TalentEd

Annotated Bibliography

DEFINITION / IDENTIFICATION

Ackerman, C.M. (1997) Identifying gifted adolescents using personality characteristics: Dabrowski's overexcitabilities. Roeper Review, 19 (4), 229-235.

"An exploratory study was conducted to determine the potential of overexcitability assessment as a method for identifying giftedness beyond traditional means. ... In a group of high school students, discriminant analyses indicated that overexcitability (OE) profiles in the areas of psychomotor, intellectual, and emotional overexcitabilities differentiated between gifted and nongifted students. Approximately 35% of the nonidentified students had the same profile as the gifted subjects, suggesting the potential of OE profiles for use in the identification of gifted students." (p.229)

 

Aiken, L.R. (1987) Assessment of Intellectual Functioning. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (153.93/A291a)

"Emphasis is on the techniques and utility of measuring cognitive abilities in educational, clinical, and occupational contexts. Detailed descriptions are given of the most popular procedures for administering, scoring, and interpreting individual and group intelligence tests. In addition to thorough descriptions of many different individual and group tests, the book provides sufficient coverage of psychometric concepts and methods to serve as a framework for interpreting test results and guiding the student, practitioner, or researcher in the appropriate selection and usage of these instruments. Theoretical conceptions of the nature of mental abilities and research on the origins of cognitive abilities and their relationships to other variables are also dealt with at length." (p.vii)

 

Ainley, M.D. (1993) A developmental perspective on the motivation of gifted and talented students. The Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 2 (2), 4-9.

"Using a multidimensional model which represents student motivation in terms of styles of engagement with learning, patterns of change in styles from Year 7 to Year 9 and Year 11 were assessed for 19 gifted female students. ... Among the gifted students at each year level there were some marked differences in their style of engagement with learning. Comparisons between the three year levels are made and the patterns of change provide evidence of some adaptive changes occurring." (p.4)

 

Austin, L.B. & Shore, B.M. (1993) Concept mapping of high and average achieving students and experts. European Journal For High Ability, 4 (2), 180-195.

"Three high-performing junior college students, three average performing junior college students and two university teachers constructed maps using 22 electricity concepts. ... It was found that the concept maps constructed by high performing students differed from those of average performing students and closely resembled the concept maps of physics experts, especially when the quality of the links between concepts was taken into account." (p.180)

 

Baldwin, A.Y. (1984) Baldwin Identification Matrix 2. New York: Trillium Press. (CR371.952/B181b)

Contains the teacher's handbook and sets of forms.

 

Ball, C., Mann, L. & Stamm, C. (1994) Decision making in intellectually gifted adolescents. In J. Edwards (Ed.), Thinking: International Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Highett: Hawker Brownlow Education. pp.147-156. (153.42/T443, 1994)

"We found significant performance differences between gifted and non-gifted adolescents on key measures such as metacognitive knowledge pertaining to the strategy components of decision making, use of efficient decision search strategies, and the ability to 'tune' probability information appropriately. However, many of these tasks were performed successfully by students who were gifted or not, and not all gifted students displayed these skills. Therefore, performance differences between gifted and non-gifted adolescents suggest quantitative rather than qualitative differences." (p.155)

 

Banbury, M.M. & Wellington, B. (1989) Designing and using peer nomination forms. Gifted Child Quarterly, 33 (4), 161-164.

"Screening, grouping for co-operative learning, discovering special abilities, and designing unique assignments are suggested as possible purposes. ...Direct and disguised styles of item construction are explained. The article concludes with instructions for implementation...." (p. 161).

 

Baum, S.M., Owen, S.V. & Oreck, B.A. (1996) Talent beyond words: Identification of potential talent in dance and music in elementary students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40 (2), 93-101. [See under Music]

 

Berninger, V.W. & Yates, C.M. (1993) Formal operational thought in the gifted: A post-Piagetian perspective. Roeper Review, 15 (4), 220-224.

"The relationship between IQ and Piagetian formal operational thought is significant but only of moderate magnitude. Nevertheless, gifted students seem to enter the formal operational thought stage earlier and to move more quickly through it than do average students. ... An emerging post-Piagetian perspective is discussed with emphasis on its educational implications for the gifted - especially the importance of taking into account not only developmental level in the general cognitive domain but also developmental level within specific cognitive domains." p.224.

 

Borland, J.H. & Wright, L. (1994) Identifying young, potentially gifted, economically disadvantaged students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 38 (4), 164-171.

"In this paper we present a rationale for and a description of the procedures developed by the staff of Project Synergy for identifying economically disadvantaged, potentially gifted kindergarten students in urban schools. This approach emphasizes the development of site-appropriate methods, observation, dynamic assessment, and the concept of best performance; it de-emphasizes the use of standardized tests." (p.164)

 

Boyd, R. (1981) Towards moral autonomy. A study of academically talented senior primary/junior secondary school pupils. New Horizons in Education, 65, 20-23.

Found that "the academically talented primary school and Year 7 groups were more ready to disagree with statements suggesting external controls and social prejudices than the large random group of children." (p.20)

 

Braggett, E.J. (1983) IQ 130+: A study of individual and family backgrounds. Education Research and Perspectives, 19 (1), 72-84.

"Evidence is presented concerning children's play activities, toys, and television viewing habits, together with specific details of parental encouragement and support." (p.72) Based upon a study of 25 four-year-old gifted children.

 

Braggett, E.J. (1984) The 'developmental spurter': A study of accelerated development in young children. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 9 (3), 8-13.

Suggests two reasons for the scarcity of published material on gifted young children -

(1) "there is a tradition in early childhood education that 'all-round development' is important and that to stress one aspect of development may result in the neglect of others" (p.8), and

(2) "the abilities of most young children are assumed to be relatively undifferentiated." (p.9)

 

Cahan, S. & Gejman, A. (1993) Constancy of IQ scores among gifted children. Roeper Review, 15 (3), 140-143.

"The extent of IQ score decline revealed in the present study was less than that generally found in the literature. Indeed, 86% of the subjects were again defined as gifted on the basis of the second test administration. These results support the assumption of 'constancy' that underlies early identification of students for gifted programs on the basis of IQ test scores, at least throughout the first years of elementary school." (p.143)

 

Callahan, C.M., Tomlinson, C.A. & Pizzat, P.M. (Eds) (1993) Contexts for Promise: Noteworthy Practices and Innovations in the Identification of Gifted Students. Charlottesville: University of Virginia. (Q371.95/C761)

"Our review of the new practices which are emerging in the field of identification and the particular chapters included in this monograph suggest that some clear directions are emerging which merit attention from those who are in a position to influence decisions about the identification procedures in local schools." e.g., 'Acceptance of intelligence as multi-faceted', 'Emphasis on authentic assessment tools and assessment over time', 'Strong links between the identification process and instruction', 'Collaborative efforts', 'Early and on-going plans and procedures to evaluate the process', 'Relationships with the General Educational Reform Movement'. (pp.iv-vii)

 

Carr, M., Alexander, J. & Schwanenflugel, P. (1996) Where gifted children do and do not excel on metacognitive tasks. Roeper Review, 18 (3), 212-217.

"We argue that metacognitive abilities might be incorporated as additional criteria for entry into programs for the gifted beyond standard intelligence measures. Several identification methods which include metacognitive information are discussed." p.212.

 

Ceci, S.J. (1991) How much does schooling influence general intelligence and its cognitive components? A reassessment of the evidence. Developmental Psychology, 27 (5), 703-722.

"The data suggest that much of the causal pathway between IQ and schooling points in the direction of the importance of the quantity of schooling one attains (highest grade successfully completed). Schooling fosters the development of cognitive processes that underpin performance on most IQ tests. In western nations, schooling conveys this influence on IQ and cognition through practices that appear unrelated to systematic variation in quality of schools. If correct, this could have implications for the meaning one attaches to IQ in screening and prediction as well as for efforts to influence the development of IQ through changes in schooling practices." (p.703)

 

Coleman, L.J. (1994) Portfolio assessment: A key to identifying hidden talents and empowering teachers of young children. Gifted Child Quarterly, 38 (2), 65-69.

Based on a program for children in kindergarten to Year 3. "Portfolios are an important step in making assessment more relevant to programming. Our discipline needs to devote more study to the problem of connecting identification to programming and instruction. This project is a provocative step toward bringing that problem to the attention of the field." (p.69)

 

Crocker, A.C. & Kingston, V. (1994) Can young children rank themselves for academic ability? Some further findings. Looking To Their Future, Autumn, 7-9.

"81 children between the ages of 4.5 and 7.5 were studied to see whether they could rank themselves and each other for academic ability. All could, although the limitations for the youngest were the small number of fellow classmates that they knew and their commitment to non-academic criteria for making their judgements. Quite clearly children down-rated any of their peers that they did not like whilst not showing any evidence of up-rating those that they did like. The majority of the findings supported the earlier work of Crocker and Cheeseman (1988), when looking at somewhat older children, namely that children rapidly absorbed and used the evaluative criteria that their teacher used in the classroom." (p.7)

 

Culross, R. (1989) Measurement issues in the screening and selection of the gifted. Roeper Review, 12 (2), 76-78.

"Problems inherent to both the screening and selection phases of the process are discussed, and recommendations for practice and for future research are given." (p.76)

 

Davidson, J.E. & Sternberg, R.J. (1984) The role of insight in intellectual giftedness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28 (2), 58-64.

Proposes a 'subtheory of intellectual giftedness' with more emphasis on insight which involves three processes - selective encoding, combination and comparison.

 

Davidson, K. (1986) The case against formal identification. The Gifted Child Today, 9 (6), 7-11, 49.

"A formal identification procedure which relies on check-list nomination forms and tests is at the very least unreliable and at the worst discriminatory and limiting, particularly if the procedure includes a point system with a cut-off minimum." (p.10) Includes responses from Howard Gardner, Bruce Shore and Joseph Renzulli.

 

Deakin, M. (1975) The Children on the Hill. London: Quartet Books. (155.455/D278c)

The story of an extraordinary family which raises important questions about the nature and nurture of giftedness.

 

Denton, C. & Postlethwaite, K. (1985) Able Children: Identifying Them in the Classroom. Windsor: NFER - Nelson. (371.952/D415A)

"We suggest that those who seek to make judgements of the abilities of pupils should be encouraged to develop strategies that rely more on the day-to-day clues to ability that pupils display, as a result of the challenges set to them, than on test measures of performance." (p.145)

 

Derevensky, J. & Coleman, E.B. (1989) Gifted children's fears. Gifted Child Quarterly, 33 (2), 65-68.

"The present study investigated the fears of intellectually gifted children and compared them with those of children of normal intelligence. The results suggest that their fears are consistent with their developmental level, are realistic, and display considerable frustration, helplessness, and pessimism concerning their future. Their fears were found to be similar to those of older 'normal' children and to reflect advanced cognitive and social awareness." (p. 65).

 

Devitt, G. & Watt, T. (1980) Identifying gifted children through a camp. Education (WA), 29 (4), 10-12.

"The camp proved to be an effective means of identifying gifted children from a large number of schools ... (giving) the opportunity for concentrated observation of the child in a number of situations." (p.12)

 

Duda, J.L. & Nicholls, J.G. (1992) Dimensions of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84 (3), 290-299.

"The present findings suggest that although the classroom is often characterized as ego involving in climate, it may be more likely than sport to foster instrinsic involvement, regardless of the students' perceptions of competence. ... These results might suggest caution to those who seek to raise the importance of academic work by giving it more of the trappings of competitive sport." (p.297)

 

Eales, C. (1999) To better understand testing. Gifted, 108, 28-30.

Discusses the use and misuse of several present and past IQ tests. 'If we regard testing in a healthy way, we must consider it as one of many pieces of the jigsaw and not set too great a store by it. After all it compares any given individual only with age peers. Most of the world's high fliers would have no idea of their IQ scores.' (p.30)

 

Eysenck, H.J. versus Kamin, L. (1986) Intelligence: The Battle for the Mind. London: Macmillan. (153.92/E98I)

"Professor Eysenck seeks to persuade us that genetic factors determine not only our intelligence but many other aspects of behaviour as well. Professor Kamin argues with equal determination that intelligence is shaped primarily by environmental factors." (p.6)

 

Fatouros, C. (1986) Early identification of gifted children is crucial ... but how should we go about it? Gifted Education International, 4, 24-28.

A review of identification procedures suitable for use in the preschool and infants school.

 

Feldman, D.H. (1984) A follow-up of subjects scoring above 180 IQ in Terman's "Genetic Studies of Genius". Exceptional Children, 50 (6), 518-523.

Concludes that "the positive extreme of the IQ distribution is not as different from other IQ levels as might have been expected. ... Whild 180 IQ suggests the ability to do academic work with relative ease, it does not signify a qualitatively different organization of mind. It also does not suggest the presence of 'genius' in its common-sense meaning, i.e. transcendent achievement in some field. For these kinds of phenomena, IQ seems at best a crude predictor." (p.522)

 

Feldman, D.H. (1993) Child prodigies: A distinctive form of giftedness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 37 (4), 188-193.

"In particular, prodigies represent one of the profiles of giftedness that has been more or less excluded from most current definitions: the highly specialized and focused talent for a particular domain or field. Prodigies also help us begin to sort out the relationship between broad, general academic talent and more domain-specific talents. It appears that any of several combinations can occur: general academic talent can exist in combination with domain-specific talents, or each can occur in the relative absence of the other." (p.188)

 

Fern, T.L. (1991) Identifying the gifted humorist. Roeper Review, 14 (1), 30-34.

"The purpose of this study was to identify gifted humorists, and to explore various cognitive, motivational, and socio-affective factors that influence their ability to produce humor." (p.30)

 

Frasier, M.M., Hunsaker, S.L., Lee, J., Mitchell, S., Cramond, B., Krisel, S., Garcia, J.H., Martin, D., Frank, E. & Finley, V.S. (1995) Core Attributes of Giftedness: A Foundation for Recognizing the Gifted Potential of Minority and Economically Disadvantaged Students. Storrs: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. (Q371.956/R43295210)

"A qualitative content analysis method was used to analze phrases and sentences in literature on the gifted to establish core attributes of giftedness. ... Ten core attributes were identified: communication skills, imagination/creativity, humor, inquiry, insight, interests, memory, motivation, problem-solving, and reasoning." (p.v)

 

Freeman, J. (1980) Gifted Children. Lancaster: MTP Press. (305.23/F855G)

Contains an extensive introductory section on giftedness and then reports findings from the author's research (the Gulbenkian Project) comparing children labelled gifted with those of equal ability but not labelled, as well as a normal control group.

 

Frydman, M. & Lynn, R. (1992) The general intelligence and spatial abilities of gifted young Belgian chess players. British Journal of Psychology, 83, 233-235.

"Thirty-three tournament-level young Belgian chess players aged 8 to 13 were tested with the French WISC .... The mean full scale IQ = 121, verbal IQ = 109 and performance IQ = 129. The results suggest that a high level of general intelligence and of spatial ability are necessary to achieve a high standard of play in chess. The high spatial ability of these young chess players suggested by the high performance IQs may go some way towards explaining why males tend to be more numerous than females among high-standard chess players." (p.233)

 

Gagne, F. (1994) Are teachers really poor talent detectors? Comments on Pegnato and Birch's (1959) study of the effectiveness and efficiency of various identification techniques. Gifted Child Quarterly, 38 (3), 124-126.

"The conclusion of this short analysis is quite clear: education in the field should stop citing Pegnato and Birch's (1959) study as proof of poor teacher judgment in identifying gifted and talneted children; their data do not support such a sweeping judgment. Furthermore, a quite different picture appears to emerge from more recent research on this subject." (p.126)

 

Gagne, F. (1993) Constructs and models pertaining to exceptional human abilities. In K.A. Heller, F.J. Monks & A.H. Passow (Eds) International Handbook of Research and Development of Giftedness and Talent. Oxford: Pergamon. pp.69-87. (371.95/H477i)

Discusses 'the constituents of giftedness and talent', his own model, 'the problem of the threshold', 'the problem of the reference group' and suggests some ways forward.

 

Gagne, F. (1989) Peer nominations as a psychometric instrument: Many questions asked but few answered. Gifted Child Quarterly, 33 (2), 53-58.

"Teachers and professionals should be careful in using peer nominating forms and interpreting their scores, since none of these forms has been the subject of an extensive validation process." (p. 53)

 

Gardner, H. (1984) Assessing intelligences: A comment on 'Testing intelligence without I.Q. tests'. Phi Delta Kappan, 65 (10), 699-700.

A response to Sternberg's article. Puts Gardner's alternative view that "all normal human beings possess at least seven basic intellectual competences or 'intelligences': linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. ... In this view, there is no general 'brightness' or 'smartness'. People can be 'smart' or 'dumb' in one area, but this tells us nothing about their intelligence in other domains." (pp.699-700)

 

Gardner, H. & Ellison, J. (1984) The seven frames of mind. Psychology Today, 18 (6), 20-26.

"Gardner: Nothing would make me happier than if society were to stop measuring people in terms of some unitary dimension called 'intelligence'. Instead, I would like us to think in terms of intellectual strengths. I'd like to get rid of numbers entirely and simply say that an individual is, let's say, relatively stronger in language than in logic, even though he or she might be well above the norm in both. Because after all, the norm is irrelevant. If you manage to change the way people talk about things, parents and teachers may begin to think and talk about intellectual proclivities rather than just how 'smart' a child is. And if we begin to accept these new terms, we can stop labeling one another as smart or dumb". (p.26)

 

Gibson, K.L. (1992) Ensuring identification of disadvantaged and culturally diverse gifted students in Queensland. The Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 1 (2), 27-30.

Concludes that "the Frasier - Talent Assessment profile appears to be a viable method for identification of gifted children from disadvantaged and culturally diverse populations in Queensland schools." (p.30)

 

Gould, S.J. (1992) The Mismeasure of Man. Harmondsworth: Penguin. (153.93/G698m, 1984)

"From nineteenth-century craniometry (literally, the measurement of skulls) to today's vastly sophisticated methods of IQ testing, he traces the history of scientists' attempts to assess human intelligence. Along the way he tackles the fundamental problems: the very idea of measurement seems reductive, suggesting that biology is destiny; moreover, as he vividly demonstrates, scientists' theories have too often been dangerous reflections of their own personal motives and racial/class/sexual prejudices." (Cover notes)

 

Hadaway, N. & Marek-Schroer, M.F. (1992) Multidimensional assessment of the gifted minority student. Roeper Review, 15 (2), 73-77.

"Research has documented the underrepresentation of minority children in gifted programs. This article highlights some of the problems inherent in traditional screening measures for giftedness and suggests the student portfolio as a promising alternative for the identification of gifted children, especially those from special populations." (p.73)

 

Harter, S. (1982) The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87-97.

A self-report instrument. "Emphasis is placed on the assessment of a child's sense of competence across different domains, instead of viewing perceived competence as a unitary construct." (p.87) Includes subscales for (a) cognitive, (b) social, (c) physical, (d) general self-worth.

 

Hatch, T. & Gardner, H. (1997) If Binet had looked beyond the classroom: The assessment of multiple intelligences. Our Gifted Children, 4 (2), 2-10.

Discusses some possible alternative forms of assessment, with reference to Arts PROPEL, the Key School and Project Spectrum. "Turning our attention to alternative forms of assessment might eventually increase our ability to address the strengths and weaknesses of each student. It is bracing to imagine a school that does not depend on tests, but utilises a variety of methods to engage and assess the abilities of each individual. Such a school may help us to educate every child, including those with abilities as varied as Gandhi, Graham and Picasso." (p.9)

 

Heller, K.A. & Feldhusen, J.F. (Eds) (1986) Identifying and Nurturing the Gifted. Toronto: Hans Huber. (371.95/W927, 1985)

Summarises the results of one of the major symposia held during the Sixth World Conference on Gifted and Talented Children in Hamburg in 1985.

 

Hemery, D. (1991) Sporting Excellence: What Makes a Champion? London: Collins Willow. (796/H488s, 1991)

"To me it is obvious that throughout this survey we have been looking at human endeavour, something which transcends the outcome of any contest and is not limited to sport. I believe that if any of these individuals had put their thoughts , enthusiasm and energies into another area in which they had a reasonably good amount of talent, they could have become high achievers in that area. Interestingly, they are all very 'normal' people. They are not freaks of nature." (p.267) Includes chapters on 'Courage and risk taking', 'Childhood and growing up', 'Personal attributes', 'The mind is key', 'Creativity, visualization and imagery', 'Concentration and control'.

 

Herskovits, M. & Gefferth, E. (1992) Locus of control as an important factor in teacher's rating of highly able children. Gifted Education International, 8 (2), 79-84.

"Internal control can influence teachers' ratings in two ways. The teacher can evaluate a child with poorer abilities but with a strong internal control as able thus promoting the child's development in a favourable way. But it can also be the case that the teacher does not recognize the ability of a child with both good potentials and a very - or perhaps too - strong internal control. Our results support the presumption that internal control is a mediating factor in the actualisation of abilities." (p.79)

 

Huggins, L. (1995) Peer identification of GATS. TalentEd, 48, 1-2.

Discusses pitfalls in using peer nomination, based upon her experience at a NSW high school.

 

Kanevsky, L. (1995) Learning potentials of gifted students. Roeper Review, 17 (3), 157-163.

"Group differences between gifted and nongifted students are examined as well as inter-individual differences between gifted students and intra-individual differences within a gifted student. Three sets of factors contribute to these differences: intellectual, non-intellectual, and environmental. Intellectual factors are further discussed in three clusters: general knowledge, information processing efficiency and metacognitive skills and knowledge." (p.157)

 

Karnes, F.A. & Bean, S.M. (1992) The Process Skills Rating Scales: Assessment instruments for teachers, parents, and students. Roeper Review, 15 (2), 78-79.

"The Process Skills Rating Scales were constructed to assess the abilities of students at the elementary and secondary levels in 12 areas: Verbal Communication Skills (Speech, Group Discussion, Interviewing, and Debate); Receptive/Nonverbal Communication Skills; Written Communication Skills; Personal Growth and Human Relations Skills; Independent Study; Scientific Research Skills; Library Research; Critical Thinking and Reasoning Skills; and Creative Thinking Skills. Forms are available for students, teachers, and parents. Information on the construction of the 12 instruments and the application for their use is given." (p.78)

 

Karnes, M.B. & Johnson, L.J. (1986) Early identification and programming for young gifted/talented handicapped. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 6 (1), 50-61.

"This article examines issues in identification and programming for young gifted/talented handicapped children and explores factors that have inhibited these efforts." (p.50)

 

Kubinger, K.D. (1998) Psychological assessment of high ability: Worldwide-used Wechsler's intelligence scales and their psychometric shortcomings. High Ability Studies, 9 (2), 237-251.

'The well-known Wechsler's scales are analyzed and evaluated. Based on psychometric models, especially the Rasch model, analyses are made of some German editions, which show that hardly a single subtest scores fairly. That is, the true extent of testees' abilities will not be correctly represented by the scores obtained under current scoring rules. Since many of the items of the analyzed editions correspond to items of the American edition (WISC-R), the same shortcomings must also be suspect for that test battery.' (p.237)

 

Lockert, J. (1997) Identifying gifted preschoolers: Appropriate practices. Agate, 11 (2), 12-20. [See under Early Childhood]

 

Louis, B. & Lewis, M. (1992) Parental beliefs about giftedness in young children and their relation to actual ability level. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36 (1), 27-31.

"Our findings suggest that parents are good judges of the gifted status of their preschool children. Sixty-one percent of the parents who brought their children for testing in fact had higher IQ (132 or above) children." (p.29) "Higher IQ children in our study were ranked higher on skills such as memory, abstract thinking, and creativity-imagination. These are skills which are believed to be traits underlying gifted performance in many areas. Lower IQ children, in contrast, were ranked higher on skills such as knowledge of body parts, alphabet, and numbers. These are skills which require rote learning and which show up as not having a gifted advantage." (p.30)

 

Luftig, R.L. & Nichols, M.L. (1991) An assessment of the social status and perceived personality and school traits of gifted students by non-gifted peers. Roeper Review, 13 (3), 148-152.

"This study investigated the social status of gifted elementary pupils enrolled in an educational pull-out program with their non-gifted peers. ... Strong gender differences were found in that while gifted boys were the most popular of the four gifted x gender groups, gifted girls were the least popular." (p.148)

 

MacLeod, G., Rankin, M. & Wright, B. (1989) An analysis of experienced and student teachers' definition of the concept of intelligence. Unicorn, 15 (3), 157-162.

"Among the experienced teachers, there was a tendency for the more purely intellectual aspects of intelligence - reasoning, learning, problem-solving, comprehension - to be given greater emphasis..." (p. 161) Teachers of younger children gave more emphasis to non-intellectual aspects such as motivation, maturity, social behaviour and ability to cope with school. Student teachers focused more on motivation and on creativity.

Primary/infants teachers' preferred method of copying with differences in intelligence was grouping whereas secondary teachers' preference was 'teaching to the middle'.

 

McGreevy, A. (1992) All in the golden afternoon: The early life of Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll). Gifted Child Quarterly, 36 (1), 6-10.

"The author concludes that by examining the early years of eminent individuals, we are better able to analyze nurturing environments and document those qualities, characteristics, responses, and events that describe the phenomenon we call giftedness." (p.6)

 

McGuffog, C., Feiring, C. & Lewis, M. (1987) The diverse profile of the extremely gifted child. Roeper Review, 10 (2), 82-89.

"Profiles of extremely gifted children under the age of four are presented." (p.82) These reveal that "giftedness does not fall within any particular stereotype of behavioral or familial pattern." (p.84)

 

McLeod, J. (1982) All the questions about identifying gifted students that you were afraid to ask - or were unaware of - and some answers. Readings on the Education of the Talented Child, 4, 19-37.

Aims to show that "we should at least pause to consider the effectiveness and propriety of our procedures for identifying gifted students before blindly going hell for leather into the much more appealing business of implementing programs without worrying too much whether or not we are implementing them with the appropriate children." (p.20)

 

Martinson, R.A. (1977) The Identification of the Gifted and Talented. Reston: Council for Exceptional Children. (371.952/M386I)

Notes that the "assumption has been made too often that gifted children are not to be found in certain groups; as a result, they have remained unidentified and largely invisible." (p.100) Covers a variety of screening measures and has a section on identification of the gifted and talented among the disadvantaged.

 

Massé, L. & Gagné, F. (1996) Should self-nominations be allowed in peer nomination forms? Gifted Child Quarterly, 40 (1), 24-30.

"Because self-nominations appear to have no adverse effect on the ability rankings resulting from peer nomination procedures, and because children insist that they be allowed to nominate themselves, we recommend that self-nominations be permitted, particularly at the high school level where self-perceptions of abilities are more modest and accurate. ... To improve the accuracy of self-nominations and control for the tendency of students to overuse them, it is recommended that examiners mention in the directions to the students that their self-nominations will be compared to those of peers and teachers." p.24.

 

Matthews, D.J. (1988) Raven's Matrices in the identification of giftedness. Roeper Review, 10 (3), 159-162.

"Reliability, validity and fairness of the tests are discussed, followed by a comparison with other tests of intelligence." (p.159)

 

Mitchell, B.M. (1988) A strategy for the identification of the culturally different gifted/talented child. Roeper Review, 10 (3), 163-165.

A procedure for identification using a modified quota system and a 'gifted/talented student behavior scale' is discussed.

 

Morelock, M.J. (1995) Giftedness: The view from within. Gifted, 89, 5, 7-9.

Uses case studies to illustrate the notion of asynchronous development. "The Columbus group definition calls for a shift of focus from the external products of giftedness to the true nature of the phenomenon itself. This shift to a view from within is an important move towards both understanding giftedness and understanding our gifted." (p.9)

 

Olszewski-Kubilius, P.M., Kulieke, M.J. & Krasney, N. (1988) Personality dimensions of gifted adolescents: A review of the empirical literature. Gifted Child Quarterly, 32 (4), 347-352.

"1. When differences are found between gifted students and their nongifted, same-age peers, they tend to be favorable to gifted students. ...

2. Although some research suggests that gifted students resemble older groups of individuals, other research finds no consistent patterns to these differences. ...

3. Gifted females and gifted males are more similar than different on personality profiles. ...

4. Gifted achievers differ in personality from gifted underachievers. Achievers tend to be higher in responsibility and measures of self-control or internal control." (pp.351-352)

 

Pledgie, T.K. (1982) Giftedness among handicapped children: Identification and programming development. Journal of Special Education, 16 (2), 221-227.

Discusses "(a) developing staff sensitivity to the existence of gifted students who are also handicapped; (b) formulating an identification process that will not allow the weaknesses of children to mask their giftedness; and (c) developing a transdisciplinary team approach ... in creating an individualized educational program for each child." (p.221)

 

Pletan, M.D., Robinson, N.M., Berninger, V.W. & Abbott, R.D. (1995) Parents' observations of kindergartners who are advanced in mathematical reasoning. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 19 (1), 30-44.

"Five factors were found to characterize the parents' responses: (a) a general intellectual factor, (b) short- and long-term memory, (c) rote (rehearsed) memory, (d) spatial reasoning, and (e) specific relational knowledge. It was concluded that parents can indeed identify young children who are advanced in mathematical reasoning and can describe that mathematical behavior in coherent ways." (p.30)

 

Plucker, J.A. (1996) Wherefore art thou, Multiple Intelligences? Alternative assessments for identifying talent in ethnically diverse and low income students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 40 (2), 81-92.

"This study investigates the reliability and validity of a battery of instruments based on MI theory, including teacher checklists and performance-based assessment activities. The purpose in developing the instruments was the identification of talent in culturally diverse and/or low income kindergarten and first grade students. Results suggest acceptable evidence of reliability but raise questions about the validity of the assessments." (p.81)

 

Powell, P.M. (1987) Genius. Roeper Review, 10 (2), 96-100.

"This article is an attempt to define genius. Six conceptions of genius are reviewed and a seventh is advanced. ... Geniuses have in common intellectual brilliance in the analytic and synthetic modes." (p.96)

 

Prakash, M.S. & Waks, L.J. (1985) Four conceptions of excellence. Teachers College Record, 87 (1), 79-101.

Notes that despite a frenzy of activity to promote excellence in education "there has been surprisingly little critical public discussion about the meaning of excellence as an educational goal." (p.79) Outlines four possible conceptions of education - "the technical, the rational, the personal, and the social, and their respective standards of educational excellence are mental proficiency, disciplinary initiation, self-actualization, and social responsibility." (p.79)

 

Pyryt, M.C. & Mendaglio, S. (1993) Using Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration to understand and help gifted people. Agate, 7 (2), 7-12.

Provides an overview of this theory which "presents a unique perspective on the role of conflict as a component of mental growth." (p.7) Notes that "many gifted people, because of their emotional sensitivity ..., are likely to suffer internal conflicts when they experience the discrepancy between 'what is' and 'what ought to be.' Rather than viewing such conflicts as negative, the theory views such existential struggles as positive indicators of developmental potential." (p.10) Implications for identification and for counselling are discussed.

 

Radford, J. (1990) Child Prodigies and Exceptional Early Achievers. New York: Free Press. (155.455/R128c)

"The general view taken here is that prodigies are not unique, except in the sense that every individual is unique. But they are by definition very rare. How rare depends on the definition." (p.200) Cites numerous case studies and research studies across a wide range of domains, including artists, leaders, calculators and mathematicians, sports and games.

 

Renzulli, J.S. (1978) What makes giftedness? Re-examining a definition. Phi Delta Kappan, 60 (3), 180-184, 261.

Sees giftedness as the interaction of above-average general abilities, high levels of task commitment, and high levels of creativity.

 

Renzulli, J.S. (1980) Will the gifted child movement be alive and well in 1990? Phi Delta Kappan, 24 (1), 3-9.

Argues that we need to think in terms of 'gifted behaviour' rather than 'being gifted', and outlines his revolving-door approach for promoting such behaviour.

 

Renzulli, J.S. (1984) The triad/revolving door system: A research-based approach to identification and programming for the gifted and talented. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28 (4), 163-171.

Explains and argues for the Revolving Door Identification Model - 'programs for the gifted that rely on traditional identification procedures may not be serving the wrong students, but they are certainly excluding large numbers of well-above-average pupils who, given the opportunity, are capable of producing equally good products." (p.171)

 

Renzulli, J.S. (1988) A decade of dialogue on the three-ring conception of giftedness. Roeper Review, 11 (1), 18-25.

This article examines some of the commentary and criticism that has been directed toward the three-ring conception of giftedness since its original publication in 1978. Reactions to various interpretations of the concept are discussed, recent research dealing with the development of gifted behaviors is presented, and modifications in the original theory are described." (p.18)

 

Renzulli, J.S. Reis, S.M. & Smith, L.H. (1981) The revolving-door model: A new way of identifying the gifted. Phi Delta Kappan, 62 (9), 648-649.

"The authors scrap the 'you-have-it or you don't-have-it' approach to giftedness. In its place they posit the revolving door model, which allows students to move into and out of special programs and opens these programs for gifted students to new clients." (p.648) Access to special enrichment programs would depend on commitment as well as potential.

 

Richert, E.S. (1987) Rampant problems and promising practices in the identification of disadvantaged gifted students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 31 (4), 149-154.

"The purposes of this article are to define problems in the identification of disadvantaged gifted students and to describe promising practices that identify students with gifted potential among various groups of disadvantaged students." (p.149)

 

Rimm, S.B. (1983) PRIDE: Preschool and Kindergarten Interest Descriptor. Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education. (CR371.952/R577p)

"The purpose of PRIDE is to identify children with attitudes and interests usually associated with preschool and kindergarten creativity." (p.1) Comprises a sample questionnaire and the Manual for Administration.

 

Rosenbach, J.H. & Rusch, R.R. (1991) IQ and achievement: 1930s to 1980s. Psychology in the Schools, 28 (4), 304-309.

"One hundred thirty-eight fifth-grade students from three upstate New York school districts were administered a 1930s version of the Pintner General Ability Tests: Verbal Series. Scores from this test were compared and correlated with scores from current IQ and achievement tests. The Pintner means were similar to those of the current IQ tests; the correlations of the Pintner with the other tests were of the same order as those typically reported among contemporary measures; and item difficulty, as indicated by rank order, appeared similar for the current sample and the 1930s norm groups. The findings are discussed with reference to research that has shown sharp increases in IQs of Americans since the 1930s and questions concerning changes in mental ability measures." (p.304)

 

Runco, M.A. (1997) Is every child gifted? Roeper Review, 19 (4), 220-224.

"Definitions of giftedness now tend to recognize creative talents, but the most recent techniques for assessing creativity, which rely on productivity, may cause certain problems for gifted education. ... Children who have potential but need support, encouragement, and practice will be overlooked in favor of those children who already know how to construct and present socially meaningful products. This article concludes that, although we must be careful with broad and inclusive definitions of talent, we should leave productivity requirements out of definitions of giftedness." (p.220)

 

Schlesinger, B. (1987) Considerations in the identification of the talented child from non-English speaking backgrounds. Gifted Education International, 4 (3), 160-162.

"This paper suggests that in considering the culturally diverse talented child, there is a need to incorporate a multicultural perspective to the identification process." (p.160)

 

Sinclair, R. (1994) Giftedness and intelligence testing. TalentEd, 45, 9-13.

"Ultimately, pursuit of the question 'Heredity or Environment?' or even 'What proportion of heredity and/or environment?' is futile because it is meaningless. Clearly, environment and heredity interact all of the time to produce whatever outcomes can be 'measured' by whatever instruments we are able to devise to determine levels of what we think might be the phenomenon of intelligence." (p.10)

 

Slate, J.R., Jones, C.H., Coulter, C. & Covert, T.L. (1992) Practitioners' administration and scoring of the WISC-R: Evidence that we do err. Journal of School Psychology, 30, 77-82.

"Numerous mistakes were observed, such as failure to record examinee responses, assigning too few or too many points to answers, inappropriate questioning, and failure to obtain correct basals or ceilings. Subtests and subtest items on which practitioners are prone to err were identified. Examiner errors, when corrected, resulted in changes in the Full Scale IQ that had the potential to influence labeling and placement decisions." (p.77)

 

Sparrow, S.S. & Gurland, S.T. (1998) Assessment of gifted children with the WISC-III. In A. Prifitera & D.H. Saklofske (Eds), WISC-III Clinical Use and Interpretation (pp.59-72). San Diego: Academic Press.

Discusses nontypical gifted children, ceiling effects, cultural bias, timed subtests, and the need for flexibility in the interpretation of scores.

 

Stanley, J.C. (1984) Use of general and specific aptitude measures in identification: Some principles and certain cautions. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28 (4), 177 180.

Offers ten 'precautions' e.g. "Identifying intellectually talented youths before age 7 or so is more difficult and less valid than at later ages, but one does need to get started early on a properly tentative basis." (p.178)

 

Sternberg, R.J. (1998) What does it mean to be smart? Our Gifted Children, 4 (4), 21-24.

'A Yale study, based on the premise that intelligence has analytical, creative and practical aspects, shows that if schools start valuing all three, they may find that thousands of kids are smarter than they think.' (p.21)

 

Sternberg, R.J. (1984) Testing intelligence without I.Q. tests. Phi Delta Kappan, 65 (10), 694-698.

"In this article I suggest what might be done to supplement, and perhaps someday replace, existing I.Q. tests. I also propose a new set of standards for intelligence tests - consequentiality of test material, measuring speed selection rather than speed, minimizing demands on prior knowledge, minimizing test anxiety, and developing a theoretical basis for testing - that go beyond the 'psychometric standards' presented in test manuals and interpretive literature." (p.694-5)

 

Sternberg, R.J. (Ed.) (1985) Human Abilities: An Information-Processing Approach. New York: W.H. Freeman. (153/S839h)

Information-processing psychologists "seek to understand human abilities in terms of the basic mental mechanisms that underlie intelligent behavior." (p.4) Includes chapters on 'general intellectual ability', 'problem solving ability', 'mathematical ability' and seven others.

 

Sternberg, R.J. & Clinkenbeard, P.R. (1995) The triarchic model applied to identifying, teaching, and assessing gifted children. Roeper Review, 17 (4), 255-260.

"The article considers why a unified model of identification, instruction, and assessment is important, and why this model should be broader than most of the models currently in use. Following a discussion regarding the use of the triarchic model as a potential one for such use, a program of identification, instruction, and assessment for gifted high school students learning psychology is described based upon the triarchic model. Data from an initial application of this program are introduced as well as claims demonstrating how the triarchic model can be applied in fields beyond psychology." (p.255)

 

Sternberg, R.J. & Zhang, L. (1995) What do we mean by giftedness? A pentagonal implicit theory. Gifted Child Quarterly, 39 (2), 88-94.

"First, we discuss what an implicit theory is and why such theories are important. Second, we describe the pentagonal theory, specifying five conditions claimed to be individually necessary and jointly sufficient for a person to be labeled as gifted. These conditions help us understand not only why some people are labeled as gifted but also why some others are not. Third, we consider the relation of the pentagonal theory to explicit theories of giftedness. Fourth, we present data supporting the theory. Finally, we discuss some implications of the pentagonal theory for gifted education." (p.88)

 

Tannenbaum, A. (1992) Early signs of giftedness: Research and commentary. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 15 (2), 104-133.

"What does come through clearly from studies of child prodigies is that the frequency of unfulfilled promise among them shows how limited the early signs of precocity can be in forecasting future success." (p.114) "Nobody knows what kinds of personality respond best to what kinds of upbringing. But one fact is self-evident: the relationship between nature and nurture is interdependent. Children with superior inner resources can fulfill their promise only if the nurturance they receive is 'tailor-made' to meet their special needs; but without the requisite inner resources in a child, no amount (or type) of nurturance can make the difference between mediocrity and excellence." (p.128)

 

Tilsley, P. (1995) The use of tests and test data in identification or recognition of high ability. Flying High, 2, 43-50.

"The role of testing in alternative models of educational practice [the DIP model (Definition-Identification-Provision) vs the PEP model (Provision-Evaluation-Provision)] is first discussed followed by detailed consideration of issues affecting the choice of tests and the interpretation of test data." (p.43)

 

Tolan, S.S. (1985) The exceptionally gifted child in school. G/C/T, 41, 22-26.

"It's important for parents and exceptionally gifted children alike to understand educators do not misunderstand on purpose. What is normal for us is simply not believable to them; it's as if we are living in another dimension, trying to explain our world. They know their own world and its rules. After all, it has been suggested that schools that must educate the majority of the population should no more be expected to educate the 150+ child than to educate the severely retarded." (p.23) Provides a parent's perspective.

 

Tyerman, M.J. (1986) Gifted children and their identification: Learning ability not intelligence. Gifted Education International, 4 (2), 81-84.

"The limitations of conventional intelligence tests are explored together with an analysis of some tests which have been used across cultures." (p.81)

 

Van Tassel-Baska, J. (1983) Profiles of precocity: The 1982 Midwest Talent Search finalists. Gifted Child Quarterly, 27 (3), 139-144.

Reports upon these children's hobbies and interests, reading interests, favourite school subject (maths for 61%), career aspirations, parental data, evidence of early signs of gifted behaviour (most could read before they started school), etc.

 

Weber, P. (1999) Mental models and the identification of young gifted students: A tale of two boys. Roeper Review, 21 (3), 183-188.

'The description of one student, at different academic levels, illustrates the need for early identification of, and programming for, gifted students. Factors that influence the reluctance of classroom teachers to identify young students are discussed briefly and mental models are introduced as the underlying reason for this resistance, influencing the attitudes and behaviors that teachers display toward gifted students. Without altering these mental models to some degree, there is little chance that the identification of young children for gifted programs will improve. The article concludes with suggestions in effecting such changes.' (p.183)

 

Weber, P. & Battaglia, C. (1982) The Identi-Form System for Gifted Programs. Buffalo: D.O.K. (371.952/W375I)

Covers some aspects of program design as well as identification procedures.

 

Whybra, J. (1992) Exceptionally able children: A whole school approach. Gifted Education International, 8 (2), 86-92. [See under Provision: General]

 

Wiley, J. & Goldstein, D. (1991) Sex, handedness and allergy: Are they related to academic giftedness? Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 14 (4), 412-422.

"In agreement with Benbow's findings, the highly gifted (those with extremely high scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test) were disproportionately male. However, the present study failed to replicate the finding that the highly gifted were more likely to be left-handed and to have allergies." (p.412)

 

Wright, L. & Borland, J.H. (1993) Using early childhood developmental portfolios in the identification and education of young, economically disadvantaged, potentially gifted students. Roeper Review, 15 (4), 205-210.

Describes the elements of the Early Childhood Developmental Portfolio and the strategies employed in compiling it. Parental involvement is sought via the 'Let-me-tell-you-about-my-child' cards and teachers complete 'Notable moment' cards. "Our experience with Early Childhood Developmental Portfolios has convinced us that this approach to educational assessment and related practices is rich in potential for educators concerned with gifted students, especially, but not limited to, gifted students who are economically disadvantaged." (p.209)

 

Zorman, R. (1997) Eureka: The cross-cultural model for identification of hidden talent through enrichment. Roeper Review, 20 (1), 54-61.

'The Eureka cross-cultural model represents an attempt to deal with the challenges of uncovering hidden talent among children fromn different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds by exposing them to enrichment experiences related to their culture and environment. Throughout the process of enrichment, children's behaviors are carefully observed and recorded. Their products are collected and evaluated, as well.' (p.55)


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