This article discusses the innovative minority. Gifted students differ from the average students. There are those who argue that the differences are a matter merely of quantitative degree reference studies of IQ scores, or SAT scores, which are clearly quantitative scales, and point out that gifted students appear at the top level of these scales…

This article reviews Piagetian theory on formal operational thought, the relationship of psychometric intelligence and formal operational thought, the development of formal operational thought in gifted children, problems encountered with Piagetian theory and attempts to modify it, and implications of the post-Piagetian perspective for education…