Do the Gifted Think and Learn Differently? A Review of Recent Research and Its Implications for Instruction

Abstract

This article reviews research over the past decade involving comparative studies of gifted and nongifted populations on questions of differential cognitive styles, cognitive developmental patterns, cognitive strategy selection, and social and emotional factors associated with the academic setting. Significant differences were found in all four areas. The implications of those differences on instructional design and curricular planning are also discussed.

Exceptionally gifted children:Different minds

“…They include metacognitive knowledge and awareness, metamemory, insight and regulation of cognition. Rogers (1986) and Cheng (1993) reviewed the literature and found gifted children to exhibit significantly more of these characteristics than nongifted children. Cheng (1993) stated that there is both theoretical and empirical evidence for superior metacognitive ability being an essential component of giftedness.…”

Learning potentials of gifted students

“…Numerous studies and reviews have documented group differences in the learning potentials of gifted students and their agemates (e.g., Badad & Budoff, 1974;Kanevsky, 1990;Rogers, 1986). Keating and Bobbitt (1981) summarized their thoughts on possible sources of the differences they found in long term memory (LTM) retrieval by hypothesizing:…”

Gifted, residential education: Outcomes are largely favorable, but there are some cautions

“…Reviews of the research on the relationship between giftedness and social-emotional problems are provided by Altman (1983) and Rogers (1986). P revious studies also have addressed the relationship between attendance at boarding school and psychosocial adjustment.…”