Talent Development in Achievement Domains: A Psychological Framework for Within- and Cross-Domain Research

Abstract

Achievement in different domains, such as academics, music, or visual arts, plays a central role in all modern societies. Different psychological models aim to describe and explain achievement and its development in different domains. However, there remains a need for a framework that guides empirical research within and across different domains. With the talent-development-in-achievement-domains (TAD) framework, we provide a general talent-development framework applicable to a wide range of achievement domains. The overarching aim of this framework is to support empirical research by focusing on measurable psychological constructs and their meaning at different levels of talent development. Furthermore, the TAD framework can be used for constructing domain-specific talent-development models. With examples for the application of the TAD framework to the domains of mathematics, music, and visual arts, the review provided supports the suitability of the TAD framework for domain-specific model construction and indicates numerous research gaps and open questions that should be addressed in future research.

The Impact of School Environment on Talent Development: A Retrospective View of Gifted British and Polish College Students

“…It is also worth noting that at the beginning of 2020, the talent-development-in-achievement-domains (TAD) framework was created by 11 researchers from different fields of psychological research on talent development. The authors noted that they “do not claim to present a new theory of talent development, but we aim to offer a catalyst for the development of domain-specific talent-development models” (Preckel et al, 2020, p. 2). This allows for the creation of a general-talent development framework, which can be utilized for a variety of domains; its overall purpose is to take measurable psychological constructs at various points of talent development to better support empirical research.…”

“…This allows for the creation of a general-talent development framework, which can be utilized for a variety of domains; its overall purpose is to take measurable psychological constructs at various points of talent development to better support empirical research. It can be further utilized to construct talent-development models that are specific to one domain (Preckel et al, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, it is seen as the sequential steps taken to take a student from a beginner to an expert (Cooper et al, 2004). In this sense, talent development is an essential part of gifted education, much the same as competence development relates to general education (Gagné, 1995); however, it “is not limited to the school year and curriculum” (Preckel et al, 2020, p. 5). In contrast, Gubbins (2002) defined talent development as “a process of recognizing, nurturing and supporting the skills and abilities of people who have not already demonstrated complete mastery” (p. 1).…”

A research-practice cooperation to support elementary school teachers’ diagnostic competencies based on a working theory of talent development in STEM

“…In sum, the TAD framework (Preckel et al, 2020) and related research has shown that talent discovery and development is a long process. Talent development leading to outstanding performance and sometimes transformational achievement Understanding complex ideas, adapting effectively to the environment, learning from experience, engaging in various forms of reasoning, and overcoming obstacles by thought (Neisser et al, 1996) School grades in science and math show the strongest relationship with intelligence of all subjects (r = .42; Roth et al, 2015) Spatial Abilities Abilities relating to solving problems in 2D and 3D space, including visualization, spatial relations, mental rotation, and spatial orientation (Maresch, 2018) Higher spatial abilities are associated with later attainment in the math-science domain (Lubinski & Benbow, 2006) Numerical Abilities…”

“…Most generally, talent development can be defined as the development of a person's potential for achievement into actual achievement. According to the Talent Development in Achievement Domains (TAD) framework (Preckel et al, 2020), there are four successive levels, with the first two being most relevant for talent development in STEM in elementary school.…”