Federal attention is focused currently on investing and improving the quality of early childhood education, so that children's potential and talent development can be used as a natural resource for the future of our country. This article engages readers in transitioning their thinking about early childhood gifted education from a traditional…

The article describes the Chapel Hill Gifted Handicapped Project (housed at the University of North Carolina) designed to develop a model and field tested curricula for gifted and handicapped preschoolers. (SBH)

Head Start children (n=446), divided into intervention and comparison groups, received programing to enhance thinking skills. Intervention group children identified as gifted also received programing in their talent area. Intervention group children, whether or not identified as gifted, made significant gains over the comparison group in cognitive…

Intended for gifted/talented staff members, the document provides a collection of curriculum ideas and suggestions for activities, books, and articles related to education of gifted and talented children. Included are materials (outlines, tables, diagrams, and articles) on the following topics: facts about famous individuals; introduction of…

Describes and evaluates a Head Start project, Bringing Out Head Start Talents, designed to train staff, parents, and volunteers to identify and develop appropriate programming for funtionally or potentially gifted children, and to develop procedures to ensure smooth transitions and appropriate programming in public schools. (BB)

A program was developed to increase teachers' and caregivers' understanding of the characteristics of young gifted children, and to provide an overview of brain development and function. The program used a variety of techniques, including yoga, guided visualization, creativity and flexible thinking skills, story writing, and kinesiology, to…

The purpose of this study was to determine the types of research methods used to study cognitive processing development in gifted learners, from 1975-1986. Of 870 research publications identified on giftedness, 522 publications (60 percent) dealt with cognitive processing development. Research designs used most frequently were causal-comparative,…

This study attempted to determine whether attendance at a traditional preschool resulted in significant cognitive gains for young children over a 3-year period. The experimental group consisted of 59 children at four preschools. Each was matched with a nonattender on such variables as age, sex, intelligence, and family characteristics. The mean…

Contained in the curriculum planning guide developed by the Chapel Hill Gifted-Handicapped Project are a model, a training sequence, and 17 instructional units for use with preschool gifted children. The model is explained to be based on the hierarchy of cognitive tasks developed by B. Bloom. A worksheet for teachers suggests activities to help…

This article describes the High/Scope Cognitively Oriented Pre-School Curriculum that recognizes that the power to learn resides in the child and focuses on active learning practices. It discusses child-initiated learning, key skills for thinking, key concepts involved in teaching thinking skills, and activities that support the development of…

Examines science education in the United Kingdom for young children with special needs in science, and the theoretical underpinnings to children's early scientific experiences. Discusses methods of identifying young children with scientific aptitude. Examines use of children's early descriptions and explanations as emergent theorizing and use of…

Forty children were divided into four groups and administered the Tower of Hanoi puzzle using static and dynamic approaches. The benefits of age and ability were indicated by significant improvement from the general failure of the four- to five-year olds to the success of the majority of the high ability seven- to eight-year olds. (Author/JDD)

This paper provides an overview of current controversial issues in early childhood education in Japan. One controversy discussed is the increasing emphasis on cognitive development in early childhood programs since World War II, especially the focus on reading and writing; and presents the controversy surrounding the task of learning Japanese and…

After participating in a 4-week demonstration project focusing on enriching skills in cognition, memory, convergent and divergent thinking, creativity, and problem solving, 68 potentially gifted 4- and 5- year-olds (many from culturally-diverse and/or low socioeconomic backgrounds) made significant gains in their ability to reason with figures and…