Examining our foundations:<i>Implications for gifted education research</i>

Abstract

Robert Albert examined key conceptual shifts in the pertinent professional literature language over the first part of the 20th century in his 1969 American Psychologist article, “Genius: Present‐Day Status of the Concept and Its Implications for the Study of Creativity and Giftedness. “ His findings indicated profound changes in pertinent terminology in the professional knowledge base after 1945 from an emphasis on concepts such as genius, eminence, fame, and distinction to giftedness, talent, and creativity. The goal of the current project was to investigate empirically changes in conceptions of exceptional ability and performance, as reflected in the professional literature published since 1969. Over 28,000 articles were culled from three data bases: Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO and Exceptional Children Educational Resources (ECER). Conceptual themes and types of research were analyzed for a sample of the articles, drawn from the midpoint year of each decade. Significant results include: an increase in the number of articles relating to creativity; a rise in the number of practice‐oriented articles; and a small but steady increase in the number of articles employing qualitative research methods. Articles were also analyzed for evidence of a “paradigm shift” also discussed in the literature; however, the paradigm shift was not significantly reflected in practice. Implications are addressed relative to the conceptual trends in the literature and qualities of the knowledge base.