GENDER DIFFERENCES IN GIFTED CHILDREN

This chapter explores the social and emotional factors that are reported to influence gifted girls’ and boys’ achievement and success. Earlier research studies seemed to suggest that innate gender differences in aptitudes for the “hard” sciences is being overturned. In Israel, interviews with Advanced Placement Physics students showed that the girls did not like excessive competitiveness, aiming instead for deep understanding and connected knowledge. Research that ignores cultural effects on self-concept and motivation can distort developmental understanding and conclusions drawn for practice. Gifted male achievement also needs to be understood from within a cultural context. A more nuanced understanding of gifted females’ involvement in the sciences indicates that while women earned more doctoral degrees than men in fields such as biology, gifted women are still underrepresented in fields such as engineering and computer science.