Looking ahead in the field of gifted education: An interview with Dr. Joyce Vantassel‐Baska

Case studies of two highly gifted preschoolers demonstrate the widely varying abilities of children at the highest ends of the intelligence scales. The article discusses pitfalls in providing programs for the highly gifted and warns that acceleration is not enough. The author suggests that three key components — assessment, flexible scheduling and counseling —are critical to the success of any program for children with advanced intellectual gifts.     

Adventurous Navigator of the Dimensions of High Ability: An Interview with Robert J. Sternberg

Numerous resources in book form, both fiction and nonfiction, are available to assist gifted youngsters in pursuing their interests. There are books to help students explore an identified interest with greater depth and breadth, as well as to stimulate new interests. For youngsters who are already in the process of an in‐depth investigation, there are references and indexes and how‐to‐do‐it books to give assistance in skills areas. The books reviewed in this article are identified in terms of a specific conceptual model for gifted education, the Enrichment Triad Model (Renzulli, 1977), but the materials could be used in any program which focuses on the encouragement and development of students’ interests.     

Master Builder of Bridges Between Research and Practice: An Interview With Ann Robinson

Gifted students' preference to work alone is widely espoused, but studies vary widely in their explanations. We re-examined this notion in terms of motivation and social constructivism among 247 school-identified gifted and high-achieving and regular-education students in Grades 4 through 12. Survey data assessed learning style, interests, preferred learning conditions, learning-related personality, perceptions of learning support, comments about ideal learning situations, and beliefs about why some children might prefer working alone. Some general preference to working alone was found among gifted students, but this was not strong and it varied based on how the question was posed. Gifted students who felt that their work was appreciated by teachers and fellow students reported the strongest preference to work with others.     

Factors impacting teachers' argumentation instruction in their science classrooms

Science education research, reform documents and standards include scientific argumentation as a key learning goal for students. The role of the teacher is essential for implementing argumentation in part because their beliefs about argumentation can impact whether and how this science practice is integrated into their classroom. In this study, we surveyed 42 middle school science teachers and conducted follow-up interviews with 25 to investigate the factors that teachers believe impact their argumentation instruction. Teachers responded that their own learning goals had the greatest impact on their argumentation instruction while influences related to context, policy and assessment had the least impact. The minor influence of policy and assessment was in part because teachers saw a lack of alignment between these areas and the goals of argumentation. In addition, although teachers indicated that argumentation was an important learning goal, regardless of students' backgrounds and abilities, the teachers discussed argumentation in different ways. Consequently, it may be more important to help teachers understand what counts as argumentation, rather than provide a rationale for including argumentation in instruction. Finally, the act of trying out argumentation in their own classrooms, supported through resources such as curriculum, can increase teachers' confidence in teaching argumentation.     

A Journey Toward Excellence: An Interview With Bruce M. Shore

From a sample of 13,176 children with disabilities who were a part of the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study, 330 students achieved a score at the 90th percentile or higher on the Woodcock-Johnson III. These children represent some 9.1% of children who have disabilities nationally and who might be identified as gifted or academically advanced. Only 11.1% of these students were participating in programs for gifted and talented students with African Americans, Hispanics, or females significantly less likely to participate. The discussion considers the reasons behind these results and possible approaches for identifying and serving students within a current response-to-intervention approach.     

Groundbreaking Investigator of Creativity: An Interview With James C. Kaufman

The University of Redlands and Redlands Unified School District cooperate to provide a program for gifted 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. The cooperative venture began as a way to maintain a gifted program in the wake of budget cuts. In three years of operation the program has experimented with scheduling patterns, course offerings, and teacher selections. What has been learned may be of benefit to other districts considering a cooperative university/school district gifted program.     

International,high‐ability adventures: An interview with miraca gross

Research into child and youth suicide concludes that more data are needed from families directly involved in the tragedy. This article presents the insights of eight bereaved families, each of whom experienced the suicide of an adolescent son. Suicidal behavior of friends, death of a family member, personal crises and internalized anxieties were significant factors for the predominantly honor student victims. Implications are included for educational and medical professionals.