The University of Montana
Department of Mathematical Sciences

Technical report #8/2011

Creatively Gifted Students Are Not Like Other Gifted Students: Research, Theory, and Practice

Kyung Hee Kim, College of William and Mary

James C. Kaufman, Learning Research Institute, California State University at San Bernardino

John Baer, Rider University

Bharath Sriraman, The University of Montana

Lauren Skidmore, California State University at San Bernardino


Abstract

Despite this attention to the need to promote and nurture creativity of students in gifted education programs, there is an almost invisible lacuna in the way gifted education treats creatively gifted students. Exhibiting creativity may help a student in the selection process and creative-thinking activities may be part of the program itself. The special and important needs of creatively gifted students, however, are often overlooked. In contrast, a student in a gifted education program with extreme math or science or language abilities will likely be given opportunities to accelerate her math or science or language arts studies, work with a mentor in that area, or be given other opportunities related to her special area of ability and interest. Similarly, a student with outstanding music or art abilities will often be given opportunities to develop the domain-specific skills and acquire the domain-specific knowledge important in her area of special talent. But there is a rarely any program, or provision within a broader gifted/talented program, for a student who is extremely creative, but not necessarily (at least yet) highly accomplished in one particular area. This book will address the following topics:

• cultural influences on the kinds of constraints that influence creative performance, both positively and negatively
• social needs of creatively gifted students
• assessment for student selection - aligning program goals with selection procedures
• developing teachers' skills and comfort in teaching creatively gifted students
• applying a dual process (conscious/unconscious vs. explicit/implicit) model to understanding creative giftedness
• career development for creatively gifted students
• making gifted programs work for creatively gifted minority students
• engaging creatively gifted but underachieving students
• the interplay of nature and nurture in the development of creatively gifted students' thinking
• the complex relationship between intelligence and creativity
• techniques that increase and utilize creativity in play
• how to improve the critical and evaluative thinking skills of creatively gifted students in ways that enhance both idea generation and selection in the writing process

Keywords: creativity; giftedness; creativity education; gifted education; talent development; mathematics education; intelligence; pedagogy

AMS Subject Classification: None

Pre-print of Accepted Book Proposal under contract with Sense Publishers (Rotterdam) Pdf (170 KB)