ENG 111

Fall 2002

READING GUIDE: Extraordinary Minds, chapter 3—Extraordinary Development

Vocabulary . . .

A Learn what these words mean as they are used in the places indicated in the text.

Consensual (p. 34)	Psychometric (p. 35)	Anachronistic (p. 35)
Espousal (p. 36)	Canon/-ical (p. 36)	Autodidact (p. 37)
Mundane (p. 38)	Precocious (p. 38)	Sheer (p. 44)
Assiduous (p. 45)	Coalesce (p. 46)	Ultimate (p. 50)

B “Omnibus prodigies” and “globally gifted” are two terms for the same thing, defined on p. 41.

Notes . . .

The title of this chapter, “Extraordinary Development,” suggests that we’ll get a contrast with the previous chapter, whose title was “Ordinary Development.” Maybe the same number of sections, with similar headings? The same slots but this time filled with different information?

Well, we don’t get that. Expect instead from Gardner an entirely different approach to explain development in extraordinary kids. His approach, it seems to me, is based on three related questions:

• How does intelligence develop? The answer to this question lies somewhere in the dynamic tension between being born with intelligence and learning it. These two forces can be labeled “nature” and “nurture,” or “talent” and “training”—but whatever the labels, the question is the same.

• Is intelligence one thing? Or is it more than one? If more than one, how many? And if more than one, what are those things?

• How do we/how should we measure intelligence?

As I said, those are Gardner’s three questions. My question for you: what is Gardner’s position on each of them? Gardner’s answers, and your own, will require some nuance. For example, notice how he “defends” talent on p. 44, and then he “defends” training on p. 46 in his description of domain prodigies.