"Talent development” is a phrase often used in reference to the education of gifted children. Recently, it has been presented by researchers to refer to a specific approach to the delivery of gifted education services.
Conceptual Frameworks for Giftedness and Talent Developmentexplores current and enduring theories and comprehensive models of giftedness and talent development. Each chapter: Covers a different model, including the Talent Development Model, advanced academics, and Evolving Complexity Theory. Includes a description of the model, theory, or framework. Shares the most important implications of eachmodel, including underrepresentation and social justice issues. Provides commentary on how each model compares to others. Includes discussion questions for use with students and professionals. The editors also consider common issues across conceptual frameworks, such as the degree to which achievement defines giftedness, the goal of gifted education, and the role of psychosocial factors. This is a comprehensive reference for scholars and practitioners in the field, as well as those studying at the graduate level.
This volume brings together experts in gifted education to explore critical perspectives in talent development across the lifespan, guiding readers toward a deeper understanding of advanced learners and their education. Chapters in the first section delve into the foundational theory, research, and models of practice underpinning gifted education and talent development, while the second section examines the practical applications of talent development in assessment, programming, and ongoing research. The book concludes with an exploration of talent throughout the lifespan, featuring detailed case vignettes to illustrate development across diverse fields of practice. Ideal for researchers as well as students of gifted education and creativity studies, this comprehensive handbook challenges readers to interrogate what they think they know about giftedness and talent development.
Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education is the definitive reference for a summary and evaluation of the literature on giftedness, gifted education, and talent development. This third edition: Presents more than 40 summaries of important topics in the field. Features updates to all topics. Introduces new topics, including neuroscience and the roles of leaders in the field. Dives into the latest research. Explores how the research applies to gifted education and the lives of gifted learners. This book also provides an objective assessment of the available knowledge on each topic, offers guidance in the application of the research, and suggests areas of needed research.
With unprecedented scope and vision, Dr. Dai systematically redefines giftedness and proposes a new framework for the field of gifted education. He identifies nine essential tensions, revolving around three core questions: What do we know about the respective roles of natural ability, environment and experiences, and personal effort in talent development? How do we identify the gifted and talented, and study the process of gifted and talent development? And finally, how do we define the aims of gifted education and promote excellence? Sure to be a milestone in the field, this book: Scrutinizes some of the deeply held assumptions about the nature of giftedness and explains why a contextual, developmental approach is a more viable alternative to the traditional psychometric approach. Takes stock of the past, defines the present, and looks into the future in terms of understanding high potential and educating youths. Tackles tensions between the gifted child and talent development movements and between excellence and equity, and responds to the “elitism” criticisms in a constructive and comprehensive way.
Modern Curriculum for Gifted and Advanced Academic Students addresses the need for advanced curriculum design in an age of national standards and 21st-century learning innovations. The text and its authors work from the assumption that the most advanced learners need a qualitatively different design of learning experiences in order to develop their potential into outstanding achievement, answering the question, “How should we design learning experiences for our most advanced academic students in the foundational curriculum areas?” This book provides the most contemporary thinking about how to design in-depth courses of study in the foundational curriculum areas with a high degree of complexity and advanced content. The book includes chapters articulating specific design components like creative thinking, critical thinking, and authentic research, but also subject-specific chapters in mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies to demonstrate application of those design components.
This is the first ever handbook on giftedness and talent development for the Asia-Pacific region. It discusses important issues for an important group of students, addresses a gap in the current understanding of gifted students in the region, traverses substantial intellectual terrain, and draws on past and present research literature. The handbook brings together contributions from 18 countries, providing a diverse, unique and comprehensive contemporary research and practice on giftedness and talent development in the Asia-Pacific region. It highlights contemporary issues and incorporates important topics such as conceptions, identification, curriculum, and programs. Chapters in the book will include a stronger focus on pedagogy that could assist researchers, academics and educators, post-graduate students, families, advocates, teachers and practitioners, and other stakeholders to support gifted students. It also informs pre-service education programs in gifted education, in-service professional learning programs, and future research and practice in this region of the world.
2017 Texas Association for Gifted and Talented Legacy Scholar Book Award 2017 National Association of Gifted Children Scholar Book of the Year Award In Excellence Gaps in Education, Jonathan A. Plucker and Scott J. Peters shine a spotlight on “excellence gaps”—the achievement gaps among subgroups of students performing at the highest levels of achievement. Much of the focus of recent education reform has been on closing gaps in achievement between students from different racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic backgrounds by bringing all students up to minimum levels of proficiency. Yet issues related to excellence gaps have been largely absent from discussions about how to improve our schools and communities. Plucker and Peters argue that these significant gaps reflect the existence of a persistent talent underclass in the United States among African American, Hispanic, Native American, and poor students, resulting in an incalculable loss of potential among our fastest growing populations. Drawing on the latest research and a wide range of national and international data, the authors outline the scope of the problem and make the case that excellence gaps should be targeted for elimination. They identify promising interventions for talent development already underway in schools and provide a detailed review of potential strategies, including universal screening, flexible grouping, targeted programs, and psychosocial interventions. Excellence Gaps in Education has the potential for changing our national conversation about equity and excellence and bringing fresh attention to the needs of high-potential students from underrepresented backgrounds.
This book brings together eminent and emerging scholars to present cutting-edge research on diverse conceptions of giftedness and talent from a range of international perspectives. It covers classical views, emphasizing IQ, but also seeks to move the academic debate on from the common exclusive emphasis on IQ-based skills. In each chapter the contributors address both theoretical advances and practical applications for administrators, teachers, and parents. The editors conclude by integrating the different points of view and showing ways in which major ideas, even when given different names, can be integrated to provide a holistic and integral viewpoint on giftedness and talent. This book will appeal to students and scholars of creativity, giftedness and gifted education; as well as to practitioners, teachers and education policymakers.
This book highlights how to conduct research in gifted education when researchers have to choose from myriad theoretical ideas, hypotheses, claims, practical models, and strategies. It shows researchers how to build clarity, rigor, and relevance into a research agenda that combats fragmentation and contributes to enhanced theoretical and practical endeavors in the field. Specifically, Paradigms of Gifted Education advocates a paradigmatic approach to conducting research in gifted education and shows how it can be done every step of the way by specifying the essential questions of What?, Why?, Who?, and How? in a coherent manner, and by selecting methods that are appropriate for the question asked and the phase of the research efforts. To facilitate the development of a research agenda, the book identifies three major paradigms of gifted education and 20 essential research questions that would help move the field forward.