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joseph s. renzulli and catharina f. de wet introduction The September 2007 issue of Smithsonian Magazine was dedicated to "America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences"-37 people under the age of 36 who are making names for themselves and are well on their way to eminence in their fields. Most of them can trace their passion and career focus to a few key experiences. Cristián Samper, for example, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, says in his editorial introduction, My own love of science came from a love of nature. As a Boy Scout, I camped and hiked in Colombian rain forests, returning home eager to organize my collections of plants and animals.. .. At 15, I joined ornithologist Jorge Orejuela on a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) summer expedition to the remote rain forests in the Choco region of Colombia. This was my first experience in hands-on fieldwork, and as I saw scientific data, field observation, conservation biology and environmental policy all coming together, I was hooked (Smithsonian Magazine, 2007, p. 3). The unfortunate truth is that schools are not places where youngsters gain these kinds of experiences, places where creativity thrives, especially in the current educational climate where the emphasis is on increasing the academic achievement of underperforming students (Renzulli, 2005; Robinson, 2001). Academic achievement has become the focus of most of the thought, finances, and energy expended in education, and yet, we have an ambiguous relationship with academic achievement. Academic ability is believed to be essential for individual success and societal advancement, but anything impractical or not worthwhile is easily dismissed as being "academic" (Robinson, 2001). Formal and Informal Education Dewey (1916) divided educational activities in society into two distinct arenas: the informal and the formal. While all education is a social renewal process 24 P1: KAE Trim: 6.125in × 9.25in Top: 0.375in Gutter: 0.875in CUUS977-03 cuus977/Beghetto ISBN: 978 0 521 88727 4

gifted child today 29 I I watched a social studies teacher present a lesson on the Civil War by means of a PowerPoint presentation. Slide by slide flashed on the screen, filled with bulleted lists of information that the teacher read to her students word for word. Students were staring at their handout pages with glassy eyes, lulled into a state of comatose compliance by the thought that all they had to do was study the handout for the test later that week. It strongly reminded me of my eighth-grade history teacher, more years ago than I care to admit, who had a similar teaching style, albeit without the visual component. We would walk into the classroom, sit down, and take out our notebooks. She would start talking and we would write furiously, trying to take down her notes word for word, for we would be expected to regurgitate those facts in the test coming up in the following week.At least then we had something to do. Between these two eras, a teacher might have written notes on the chalkboard, or later, used overhead transparencies to share information with the class. Chalkboard and overheads had the advantage that teachers could make changes based on student needs and questions. The very features that make PowerPoint easy to use may also limit its versatility. Has the advent of PowerPoint presentations improved instruction in our classrooms? You decide.

n even the earliest studies of giftedness in young children (Burks, Jensen, & Terman, 1930;Hollingworth, 1926), researchers noted distinct character traits among gifted students, which included global awareness, sensitivity to complex issues, and a tendency to worry about injustice and dangers that often are beyond a child's control. Dabrowski and Piechowski (1977) described what they called emotional overexcitabilities that can be observed among gifted students as great depth and intensity of emotional life expressed through a wide range of "feeling, attachments, compassion, heightened sense of responsibility, and scrupulous self-examination" (p. 287). This sensitivity of students is one of the positive gifts they bring to a classroom and the world. Yet, characteristics of sensitivity in gifted children can sometimes frustrate or annoy classmates and, unfortunately, some teachers who do not have the same sense of global awareness and responsibility. It can be difficult to reassure young gifted students that solutions will be found to complex problems without patronizing them or minimizing their concerns.This article describes ways in which gifted students explored issues of ecological concern through a description of student projects that addressed coastal erosion and habitat reduction in meaningful ways. Through projects such as these, children who were impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita became empowered to help restore their environment. Ecological Stewardshipgifted child today 17 Ecological Stewardship

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