Gifted education 2017: My top picks for interesting, controversial, and thought-provoking articles from the past year

Here are my top ten 2017 picks for articles reflecting trends and findings related to giftedness. They include opinion pieces and research on gifted education, STEM, psychological factors and work life. There were many great articles to choose from, but these stood out as diverse examples from what this past year had to offer.


Connecting psychology research to gifted education practice

"How do students think and learn? What motivates students? Why are social context, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being important to student learning?"

Ability grouping and acceleration can help teachers and school leaders

"Our review of published research results found that most forms of ability grouping and academic acceleration succeed in addressing the needs of advanced learners without harming (and even helping) learning in other students."

High intelligence: A risk factor for psychological and physiological overexcitabilities

"Preliminary findings strongly support a hyper brain/hyper body association which may have substantial individual and societal implications and warrants further investigation..."


Spatial skills: A neglected dimension of early STEM education

"The importance of spatial skills is often overlooked as a key feature of STEM education. The frequent neglect of spatial development creates an additional barrier to children's STEM learning."


Why educators trained in neuroscience continue to believe in neuromyths

"Researchers found that most of us still believe long-debunked myths such as the left-brained paradigm and learning styles theory. What's more troubling is that having a background in neuroscience doesn't appear to reduce these beliefs..."


The lay of the gifted land

"You can see that gifted across the nation is like the wild west. There is no law controlling entity so many states and districts decide what they will and will not do. Some have a sheriff who keeps the order and makes sure the gifted community is being protected. Others have no one looking out for gifted and so it gets pushed aside."

Disengaged students, part 1: How did American anti-intellectualism 

begin?

"Anti-intellectualism and the accompanying disinterest in educational pursuits is a nationwide epidemic and that the number of students who simply do not care about what is being taught has never been higher."


Why female students leave STEM

"Georgetown University researchers explored what drives women who entered a STEM major to switch to something else. Their findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, show that the answer is a complex combination of factors..."


Misinterpreting the growth mindset: Why we're doing students a disservice

"She [Carol Dweck] states that a growth mindset is not merely about effort, praise, feeling good, running around saying 'I can', believing everyone is smart, or used to explain why some students are not learning."

Why your IQ strongly influences your success at work

"The researchers reviewed dozens of studies and found that smarter people generally perform better at work...The really surprising bit is that, while being smart is more important the more complicated your job is - think a lawyer or an accountant - it's even meaningful for relatively uncomplicated jobs."


Also, please see my top ten list of Best 2017 articles about music and music education.

Let me know of exceptional articles or blog posts from the past year in the comments section below. (Note: I did not include blogs posts from the many talented writers in the gifted education field, since I would not have had room for all of them!)


Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday and a happy New Year!