Giftedness Definition

Definition of Giftedness There is no unified definition of giftedness among different cultures, but all of them focus on the exceptional performance of gifted students. For instance, the US uses the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test and considers gifted students to be the top one to three percent in general intelligence ability (Terman & Oden, 1947). The National Society for the Gifted and Talented (2012) regards gifted students as “Youth with outstanding talent who perform at remarkably high levels at accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience or environment”.

Introduction

People put extraordinary attention and praise on the bright side of the gifted population, while they neglect the burdens of achievement put on

Demographic aspects

a. Family: One of the dominant debates about giftedness relates to whether the specail gifts and talents are from nature or nuture. It is notable that the family provides the breeding ground for the development of these traits (Webb et al, 2007).

b. Gender: There are gender differences with gifts; males tend to attain both higher scores and lower scores than females in quantitative reasoning. However, the social expectation of girls with gifts remains critical (Strand et al, 2006).

2. Psychological aspects

a. Perfectionism: Gifted students are often found to have perfectionist concerns as they have high standards. Too great an expectation for one’s performance can produce negative effects, leading to avoidance to failure and anxiety (Chan, 2003).

b. Underachievement: Unchallenging schoolwork is considered to be one of the common problems for students with gifts. Diezmann and Watters (2006) suggest that, if gifted students are not identified, they tend to adopt a relaxed learning approach as they are not motivated by easy tasks. This might cause serious learning difficulties when they are confronted with complex material in pursuing higher studies (Diezmann & Watters,

Core values of gifted education (i.e. high order thinking skills and creativity) are now introduced to the general classrooms in all subjects and schools under Tier I, with some special groupings to address the different students’ needs with enrichment and extension of curriculum (Education Bureau ,2012). Tier II promotes some pull out programs for training homogeneous students??? outside regular classrooms, while there is some pull out programs for students with excellent performance in specific domains (Education Bureau ,2012). Tier III is based on off-site support; there is mutual cooperation among the Gifted Education Section of EDB, the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education and other tertiary or educational institutes to provide extra and challenging learning opportunities for students with special gifts and talents nominated by their schools (Education Bureau