DEVELOPMENT OF METACOGNITION IN GIFTED-CHILDREN - DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE-RESEARCH

This article provides an overview of the existing literature on the de velopment of metacognition in gifted children and emphasizes needed ar eas of research. Research examining individual differences in the deve lopment of declarative metacognitive knowledge, cognitive monitoring, and the regulation of strategies is reviewed. Differences between patt erns of gifted and nongifted development differ depending on the type of metacognition being examined. Specifically, research on declarative metacognitive knowledge and far transfer shows a monotonic relationsh ip between metacognitive development and giftedness. Research on spont aneous use of a variety of both simple and complex strategies is sugge stive of an acceleration hypothesis (with giftedness effects increasin g with age). These effects, however, may be domain-specific. Finally, research on cognitive monitoring suggests only developmental (but no g iftedness) effects. As a consequence, we argue that it is important to differentiate the aspect of metacognition being examined before drawi ng conclusions about the relationships among metacognition, giftedness , and development. Additionally, an intelligence theory approach may b e a much less profitable paradigm for understanding the relationship o f metacognition and giftedness than an exceptional performance paradig m. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.