Abstract
Federal attention is focused currently on investing and improving the quality of early childhood education, so that children’s potential and talent development can be used as a natural resource for the future of our country. This article engages readers in transitioning their thinking about early childhood gifted education from a traditional advanced skills-based approach that introduces young children to academic standards earlier and faster, to an education that honors the developmental stages of young children and the experiential emphasis that parallels how they learn. The framework proposed empowers teachers to design learning contexts that elicit talent, potential, and emerging abilities, and challenges all learners to display their strengths. Practical suggestions are given to develop a pedagogy that enables young children to learn in developmentally appropriate play-based and student-focused environments.
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