Dr. Maker, in two recent trips to France (2001), began laying groundwork for cooperative projects with like-minded researchers in Paris.  In particular, Dr. Todd Lubart, a professor at the University Rene Descartes, Paris 5, in the Institute of Psychology, Cognition & Development Laboratory, is interested in creativity and giftedness.  He has used some of the same instruments we have used in our research, and has designed streamlined scoring procedures.  He also believes, similarly to us, that creativity needs to be studied in specific domains (art, language, math, drawing) rather than as a general phenomenon, and that we must study the development of giftedness and creativity. Dr. Maker and Dr. Lubart have outlined several cross-cultural studies of interest, and are beginning the research this spring. 

     Dr. Jacques Lautrey, Director of the Institute for Cognition and Development, leads a team of researchers who have been given a grant to study ways to assess gifted students. Dr. Maker’s presentation to this research group at the end of November 2001 was part of this project.  After the initial report at the end of the first year of funding, the team will decide how to proceed in their research program.  Interestingly, this research effort is occurring at the same time that the French government has become interested in identifying gifted students, and has made a commitment to assessing all French students to determine who is gifted so they can be provided with appropriate programs to meet their needs.

     While in Paris in December 2001, Dr. Maker also met with Jean Brunalt and Dr. Robert Pages from Du Don au Talent, the French organization for gifted students that is part of the European Association for the Gifted.  They are very interested in sharing information and research, as their views of giftedness are very similar to those of the DISCOVER Projects.  We will keep you posted on the progress of these exciting collaborations.