Gifted Child Quarterly

In 2011, Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Worrell proposed a conceptual model for talent development applicable to all domains. Although grounded in available psychological research, significant questions remain regarding practical applications of each tenet of the model. In this article, we highlight a method of implementing the model’s focus on domain-specific abilities. Mathematics was selected as a domain with sufficient literature and importance to serve as the first in a series of proposed explorations into identifying domain-specific abilities. The methodology adapts an identification procedure—that is, audition—commonly used in performance domains (e.g., dance) to determine “drop-dead” abilities needed for successful talent development—in this case, mathematics. Identifying abilities central to potential creative talent in a domain may allow us to move away from relying solely on standardized measures of general ability and academic achievement, especially for the early identification of talent.

This article presents a new theory of talent development, evolving complexity theory (ECT), in the context of the changing theoretical directions as well as the landscape of gifted education. I argue that gifted education needs a new foundation that provides a broad psychosocial basis than what the notion of giftedness can afford. A focus on talent development rather than giftedness should be based on a theory of talent development that is truly developmental, treating the developing person as an open, dynamic, and adaptive system, changing oneself adaptively while interacting with environmental opportunities and challenges. To introduce ECT, I first delineate the meaning and significance of four dimensions or “parameters” of talent development undergirding this new theory: domain, person, development, and culture. I then describe how ECT explicates the developmental processes and transitions as the result of human adaptations to environmental opportunities and challenges. More specifically, ECT uses the constructs of characteristic and maximal adaptation to elucidate how domain, person, development, and culture jointly shape a particular line of talent development, and how cognitive, affective, and social processes interact to push and sustain a critical transition from characteristic adaptation to maximal adaptation, eventually leading to high-caliber performance and creative productivity. I finally discuss the theoretical contributions and practical utilities of ECT for future research and practice.

Over the past few decades, systemic thinking has gained in popularity in developmental and learning sciences. The trend has, however, shown up in gifted education research only occasionally. The aim of this article is to introduce systemic thinking to the field of giftedness and explore possibilities for its application. In the first part, a definition of a system is provided and basic concepts of systemic thinking are introduced. In the second part, a full-fledged systemic model is introduced, the actiotope model of giftedness. In the third part, implications for gifted education are elaborated. In the discussion, the authors explain (a) how systemic thinking can make a valuable contribution to gifted education, (b) why systemic thinking will complement rather than replace current approaches to gifted education, and (c) the necessity of combining systemic thinking with other empirically testable theories.

Our century has unprecedented new challenges, which need creative solutions and deep thinking. Contemplative, deep thinking became an “endangered species” in our rushing world of Tweets, elevator pitches, and fast decisions. Here, we describe how important aspects of both creativity and deep thinking can be understood as network phenomena of conceptual and social networks. “Creative nodes” occupy highly dynamic, boundary spanning positions in social networks. Creative thinking requires alternating plasticity-dominated and rigidity-dominated mind-sets, which can be helped by dynamically changing social network structures. In the closing section, we present three case studies which demonstrate the applications of the concept in the Hungarian research student movement, the Hungarian Templeton Program, and the Youth Platform of the European Talent Support Network. These examples show how talent support programs can mobilize the power of social networks to enhance creative, deliberative, deep thinking of talented young minds, influencing social opinion, leading to community action, and developing charismatic leadership skills.

In this article, we advocate for a new movement in education, particularly an approach emphasizing blending research-based practice with practice-embedded research. We do so by describing and discussing Project Excite, a working example that demonstrates such a model in the context of gifted education. We first trace the history, the impetus, and key design elements of Project Excite, a front-loading intervention aiming to develop the potential of underrepresented students for advanced science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning from early grades. We review a line of past research and key findings on Project Excite over its 14-year journey. We then discuss the implication of Project Excite for gifted programming in gifted education. Last, we pinpoint some questions to inspire future research and practice.

Policy research in gifted education has occurred at much lower rates than other areas of research within the field, such as identification and talent development. However, without changes and implementation of these policies, systematic change is unlikely to occur. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to argue that policy research should be a top priority. To begin, we define and contrast three terms common in crafting policy—policy, advocacy, and intervention. Next, we provide a context of previous policy research in gifted education. We then detail areas in which policy research is the most critical. Finally, we conclude with action steps to engage more researchers and practitioners in policy development, implementation, and monitoring.

This article explores the learning context for talent development in public schools. Total aspects of the environment from physical space, affective elements, and pedagogical approaches affect learning. How teachers believe and perceive their roles as teachers influence instructional design and decision making. In this article, the optimal environment for developing students’ strengths and talents will be discussed and practical suggestions for “Extreme Classroom Makeovers” will be offered.

Few topics have garnered more attention in preservice teacher training and educational reform than student diversity and its influence on learning. However, the actual degree of cognitive diversity has yet to be considered regarding instructional implications for advanced learners. We used four data sets (three state-level and one national) from diverse contexts to evaluate how many students perform above grade level in English Language Arts and mathematics. Results revealed that among American elementary and middle school students, 20% to 49% in English Language Arts and 14% to 37% in mathematics scored 1 year or more above grade level. We address what these findings imply for K-12 schools, grouping decisions, and educational policies that strive to foster advanced abilities.

Online mentoring provides an effective means of extracurricular gifted education for talented girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Comparative studies on the effectiveness of one-on-one versus group mentoring are lacking, however. The authors investigated this question in the context of a Germany-wide online mentoring program that employed both approaches. Study participants were girls enrolled in high-achiever-track secondary education in Germany (N = 347) who were mentored online by female academics in STEM for 6 months, in either one-on-one (N = 156) or group mentoring (N = 191). It was assumed that the specific many-to-many group-mentoring condition examined in our study would be more effective than the one-on-one mentoring condition with respect to (a) the proportion of STEM communication and (b) the extent of STEM-related networking, both of which are important predictors of successful mentoring. Furthermore, the authors (c) expected more growth in elective intentions for the group-mentoring participants and (d) assumed that participants’ centrality in their respective STEM networks would predict this increase. The study presents empirical support for all four assumptions and thus suggests that the special form of group mentoring examined here may be a more successful measure of extracurricular gifted education for girls in STEM than one-on-one mentoring.

High-potential students from underresourced rural schools face barriers that reduce options for academic advancement, which widens the excellence gap between them and their more affluent, but similar ability peers. The goal of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an expanded above-level testing model to identify high-potential rural students for an extracurricular math and science enrichment program. Results from our analyses indicated that a more inclusive talent pool differentiated among high achievers to find greater percentages (13%) of talented students compared with most gifted programs (3% to 5%) or Talent Search programs (5%). Overall, students’ math and science scores were related to a 75% and 50%, respectively, greater odds in being identified for the extracurricular program. Regardless of program participation, all talent pool students increased their math and science achievement; however, there were some significant gender differences.

The goal of this article is to convey a summary of research and conversation on talent development on the part of a small group of European and American researchers who participated in the Inaugural American European Research Summit in Washington. In the final hours of the summit, participants discussed the state of research on talent development and giftedness and a way forward that would benefit the field and, most important, children and educators. Collectively we identified four broad themes: (1) expanding our conceptual horizons through increased exposure to international scholars, (2) shifting the paradigm of gifted education toward talent development, (3) promoting key elements of talent development in research and practice, and (4) finding the most effective policy and advocacy strategies to promote talent development.