Thirty years ago, researchers published what was to become an extremely controversial finding: 12-year-old males were 13 times as likely as females to score over 700 on the SAT-Math, putting them at the top 0.01% (one in ten thousand) in mathematical ability. The controversy was in part about whether these differences were the result of nature (biology/genetics) or of nurture (socialization). The debate has continued throughout the past 30 years.

When looking at various programs or schools for your child, you may come across discussions of various programs being taught with different learning styles. The idea of different people having different learning styles has become increasingly popular. In fact, there are a great many educational products being marketed to help match individuals with their specific learning style. You may hear people say things such as, “I am a visual learner,” implying that they learn better when the material is taught visually rather than verbally.

What happens to gifted kids when they grow up? A hundred years ago, people feared that early ripe would lead to early rot, with gifted children growing up to lead difficult adulthoods. Numerous counterexamples have diminished that belief. Today, a more common discussion is about the differences between gifted males and females. One particularly well discussed difference commonly found between gifted males and females are their preferences.

As parents of a gifted child, you are surely interested in his or her education. However, education need not stop at the classroom door. In fact, a recent multi-national study by Australian and American researchers found that the number of books in the home is associated with large education attainment differences. The fact that the number of books in the home is related to subsequent educational outcomes is hardly surprising. But how much so might grab your attention.