The progress of each society depends a great deal on how it treats its most gifted members as well as on whether it cares about adequate development of their potentials. The basis of every progress is creativity. All modern definitions of gift or talent see creativity (besides ability, personality and motivation) as one of its fundamental characteristics. Both theoretical and practical experience show that creativity can be developed and taught if modern educational programs satisfy some fundamental criteria. Among three forms of educational support for gifted students (acceleration, separation and enrichment), we focused on enrichment of educational programs, which is the most accepted form of support. Besides two enrichment program models that are used worldwide (J. Renzulli`s Enriched Triad Model and Bloom`s Taxonomy of Knowledge) we have put special emphasis on creative workshops within the regular curriculum, but also as a part of extracurricular or optional programs. The main aim is to enable children to become aware of themselves and their environmet through some creative activities with emphasis on complete personal development and growth of each individual.
An important prerequisite for organizing a quality educational system for gifted children is well-trained teachers. In this chapter, the development of teacher competencies in gifted, through preservice teacher education coursework at the undergraduate level, is explored. Attitudes toward gifted children and their education are examined from the perspective of students enrolled at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka, Croatia. Pre-service teacher education students in both the early and preschool education program and the primary school education program were included in the research. Attitudes toward the course “Education of Gifted Children” were examined. Finally, attitudes about gifted children and their education by preservice teachers who had taken the “Education of Gifted Children” course were compared to the attitudes of those preservice teachers who had not taken the course. Results are discussed within the frame of the teachers' required competencies, attitudes, and study program modifications.
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