Korean Concepts of Giftedness and the Self-Perceived Characteristics of Students Selected for Gifted Programs

Fostering creativity among gifted students has become forefront as an important element in Korea’s future economic prosperity. Since the passage of a gifted education act in 2002, all K-12 schools have been developing gifted programs. The first of two studies examines Koreans ’ concept of giftedness based on the implicit theory. Three hundred twenty-eight Koreans including scientists, parents, teachers, and college students described their concept of giftedness, which includes intelligence, task commitment, creativity, interpersonal relationship, moral sense, and artistic talent. The second study explores self-reported characteristics of Korean students identified as gifted and whether identification criteria for giftedness miss creative students by emphasizing IQ and achievement scores. One thousand one hundred fifty-four students (469 gifted in sciences, 285 gifted in humanities, and 400 regular students) answered a questionnaire developed from the first study. The results indicate that students identified as gifted tend to have higher intelligence and task commitment than regular students, but tend not to differ from regular students in creativity when compared to Renzulli’s three rings concept of giftedness—above average ability, task commitment, and creativity. Sternberg (1995) theorized that constructs of giftedness consist of two separate theories, implicit and explicit. Implicit theories ar