National trends and issues that concern gifted education are considered, focusing on the relationships among regular education, early childhood education, and education of young children who are gifted. Specific topics include: whole language and emergent literacy, whole group instruction and flexible grouping, cooperative learning, and…

Ways to explore blowing bubbles through observation, experimentation, and discovery are suggested to stimulate gifted children, with attention to such areas as the function of film in the liquid and the reason for the common spherical shape of bubbles. Experiments that children can try and tips for the teacher are presented. (SW)

Major topics and geographic locations of articles on gifted education issues were identified for 180 newspaper articles published between January 1986 and December 1994. The majority of articles pertained to schools (32%), followed by those focusing on attitudes (22%), funding (16%), and enrollment/minorities (11%). (SW)

The importance of balancing content instruction with instruction in higher level thinking skills for gifted students is emphasized. The article recommends providing students with sophisticated content, relating that content to essential underlying generalizations and principles, and then concentrating on thinking skills. (SW)

Issues regarding the identification of students who are both gifted and learning disabled are considered, along with some teaching suggestions. The identification process often begins with the regular classroom teacher. Included is an observational checklist for teachers to use in referring a child for further evaluation. (SW)