The Nature and Nurture of Giftedness

Book excerpt: With unprecedented scope and vision, Dr. Dai systematically redefines giftedness and proposes a new framework for the field of gifted education. He identifies nine essential tensions, revolving around three core questions: What do we know about the respective roles of natural ability, environment and experiences, and personal effort in talent development? How do we identify the gifted and talented, and study the process of gifted and talent development? And finally, how do we define the aims of gifted education and promote excellence? Sure to be a milestone in the field, this book: Scrutinizes some of the deeply held assumptions about the nature of giftedness and explains why a contextual, developmental approach is a more viable alternative to the traditional psychometric approach. Takes stock of the past, defines the present, and looks into the future in terms of understanding high potential and educating youths. Tackles tensions between the gifted child and talent development movements and between excellence and equity, and responds to the “elitism” criticisms in a constructive and comprehensive way.