A student suggests elements of an arts curriculum for gifted and talented students. (CL)

Gifted children's education should be based on the appreciation of intellectual, artistic, or psychomotor talent with the object of developing a balanced and mature adult. The focus should not be on specially and narrowly educating talented students to improve national competitiveness and economic growth. (SK)

In response to a critique (EC 231 995) of the research bases of his three-ring conception of giftedness, the author notes selectivity and bias in the critic's methodology, raises larger issues (such as equity) underlying identification and programing for the gifted, and discusses the role of theory and the need for action. (DB)

The study evaluated speed as a factor in Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised performance with 66 high scoring and 36 average scoring children (ages 3-15 years). Results cast doubt on the utility of speed bonuses in tests of general intelligence with gifted children. (Author/DB)

Musical aptitude and behavioral adjustment were assessed in 16 mentally retarded adults nominated as having special musical interests and/or skills. Evidence of difficulties in adjustment associated with musical skill or interest was mixed, though results suggested no pervasive maladjustment among those with exceptional skill combined with mental…

Saturday programs can enrich schools' offerings to gifted/talented youths by providing in-depth, accelerated study in areas of interest, with the opportunity to study under high-level specialists. Important considerations in development of Saturday programs include teacher selection, training, and supervision; evaluation; financing; curriculum…

Professional event planners give advice on producing pleasing alumni special events. Planning elements include creating a theme, picking the place, finding talented people to help, thinking carefully about seating options, setting the mood, having clear objectives, drafting a detailed script, and managing last-minute changes. (MSE)

Highly creative children (n=100) and uncreative children (n=100) were selected from 1,450 fifth- and sixth- grade students. Comparisons using data from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking revealed significant differences in terms of quantity and quality of primary process content. Girls gave more libidinal content and boys gave more aggressive…

The validity of the Gifted Student Screening Scale was evaluated with 479 students in grades four-six. Further testing of 54 students who scored just above and just below the cutoff score indicated the test was not racially biased and that the cutoff score was probably too low. (DB)

Eight pianists with mild to moderate mental retardation and eight comparison pianists without retardation were asked to duplicate chord sequences of varying length and musical structure in an immediate memory format. All participants were sensitive to the structural dimensions of the material, and differences between groups were restricted to the…

A study of 30 female and 18 male talented high school students found significant differences on the High School Personality Questionnaire on the factors of submissiveness and tough-mindedness. Talented males also differed from comparison males. There were no differences between talented females and comparison females. (Author/DB)

Individuals possess attributes making them differently suited for excelling in particular areas. The challenge is to maintain an appropriate balance between broad educational experiences and differential expectations, responding to students' relative strengths and weaknesses. (SK)

Factors affecting creativity are environment, personality and motivational traits, biographical characteristics, and creative abilities. Creativity stems from both nature and nurture. (SK)

This study attempted to identify simple activities appropriate for use in regular classes and capable of identifying children with creative talent. Australian grade seven students, previously identified as having high or low creative ability, performed significantly differently on five such activities. (Author/DB)

The introduction to this special issue on private schools for gifted and talented students notes questions raised about such programs and summarizes the nine articles addressing specific programs. (DB)