Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Developing Talents O n the wh o l e, the g i f t ed sample i n the s t u dy demonstrate s g o od educational a nd emo t i o n a l adjustment. Bu t d o the f i n d i n gs a p p ly o n l y to students w h o are g i f t ed i n their teachers' eyes? Prof. Ch an adm i ts that there are still m a n y unan swe r ed questions about giftedness, i n c l u d i ng the p o p u l ar issue of nature versus nu r t u r e. H o w e v e r the a i m of the s t u d y is not to f i nd ou t wh e t h er children are b o r n w i t h certain talents, b u t to i d e n t i f y w a ys to f u l l y d e v e l op talents that c h i l d r en have , w a y s that are c omp a t i b l e w i t h H o n g Ko n g 's specific c u l t u r al setting. N o t o n l y do w e need to p o n d er h o w t o de f i ne a n d i d e n t i fy 'giftedness', b u t w e also n e ed to explor e issues s u ch as h o w to design the r i g ht p r o g r ammes a nd engag e i n research that i n f o rms practice , as w e l l as h o w to p r o v i de f u n d i ng a nd edu c a t i on for teachers of g i f t ed learners. P r o f . David W, Chan (left 2) received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. His research interests include stress and coping, health and psychopathology, and gifted education and talent development. Prof. Cheung Ping-chung (right 2) received his Ph.D. from Purdue University, USA. His research interests include self-concept, creativity, achievement motivation, psychosocial development, and gifted education. Prof. Cheng P u i - w an (left 1) obtained her Ph.D. in educational psychology and special education from the University of Alberta, Canada. Her research interests include literacy development and difficulties, metacognition and giftedness, and cross-language studies. Ms. Patricia Yeung Pik-wah (right 1) received her MA from Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. Her research interests are counselling psychology, developmental psychology, multi-cultural education, Asian-American psychology, creativity and giftedness, and early childhood psychology. 35