Positive creativity is creativity that makes the world a better place--that makes a positive, meaningful, and potentially enduring difference to the world. Positive creativity can be a bit of a slippery concept in that, what is positive to one person or one group may be neutral or even negative to another group. Much of teaching young people for…

In this article, I discuss the application of an augmented theory of successful intelligence to identification, teaching, and assessment of the gifted in STEM disciplines. The theory holds that giftedness in STEM (as well as in other fields) can be understood in terms of an integration of creative, analytical, practical, and wisdom-based skills.…

This article introduces the concept of adaptive intelligence--the intelligence one needs to adapt to current problems and anticipate future problems of real-world environments--and discusses its implications for education. Adaptive intelligence involves not only promoting one's own ability to survive and thrive, but also that of others in one's…

Serious identification of the gifted started with the work of Lewis Terman early in the 20th century. Terman's model, based largely on IQ, may have made sense in the early 20th century, but it no longer makes sense today. The problems that society needs its gifted individuals to solve in the 21st century require much more than IQ--in addition to…

The most important knowledge and skills a college education should develop in young people are those underlying good character, such as integrity, responsibility, work ethic, intellectual curiosity, mental flexibility, and wisdom. When leaders fail, most frequently it is because of issues of character, not lack of knowledge or intellectual…

What is, or should be, the role of ethics in giftedness? In this article, I consider why ethical behavior is much harder to come by than one would expect. Ethical behavior requires completion of a series of eight steps to action, the failure of any one of which may result in a person, even one who is ethically well trained, to act in a manner that…

This article discusses how to teach for wisdom, intelligence and creativity. It briefly discusses how to teach analytically, creatively and practically, and presents examples on each.

This book is a scholarly overview of the modern concepts, definitions, and theories of intellectual giftedness, and of past and current developments in the field of gifted education. The authors consider, in some detail, the roles of intelligence, creativity, and wisdom in giftedness and the interaction between culture and giftedness, as well as…

Ethical reasoning is a way of thinking about issues of right and wrong. Processes of reasoning can be taught, and school is an appropriate place to teach them. The reason is that, although parents and religious schools may teach ethics, they do not always teach ethical reasoning--or at least, they do not always do so with great success. They may…

In this article, the author discusses how it is time for higher education to think seriously about alternatives to the traditional undergraduate "major," which, in the large majority of cases, tends to be focused on just a single field of inquiry. The author observes that the current idea of a major (or minor) subject may have made more sense in a…

In the United States as well as in much of the developed world, many of us tend to take for granted that children who do well on teacher-made and standardized tests are intelligent. But different cultures have different views of intelligence, so which children are considered intelligent may vary from one culture to another. Moreover, the acts that…

A four-prong instructional model for intellectual-skills development is described. The four prongs are: familiarization, intra-group problem solving, inter-group problem solving, and individual problem solving. A psychological model of what is to be taught, the triarchic theory of human intelligence, provides the underpinning of the instructional…

In this paper, we highlight the importance for teachers of having sound practical skills in interacting with students, parents, administrators and other teachers, and argue that the development of such skills is often insufficiently considered in professional training. We then present a new framework for conceptualizing practical skills in dealing…

The triarchic theory of human cognition posits three types of cognitive skills: analytical, creative, and practical. Triarchic teaching means teaching to students' strengths and weaknesses. This article shows how the model can be successfully applied to improve schools' existing reading programs. (Contains 13 references.) (MLH)

Students are often taught subject matter in college in a way that emphasizes memorizing material. At least as important as memorizing is thinking critically, but at least as important as thinking critically is thinking creatively. This article presents 10 tips for how to guide students to think creatively. It is based on the notion that,…