Using a grounded theory approach to the study of historical texts and an expert interview, this study investigates culturally embedded conceptions of giftedness as evidenced in one of the most important Iranian literary canons, The Gulistan, to guide the development of education and programming for gifted and talented students in Iran. The Gulistan depicts the real world in its stories. Historically, The Gulistan has provided guidance to gifted and wise individuals regarding how to live life. Investigating these conceptions in The Gulistan’s stories gives us significant insight into what historically has counted as giftedness in the Iranian culture. Main themes arising from this study include Saheb Ferasat (insighted), Shukhdideh (wit), Dana & Aghel (practical intelligent), Kheradmand (wise), and Hakim (sage). This study is an exploration of an approach to developing an Iranian conception of giftedness that is embedded in the culture. The framework and findings may be of interest to scholars, policy makers, and educators in various roles.

In this article, we present a hierarchical model for teaching scientific thinking to gifted students. This article follows up on an article published 40 years ago in this journal. The problem now, as 40 years ago, is that gifted students often are taught science courses at a more intensive level, but without their truly learning how to think scientifically. We argue that students of science need not only learn the content of science courses, but also learn, at a deep level, how to think scientifically. Our model addresses the issue of what this deep level consists of. Level I involves Teaching Scientific Knowledge. Level II involves Teaching Scientific Problem Solving. Level III involves the deepest level of scientific thinking: Teaching Scientific Problem Finding. We end the article with conclusions about these issues.

In this study, we examined students’ experiences regarding precollege engineering curricula, classroom environments, and their experiences with the creative process in two engineering courses offered in a university-based summer enrichment program. Applying provisional and open coding to interview data from 16 participants, an Input–Process–Outcome Model of Collaborative Creativity (IPOCC model) was developed. The IPOCC model expands the 4P model of creativity to incorporate more collaborative contexts. The IPOCC model suggests that in K–12 collaborative practice, creativity involves group-level considerations in addition to individual-level components. The IPOCC model offers insights for educators in terms of input components, group processes, and mediating factors that can facilitate learners’ engagement in creative teamwork. The findings of this study indicated that a combination of challenging tasks, open-ended problems, and student teamwork provides a rich environment for learners’ engagement to think creatively.

Using a grounded theory approach to the study of historical texts and an expert interview, we developed the Iranian hierarchical wisdom model (IHWM; Karami & Ghahremani, 2016). According to IHWM, there are three levels to wisdom: practical intelligence, wise, and sage. In this article, we discuss the model and elaborate on it. Next, we examine how the IHWM is connected to Sternberg’s Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership Model (ACCEL; Sternberg, 2017). We discuss the importance of advanced thinking skills in both models. The other similarity between the two models is the importance of making positive, meaningful, and enduring differences to the world. However, the IHWM’s priority is self-actualization and personal integrity. Further, IHWM as a culturally informed wisdom model perceives teaching as the best means to achieve this goal, rather than leadership positions.

In the last two decades, one can see the widespread acceptance of the importance of teaching critical thinking (CT) as a 21st-century competency for all students from primary to graduate school. Lack of effective instructional strategies cause problems in developing effective CT curriculum. This research study aimed at the exploring the problem of domain-general versus domain-specific tension associated with the definition and fostering critical thinking. We examined Iranian science teachers’ conception(s) of this tension. We applied stratified random sampling for the observational phase (initial pool of participants). Using our classroom observation scale, through the lens of the Critical Thinking Consortium’s pedagogical framework (TC²) as a theoretical framework, we observed N = 27 gifted science classrooms to evaluate teachers’ instructional strategies in terms of developing CT abilities. Applying purposeful sampling, we interviewed expert teachers based on the observational phase, to investigate their understandings of CT’s general-domain habits of mind. Applying 4 + 1 classical elements as a conceptual framework, we examined various dimensions of these science teachers’ conceptualization of thinking critically. Traditional gradual reduction of interviews resulted in the development of a culturally informed five-elemental pentagram of habits of mind shared by these educators. Further, these teachers addressed some instructional strategies to embed CT in the science classes.