How to Recognize Talent in Mathematics and Its Development

Development of talent

Talent may just happen, but it involves three levels of development.

  1. First is the enjoyment level. A person enjoys participation in an activity that will lead to the talent. It can be pure personal enjoyment or it can be an enjoyment derived from a value or external support.
  2. The second level is deliberate practice. A person will set goals to practice and attempt to deliberately get better at the activity or particular elements of the activity. This practice can be solitary or involve or include other participants as competitors, collaborators, supporters, observers, or coaches.
  3. The third level is a commitment to become really good, professional, or to achieve a fairly sophisticated goal. Whether you use Malcolm Gladwell’s 10 000 hours from Outliers as the time required for becoming an expert or you believe talent can decrease or lack of talent increase those hours of comitment and practice, I believe everyone will agree a lot of practice is essential for those with talent, or those to develop talent to become an expert.

Characteristics of mathematical talent

 

 

Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes
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