Recognizing, Developing and Offering Talents as Educational Gifts through Living Theory Research
• Part III Global Responses to Emerging G&T Provision: Defining the Future
• Introduction
• 30 The Education of Highly Able Children in England: Challenges and Achievements
• 31 Creativity Competition for Gifted Students’ Communication and Self-Esteem Development
• 32 Gifted Education in Brazil: Historical Background, Current Practices and Research Trends
• 33 New Century Gifted Education in Mainland China
• 34 Gifted Education in Asia: Vision and Capacity
• 35 Developments and Issues of Gifted Education in Taiwan
• 36 Development of Gifted Education in Turkey
• 37 Gifted Education in Europe
• 38 Giftedness in a Context of 21st-Century Globalization
• 39 The Creative Being and Being Creative: Human and Machine Neural Networks
• 40 Gifted Education: The Future Awaits
• Conclusion
• Index