Second, a definition can limit the degree or level of excellence that one must attain by establishing extremely high cutoff points.Īt the conservative end of the continuum is Lewis Terman's 1926 definition of giftedness as "the top 1 percent level in general intellectual ability as measured by the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale or a comparable instrument" (p. A conservative definition, for example, might limit eligibility to academic performance and exclude other areas such as music, art, drama, leadership, public speaking, social service, and creative writing. First, a definition can limit the number of specific performance areas that are considered in determining eligibility for special programs. Restrictiveness can be expressed in two ways. Conservative and liberal are used here not in their political connotations, but rather according to the degree of restrictiveness that is used in determining who is eligible for special programs and services. One way of analyzing the research underlying conceptions of giftedness is to review existing definitions along a continuum ranging from conservative to liberal. Still others point out that, to the extent that the phenomenon of the gifted and talented is subject to different interpretations and assessment strategies based on one's values and beliefs, consequently with different criteria and outcomes, it reflects a social construction rather than an objective reality. Rather, they emphasize the emergence of gifted and talented behaviors among children in more authentic contexts as a result of both genetic and environmental influences, involving motivational as well as cognitive processes. Other scholars are more cautious about bestowing the title of gifted and talented for some children by mere virtue of their test performance while treating the rest as nongifted. Some scholars in the field attribute children's outstanding performance on IQ or culturally defined domains largely to their constitutional makeup (e.g., a neurological advantage), reminiscent of the position of Francis Galton (1822–1911), an early pioneer of behavioral genetics and intelligence testing. The phenomenon of gifted and talented children is easier to describe than explain. Although efforts have been made to differentiate the two terms, with giftedness referring to natural (spontaneously demonstrated) abilities, and talents referring to systematically developed abilities, such differentiation proves difficult, if not impossible, in practice, as no reliable measures exist to tease apart the constitutional and acquired parts of individual differences in human abilities. ![]() However, the term gifted as used in educational contexts (e.g., gifted child or gifted performance) is descriptive rather than explanatory. The term gifted children has a connotation that the outstanding potential they demonstrate is largely a natural endowment. Thus different standards are used when the term is applied to children as opposed to adults. For children to be identified as gifted and talented, they need to demonstrate outstanding potential or promise rather than mature, expert performance. The term gifted and talented is often used in tandem to describe both a wide range of human exceptional performance, and people who display such high levels of competence in culturally valued domains or socially useful forms of expression.
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