In this article, I describe the 21 ideas underlying a 42-year search to understand giftedness. I present the ideas roughly chronologically, in the order in which they arose, and discuss how in a career as in science, progress means supplementing or even superseding one idea with the next. In terms of the 21 ideas, I start with a discussion of how…

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 goal of this article is to summarize current brain research on intelligence and creativity that may be relevant to education in the near future. Five issues are addressed: (a) Why is there a neuroscience interest in intelligence? (b) Can intelligence be located in the brain? (c) Why are some brains smarter than others? (d) What do we know…

Although frequently discounted, imagery plays an important role in the intellectual development of gifted students. It can be useful in helping students remember, create (in the arts and in sports), and develop flexibility in thinking. Imagery may also be involved in gifted adolescents' career and life decisions. (CL)

This paper reviews research showing problem finding to be distinct from problem solving and research supporting the role of problem finding in intrinsically motivated creative performances. The paper concludes that problem finding represents a family of related skills, each of which seems to be influenced by cognitive and extracognitive factors.…

Reviews cognitive processes, control mechanisms, and structures in creative thinking, and examines the way these aspects of cognition develop from childhood to adulthood. The cognitive definition of creativity, cognitive approaches to novelty production, creativity and cognitive development, and mechanisms guiding cognitive processes are explored.…

Fifty-four gifted adolescents performed a creative generation task in which they imagined and drew fruit that might exist on another planet. They developed fruit that was rated as more original than developed by college students, and did so regardless of whether they were explicitly instructed to be more creative. (CR)

Reviews studies on the cognitive mechanisms underlying creative thought and proposes a general model. This model holds that creative thought involves interactions among a number of distinct cognitive components. Some of the implications of this model for the design of effective educational programs are discussed. (Author/CR)

This article examines the relationship of cognitive processing and creativity and argues that educational interventions contribute to the development of creative thinking skills when they provide requisite knowledge structures and stress controlled application of these processes in solving progressively more complex problems. (DB)

An historical review of the alleged association between creativity and madness is followed by highlights from recent research in psychiatry and psychology that address this relationship. The nature of this link is explored from the perspective of several disciplines, and implications for the creative process in gifted education are discussed.…

This paper examines cognitive capacities and dispositional characteristics that contribute to creative problem solving, including relationship generation skills, expertise, adaptability, and wisdom. The paper argues that programs for gifted and talented students should develop the beliefs, values, and motives that will encourage students to apply…

This article presents an analysis of patterns of giftedness based on the triarchic theory of intelligence. The analysis distinguishes among seven different patterns of giftedness and includes: the Analyzer, the Creator, the Practitioner, the Analytical Creator, the Analytical Practitioners, the Creative Practitioner, and the Consummate Balancer.…

Describes the creativity classification system, a taxonomy of creativity that integrates nine dimensions of creative activity (contact, conscience, interest, fantasy, incubation, creative contact, inspiration, production, and verification). The system is used to categorize measures of creativity to help practitioners apply test results to a…

This article discusses using the Cognitive Assessment System based on the PASS theory, which centers on Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive cognitive processes, for identifying gifted children. It is argued that this more extensive and inclusive measure of intelligences could identify gifted children who would not traditionally be…

Four artistic people of various ages were interviewed concerning their conscious and unconscious thought during creative activity, emotions which precipitated creative activity and intermingled with cognition, and intrinsic motivators and rewards. The interviews supported research regarding the internal forces of creativity. (Author/JDD)