The Nature and Nurture of Giftedness

With unprecedented scope and vision, Dr. Dai systematically redefines giftedness and proposes a new framework for the field of gifted education. He identifies nine essential tensions, revolving around three core questions: What do we know about the respective roles of natural ability, environment and experiences, and personal effort in talent development? How do we identify the gifted and talented, and study the process of gifted and talent development? And finally, how do we define the aims of gifted education and promote excellence? Sure to be a milestone in the field, this book:

• Scrutinizes some of the deeply held assumptions about the nature of giftedness and explains why a contextual, developmental approach is a more viable alternative to the traditional psychometric approach.
• Takes stock of the past, defines the present, and looks into the future in terms of understanding high potential and educating youths.
• Tackles tensions between the gifted child and talent development movements and between excellence and equity, and responds to the “elitism” criticisms in a constructive and comprehensive way.

David Yun Dai is an associate professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York.

“I would recommend this text to education administrators who are considering reform of their gifted education programs.”

—Contemporary Psychology

“Critical issues are addressed from an excitingly extended point of view that causes the reader to reexamine many long-held beliefs about giftedness.”
—Joseph S. Renzulli, Director, National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented

“The nature and nurture of giftedness is the root question underlying most of the dialogue about gifted children. In his thoughtful and original critique, David Dai takes on the old saws, reinvigorates the issues, and recasts the story based on new evidence. The book is destined to be a standard reference for the foreseeable future.”
—Laurence J. Coleman, Professor, Daso Herb Chair in Gifted Studies, Judith Herb College of Education, University of Toledo

“David Yun Dai has emerged as the leading voice in conceptualizing giftedness and gifted education. This subtle, sophisticated, nuanced, deep, and challenging book provides a new theoretical foundation for the field and a blueprint for reforming practice. A stunning achievement.”
—David Henry Feldman, Professor, Tufts University