The researchers examined transcripts of comments made and dialogues engaged in by children, teachers and student teaching assistants during a 10-week enrichment programme for gifted and talented children aged 7-9 years. Attempts were made to match these utterances with the programme's aims and aspirations as expressed in a promotional…

This article chronicles the creative life of Ken McCluskey, the Dean of Education at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. He looks beyond the ivory tower and, indeed, reshapes the tower. Fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration are evident throughout the life and work of Dean McCluskey. He creates an innovative environment and…

Transforming education or business starts with transforming one's mind, and that inner transformation starts with opening up to--indeed welcoming--the inevitable bursts of creativity available to everyone. Sidney J Parnes, one of the world's leading experts on creative problem-solving (CPSI), innovation and creativity, said, "I…

David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), the first Prime Minister of Israel, is included in Pasternak's (2001) list of the nine most memorable leaders of the twentieth century. All of them are remembered for the reforms they initiated. Roosevelt (USA), Stalin (Russia), Castro (Cuba), and Thatcher (England) focused on social-economical changes, whereas…

This article unfolds the personal creative characteristics of an educator in the field of gifted education, and examines creativity as expressed in childhood and its transformation into adulthood. Dr. Erika Landau is a pioneer of gifted education in Israel, an internationally renowned scholar and educator, and the founder of the Young…

This article describes the characteristics and accomplishments of Maria Helena Novaes, one of the most creative school psychologists of Brazil. It identifies the people who influenced her and some of the factors that may have contributed to her achievements and rise to eminence. It highlights the numerous opportunities she received during her life…

This article explores the inner world of Sylvia Ashton-Warner, a gifted woman whose writing and teaching pedagogy earned her national and international acclaim. However, the acknowledged genius of her work is not explored herein. Rather, the inner world of a creatively gifted adult is examined, with particular reference to Dabrowski's…

Eminent individuals have made significant contributions to their fields that have impacted on fundamental knowledge and practices around the world, a description that aptly describes the world-known South African paleoanthropologist and scientist, Professor Phillip Tobias. This article presents evidence from his early childhood and schooling that…

A creative life is described with a dual perspective. Starting with the input of family and schools and crystallizing around the aspects of "spoken word" and "need of/for novelty," a scholarly career and research of new topics (in the country) developed on the one hand; on the other hand, creative activities and products in…

This article is an attempt at a systematic presentation of the knowledge of problems related to the value system of gifted persons. Psychological literature was reviewed to make the reader familiar with the concept of the value system and to present the current state of research. The problem of the value system of gifted persons was discussed from…

The primary purpose of this article is to combine both transfer of learning (hereafter, transfer) and creativity into similar processes that can increase the products of transfer and creativity. Both transfer and creativity operate within reciprocal relationships between memory storage and working memory. Moreover, they are also based on moving…

Always regarded as somewhat of an "outsider" (the child of an English-speaking (Catholic) mother and an Afrikaans (Protestant) father in an exclusively Afrikaans milieu) and growing up extremely poor, seeing the hardship of others and realising how much talent was going to waste, Kobus Maree took a particular interest in gifted disadvantaged…

Many people correctly believe that a majority of innovators come from the population of gifted and talented children. If we want to develop innovative abilities of the gifted, then a special, new direction in gifted education is needed: innovation education. This article introduces innovation education, which refers to a wide range of educational…

Drawing on a variety of research domains and traditions, this article presents a contemporary and evidence-led model for understanding the development of gifts and talents. In so doing and arguing largely--but not exclusively--from within the stance of social-constructivism, it is suggested that accounts of gift-development that emphasise the role…

Thinking outside of the box is a standard cliche for creativity. Yet an awareness of the boxed nature of new media can empower young students to think creatively about design. This article is a reflection of one teacher who led a group of young students in a series of lessons based on basic design principles related to technology. It is based on…