This qualitative research study addressed this question: What influence did early environmental surroundings and family have on the talent development of a cohort of American speed skaters who each competed in four Olympic Games during the 1980s and 1990s? The skaters were Bonnie Blair, Dave Cruikshank, and Dan Jansen. Independent interviews with…

This article presents an interview with Dr. Kirsi Tirri, Professor of Education and Research Director in the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She also is a visiting Professor at St. John's University, New York, USA. Tirri served as President of the ECHA (European Council for High Ability) from…

Dr. Michael S. Matthews is professor and director of the Academically & Intellectually Gifted graduate programs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is incoming Coeditor of the "Gifted Child Quarterly" and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Gifted Children. Dr. Matthews also currently…

Previous research has linked talent development to four factors--early experience, coaching, practice, and motivation. In addition to these factors, contemporary talent experts suggest that parents play a critical role in talent development. The purpose of the present study was to uncover parents' in-time perspectives on the talent development…

Despite being unable to dress himself, sit still on a chair, or write a legible sentence, Scott was, from a very early age, able to build whole cities from construction blocks, able to complete complex puzzles, and verbally precocious. Even with his disabilities and their contrast with his academic talent, he completed K-12 school and went on to…

This article presents an interview with Camilla P. Benbow, the Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, a position she has held since 1998. Benbow began her academic career at Johns Hopkins University and subsequently taught at Iowa State University, where she was named…

"Natural acceleration" happens through an internal fire that burns to learn and may transcend school boundaries. Based on their passionate interests and connections with a domain, children who hunger for domain understandings outside school curricula require different types of acceleration, motivated by these interests. The lifeworks,…

Though there have been quite a number of research studies focusing on how Singaporean families promote literacy and instill values of academic excellence inside the home, little has been written about how families nurture the gifts of teenagers talented in the arts in the Singaporean context. This article highlights how the family influences the…

This article presents an interview with Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, director of the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University and a professor in the School of Education and Social Policy. She earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from St. Xavier University in Chicago and her master's and doctorate degrees from…

For many years Larry Coleman created and ran programs for gifted children, studied the great (and not so great) works in the field of gifted studies, then quietly went about conducting studies that became watermarks in the field. His work on stigma of giftedness, the cognitive map of expertise of a single teacher of gifted children, the importance…

This interview with Maxine Greene, educational philosopher, offers perspectives on gender issues and factors that contribute to or obstruct the development of remarkable women, as well as issues in creativity, talent development, and feminism. (Author/DB)

This article presents an interview with Jane Piirto, a Trustees' Professor at Ashland University in Ohio, Director of Talent Development Education, teaching in the departments of Curriculum and Instruction and in Educational Leadership. Her scholarly books are "Talented Children and Adults" (3 editions, latest 2007 from Prufrock Press);…

In this interview, Dr. Abraham Tannenbaum, an author and leader of numerous research projects concerning gifted and talented students, discusses homeschooling, the impact of charter schools, magnet schools, and school choice on gifted education, the Ganiech psychosocial definition of giftedness, and the development of gifted programs. (Contains 7…

Early life experiences can powerfully impact attitudes toward learning and later achievements in education. The chances for optimal development of children with special needs, including the gifted and talented, can be enhanced with identification and intervention at an early age. This paper reports on investigations into the lives of five gifted…