Definitions and Conceptions of Giftedness

The expert guide to the conceptualization of giftedness and talent!

At last, the most predominant and compelling theories on the specific nature of giftedness and talent are available in a single volume! With the wealth of hands-on research in Definitions and Conceptions of Giftedness, the reader will gain a clearer conception of what it means to be gifted.

Key features include:

• Robert J. Sternberg′s insightful coverage of the critical developments and lingering questions educators must address in order to make more informed decisions about student placements
• Thirteen influential articles from leading researchers and educators in the field of gifted education
• Profiles of gifted and talented students and suggestions for expanding conventional notions of giftedness

Explore the multiple faces of giftedness and talent, learn about the validity of available assessments, and discover the numerous opportunities educators have to foster the development of giftedness and talent in its many forms.

The ERGE Series:

The National Association for Gifted Children series Essential Readings in Gifted Education is a 12-volume collection of seminal articles from Gifted Child Quarterly. Put the knowledge and power of more than 25 years of research on giftedness and talent into your hands with the leading theories, studies, and findings the experts in the field have to offer.

Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He formerly was IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale. His BA is from Yale summa cum laude and his PhD is from Stanford. He also holds 13 honorary doctorates. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Sternberg has been cited over 150,000 times and is among the most frequently cited authors in psychology textbooks. He is the winner of the APS Williams James Award and the APS James McKeen Cattell Award and of the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology. He is married to Karin Sternberg and has five children: Seth, Sara, Samuel, Brittany, and Melody.

Sally M. Reis is a professor and the department head of the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Connecticut where she also serves as principal investigator of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. She was a teacher for 15 years, 11 of which were spent working with gifted students on the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. She has authored more than 130 articles, 9 books, 40 book chapters, and numerous monographs and technical reports.  Her research interests are related to special populations of gifted and tal-ented students, including: students with learning disabilities, gifted females and diverse groups of talented students. She is also interested in extensions of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model for both gifted and talented students and as a way to expand offerings and provide general enrichment to identify talents and potentials in students who have not been previously identified as gifted. She has traveled extensively conducting workshops and providing profes-sional development for school districts on gifted education, enrichment programs, and talent development programs. She is co-author of The Schoolwide Enrichment Model, The Secondary Triad Model, Dilemmas in Talent Development in the Middle Years, and a book published in 1998 about women’s talent development titled Work Left Undone: Choices and Compromises of Talented Females. Sally serves on several editorial boards, including the Gifted Child Quarterly, and is a past president of the National Association for Gifted Children.