Assessing giftedness of Chinese secondary students in Hong Kong: a multiple intelligences perspective

This study sought to assess the viability of the use of a self-report checklist identifying different aspects of giftedness in a sample of 192 Chinese secondary students from a multiple intelligences perspective. For comparison, IQ, creativity, and leadership characteristics of these students were also assessed using conventional standardized measures. Data on academic achievement in Chinese language, English language, and mathematics were obtained from school records. While students perceived the seven intelligences as relatively distinct abilities, these self-estimates of the seven intelligences did not generally predict the conventional measures, suggesting that the seven intelligences and the conventional measures provided independent and possibly complementary information on aspects of giftedness. The implications of the development of a profile of strengths and weaknesses of students from a multiple intelligences perspective for subsequent identification and programming are discussed.