Observed genetic associations with educational attainment may be due to direct or indirect genetic influences. Recent work highlights "genetic nurture," the potential effect of parents' genetics on their child's educational outcomes via rearing environments. To date, few mediating childhood environments have been tested. We used a large…

This conversation was prompted by a blog entry posted by Tim Dracup in January 2012. The subsequent e-exchange between Tim and Barry Hymer explored a number of issues central to the nature and aetiology of giftedness, confronting these issues from contrasting ontological and epistemological stances. As a result, their conversation includes…

As reported in an earlier article (Russell and McGuigan, 2014), with Nuffield Foundation support, the authors of this article have been exploring with a group of primary teachers the teaching and learning of evolution and inheritance, focusing on conceptual progression. The new National Curriculum for England requires learners to access knowledge…

Purpose: Researchers have previously shown that individual differences in measures of receptive language ability at age 12 are highly heritable. In the current study, the authors attempted to identify some of the genes responsible for the heritability of receptive language ability using a "genome-wide association" approach. Method: The…

This study of 4,274 pairs of 4-year-old twins from the Twins Early Development Study explored the magnitude of genetic and environmental effects on low expressive vocabulary skill, both as a function of general cognitive ability and as a function of the severity of expressive vocabulary impairment. Assessments were conducted through parent report…

Profiles the work of Dr. Caleb Williams Saleeby, a late 19th-century propagandist for eugenics. Eugenics is a science that deals with the transmission of hereditary racial traits, coupled with a desire to use this for the elimination of social ills. Discusses Saleeby's work with the Eugenics Education Society. (MJP)

Reviews the current theories concerning individual differences in cognitive functioning. While some argue that heredity places a genetic cap on intellectual development, others emphasize the dynamic interrelationship between cultural and environmental factors. Concludes that intelligence is more complex than the heredity advocates allow. (MJP)

This special issue of the "Courrier," a journal for professionals concerned with issues related to the physical and psychological development of children, provides (1) an overview of 25 years of internationally coordinated research, (2) a selection of papers published by the research teams, and (3) a description of the teams and their…