The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

• Intel International Science and Engineering Fair – Solving scientific and engineering problems by
designing their own research tests students’ abilities to problem find and problem solve.
Students compete against one another and are judged by top doctoral level scientists as they
vie for millions of dollars in prizes. Visit www.societyforscience.org/isef for more detailed
information.
• Global SchoolNet: International Schools Cyberfair – Youth conduct research about their local
communities and cultures and publish their findings on the Internet. This competition fosters
their problem solving, critical and creative thinking and production skills as teams also learn
about their global community. See their web page for more information:
www.globalschoolnet.org/gsncf
• International Student Media Festival – In just under seven minutes students must showcase their
media skills using animation, video gaming, website design, live-action video and other
innovative technologies. To find out more about how media can cultivate creativity see
www.ismf.net
• ThinkQuest – Students compete internationally to solve a real-world problem through the
development of ThinkQuest projects, products using digital media or web-based applications or
games. The competition aims to challenge students to “think, create and innovate”
(www.thinkquest.org/competition).
• Cyberteens International Writing and Art Contest – Students can submit their stories, artwork or
poetry for publication on this website, which addresses subjects appropriate for and interesting
to teenagers. See some exciting original teenage works by visiting their website:
www.cyberteens.com
Conclusions
This article has explored the use of
competitions as one way to showcase the
innovation and creativity of gifted and talented
youth. There are many potential benefits
reported in the literature, and while these remain
to be empirically tested and proven, they
promise opportunities for students to achieve
excellence. However, there are also potential
barriers to achieving excellence through
competitions, and these relate mainly to issues
References
of equity. It has been argued that through
careful school-wide facilitation and
implementation, as well as individual guidance
and support for competitors, competitions can
enjoy competitive excellence with equity (Riley &
Karnes, 2007). Students throughout the world
can demonstrate their innovative and creative
abilities to think, produce, and problem solve
through competitions across many disciplines,
as the examples have shown.
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Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011. 69