There is a well-established historical background of research on mathematical giftedness that can be traced back to the early 1900s. An overarching purpose of this research was to review and explore the existing research and its evolution since its emergence in educational and psychological studies. Thus, we examined the past, present, and future of research on mathematical giftedness using a bibliometric analysis. Our findings provided extensive insights into the intellectual structure of the extant literature on mathematical giftedness, including the leading journals, articles, countries, authors, institutions, and networks among researchers as well as key research topics that were investigated in the literature. Perhaps one of the most striking findings of this study was about the productivity in the field over the years as the bibliometric analysis indicated a decline in the number of publications that were published in the last several years. We discussed possible factors behind the recession in research investigations on mathematical giftedness and provided significant implications of the findings to inform future research.

Mathematical creativity (MC) plays an important role in mathematics and education; however, its conceptualization and assessment remain inconsistent across empirical studies. This systematic review examined how MC has been defined, conceptualized, and assessed across 80 empirical studies involving K-12 populations. Through thematic analysis, the study identified three definition types: divergent thinking, problem-solving, and problem-posing, as well as affective–motivational emphasis. We organized theoretical frameworks into three categories: domain-general, domain-specific, and multidimensional frameworks. Results showed that the most common definitions emphasized divergent thinking components while fewer studies highlighted affective and dispositional factors. Domain-specific frameworks were the most frequently used, followed by multidimensional frameworks. Regarding assessment, studies predominantly relied on divergent-thinking scoring. Most assessments used criterion-referenced rubrics with norm-based comparisons. They were delivered mainly in paper-pencil format. Tasks were typically open-ended multiple-solution problems with fewer studies using self-reports or observational methods. Overall, the field prioritizes product-based scoring (e.g., fluency, flexibility, originality) over evidence about students’ solution processes (e.g., reasoning, metacognitive monitoring). To improve cross-context comparability, future work should standardize and transparently report age, grade, and country coding and scoring practices.

This systematic review aimed to explore the cognitive characteristics of mathematically gifted individuals. Screening 497 studies, we obtained 22 empirical research that particularly explored cognitive characteristics of mathematically gifted individuals. We presented our findings under two major themes: domain-specific and domain-general abilities. Research that investigated domain-specific abilities suggested that problem-solving, mathematical creativity, and mathematical reasoning were essential characteristics of mathematical giftedness whereas some domain-general abilities including, perceptual abilities, visual-spatial ability, memory, and reasoning were found to contribute to mathematical giftedness. We also noted several within-group variations, suggesting a complex interaction of cognitive traits. Our results call for brand new frameworks on mathematical giftedness as the findings provide unique domain-specific characteristics that are different from what were provided by renowned models in the field. We also provided implications that encourage differentiated learning practices to meet the academic needs of mathematically gifted individuals.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which criterion-referenced originality scores are related to scores generated through alternative measures of originality (i.e., sample-based scoring and expert-referenced scoring) in mathematical problem-solving tasks. Drawing on data from 520 students enrolled in a public elementary school situated in a culturally diverse metropolitan area of New South Wales, Australia, the criterion-referenced approach was compared psychometrically with sample-based and expert-referenced scoring approaches. Another focus for analysis was on how each scoring system describes the relationship between originality and fluency. The results are important for ongoing debates about creativity and educational assessment, highlighting the implications of scoring methods for the interpretation of students’ original mathematical thinking. The study contributes important information for the design of fair and meaningful assessment and scoring practices.