August 2011

Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent

Is there a meaningful difference between the student who excels with no apparent effort and one who excels through persistent diligence? Their performance and outcomes may be the same, but their paths vastly differ. Francois Gagné’s differentiated model of giftedness and talent considers behaviors that appear spontaneously easy different from those that require mastery through extensive training.

According to Gagné, giftedness is a superior natural ability whereas a talent is an ability/skill that has been developed exceptionally well.

Talent Search Model: Stanley

In the summer of 1968, Julian Stanley, a professor at Johns Hopkins University learned about a 12-year-old boy named Joe. Joe was an excellent student for his age. In fact, he could be found helping graduate students in computer science with some of their projects. To test Joe’s intelligence, Dr. Stanley arranged for Joe to take the SAT the following fall when he was in the eighth grade. It turned out that Joe scored better than most Johns Hopkins students, even though he hadn’t even started high school.

State and Federal Government Definitions of Giftedness

One of the greatest concerns parents have is whether their child’s educational needs are being met.

Terms of Giftedness

You have likely come across terms like gifted, talented, smart, precocious, savant, and genius. Do all these words have the same meaning? Are they related? Or completely different? Well, the answer, perhaps frustratingly, depends on whom you ask!

With the next few posts, we hope to begin to introduce you to what people mean when they use these different terms or concepts. Our goal with this series of posts is to help make sure everyone “speaks the same language” when talking to each other about their students and children.