Jane Piirto

Why are there so few? (creative women: Visual artists, mathematicians, musicians)

The author rethinks a position she and Higham took in 1984 in an article in Journal For The Education of the Gifted, where she and Higham called for “differential equality” in the education of gifted girls. Looking again at well‐known psychometric, psychological, and biographical research into creative visual artists, mathematicians, and musicians, she examines these studies in terms of gender differences, and relates those findings to the developmental research now being done on girls.

A Comparison of Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities by Gender for American and Korean High School Gifted Students.

The differences between US (Ohio) gifted and talented high school students and South Korean gifted and talented high school students on the Overexcitabilities Questionnaire II (OEQ II) were investigated. The OEQ II was administered to 227 Ohio identified gifted and talented high school students (M = 88, F = 139) and to 341 high school students from four specialized high schools (one for science, one for foreign language, and two for the arts) in Seoul, Korea (M = 117; F = 224). Multiple analysis of variance by gender and country revealed that Korean males and females scored higher in psychomotor OE and that US males and females scored higher in imaginational OE. No differences were found in intellectual OE, emotional OE, or sensual OE.

Implications of Postmodern Curriculum Theory for the Education of the Talented

Postmodern curriculum theory provides a framework for educators of the gifted and talented to critique the assumptions of the field from within the field. Five overarching themes derived from postmodern literature are discussed. These are presence, origin, unity, denial of transcendence, and constitutive otherness. Five issues are subsumed beneath the themes. These are issues of discourse, the body, the canon, gender, and power and class.

Depth psychology and giftedness: Bringing soul to the field of talent development and giftedness

While the field of gifted education has relied on educational, cognitive, counseling, behavioral, developmental, and social psychology, the domain of depth psychology offers special insights into giftedness, especially with regard to individuation. The notion of passion, or the thorn (J. S. Piirto, 1999, 2002), the incurable mad spot (F. C. Reynolds 1997, 2001), the acorn (J. Hillman, 1996, 1999), the daimon (C. G. Jung, 1965); the importance of integration through the arts and through dreams; the existence of the collective unconscious; the presence of archetypes; and the transcendent psyche—all have resonance with the binary etymological idea of “gift” as both blessing and poison. Depth psychology offers a way of understanding that is physical, psychological, and spiritual.

I Live in My Own Bubble: The Values of Talented Adolescents

Values are commonly thought to be important in the construction of personal and group morality, in personality, and as a basis for living life. The Rokeach Values Survey (RVS) was administered to gifted and talented adolescents in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Two groups were compared in this study: Group I, pre-September 11, 2001 (n = 191; M = 64, F = 127); and Group II, post-September 11, 2001 (n = 96; M = 36, F = 60). Results showed that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon did not affect the values of the talented teenagers. Values were ranked thus: Terminal Values: (1) Salvation, (2) Freedom, (3) Self-Respect, (16) World of Beauty, (17) Social Recognition, (18) National Security. Instrumental Values: (1) Love, (2) Honesty, (3) Imagination (16) Obedience, (17) Politeness, (18) Cleanliness. Qualitative analysis was conducted of student essays and interviews.

A Mixed-Methods Comparison of Vocational and Identified-Gifted High School Students on the Overexcitability Questionnaire

Two groups of adolescents (N = 114), 61 identified-gifted adolescents (M = 22, F = 39) and 51 vocational school adolescents (M = 27, F = 26), were compared on the Overexcitability Questionnaire. Each of the five Overexcitability (OE) scores—Psychomotor, Sensual, Imaginational, Intellectual, and Emotional—was subjected to a two-way ANOVA by classification and gender. Any statistically significant interaction effect was further analyzed by testing the group means with six two-group comparison tests. The analyses produced the following results: (a) Differences among the Psychomotor, Sensual, and Emotional OE means were not statistically significant, and (b) the Imaginational and Intellectual OE means of the gifted male students were significantly higher than the means of the vocational female students, vocational male students, and gifted female students. The effect sizes were classified as large. A qualitative textual analysis was also conducted. The results were compared with another study of the same gifted population that used the Overexcitability Questionnaire-II.

Honoring and Suffering the Thorn: Marking, Naming, and Eldering Depth Psychology II

This is the second article advocating and explicating a depth psychological approach to the education of the talented. In this analysis we take the “thorn” on the Piirto Pyramid of Talent Development and relate it to the processes of marking, naming, and eldering/mentoring as teachers practice them. The article presents 20 ways that the imaginal, symbolic aspects of life can be acknowledged and brought forth in students, thus invoking the educare within education.

Creativity for 21st Century Skills

Currently, there is a call for 21st Century Skills, and these skills include creativity skills. This book will, perhaps help in that endeavor. These 21st Century Skills include creativity and innovation skills within a comprehensive skills framework, as suggested by one of the 21st Century Skills think tanks.

Depth Psychology and Integrity

Investigators of depth psychology turn studies of the psyche toward the unconscious, believing that the ego consciousness typically receives excessive emphasis. When depth psychology is applied to high ability and creativity, often-hidden aspects of human ability come to the fore. These include notions of the collective unconscious, the transcendence of the psyche, the presence of archetypes, unbidden, positive inspiration, and the darker side of human nature. Consequently, the gifts of bright, creative people can be both blessing and poison, and can have strong influences on moral–ethical issues. Educational implications include more attention to inspiration in the arts and the search for inner truth.

Book Reviews: Patrick Slattery. (1995). Curriculum Development in the Postmodern' Era. New York: Peter Lang

Back when most of the readers of this review went to college to learn to be teachers, we were good girls and good boys. We took our required courses and we studied pedagogy. We learned about Maslow’s hierarchy, about Ausubel’s anticipatory set, about Skinner’s rewards and punishments, Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, Piaget’s and Erikson’s stages of development. We became certified. We entered our schools in the morning and we came home at night to our families. If we weren’t teaching in our hometown, our students were themselves from families, communities, cultures that sometimes confused us. But if we didn’t have knowledge of the students’ families, communities, and culture, we didn’t mind, for our training in the sub-