NAGC25 Session Review: Motivation and Giftedness: What the Research Says and Why It Matters

My reflections from Dr. Pamela Clinkenbeard’s #NAGC25 Session

As educators of gifted and high ability learners, we talk a lot about challenge, potential, and talent development. What we do not talk about nearly enough is motivation. At NAGC25, Dr. Pamela Clinkenbeard delivered a powerful session that blended neuroscience, classic motivation theory, and everyday classroom practice. I was excited to learn from her since the construct of academic intrinsic motivation was important to my dissertation, and she is a motivation expert in the field of gifted education! Her key message was clear: motivation is not something students either have or do not have. It is something we help shape through experience, challenge, and the learning environment we create.

Below is a summary of the big ideas that stood out to me, and how they connect to the work we do supporting gifted learners.

The Brain, Motivation, and Why Challenge Matters

Dr. Clinkenbeard opened with several foundational findings that should guide every gifted educator’s decisions about curriculum and instruction.

First, hard work pays off, especially when a learner is working on something they love at a level that stretches them.

Second, neuroplasticity is real. According to ChatGPT,

“Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and grow in response to experience. When we learn something new or practice a challenging skill, the brain strengthens existing connections and creates new ones. This means abilities are not fixed. With the right experiences and effort, the brain continues to develop throughout life.”

The brain changes throughout life, and both ability and motivation are influenced by experience. If we do not offer appropriate challenge, we are missing a key opportunity to support talent development.

She shared a helpful acronym: OBDRAC, Optimal Brain Development Requires Appropriate Challenge. Neuroscience shows that without challenging work, the brain misses opportunities to strengthen new pathways. For gifted learners, this is especially critical.

Dr. Clinkenbeard also pointed to research on executive function (EF) training in young children. Early improvement in EF skills slightly correlates with later academic outcomes, particularly in math. The takeaway for gifted programs is simple: high-level challenge and opportunities to think hard benefit learners long before formal identification.

Three Elements That Support Optimal Brain Development

Research continues to affirm three conditions that help students maximize their potential.

1. Appropriate challenge
   Gifted students need tasks that bring them to the edge of their thinking. Without it, engagement drops and growth stalls.
2. A focus on learning and growth instead of performance and competition
   When students connect learning to curiosity and improvement, motivation strengthens.
3. Opportunities to invest effort in areas of strength and interest
   Motivation grows when students spend meaningful time doing work they care about.

For gifted students who often cruise through grade-level content without effort, these conditions become nonnegotiable.

How Psychology and Education View Motivation

Psychology historically viewed motivation as a stable trait. Education tends to treat motivation as a state that can be influenced by the environment. Dr. Clinkenbeard noted that gifted motivation research aligns more closely with the educational perspective. In other words, gifted students are not motivated simply because they are gifted. Their motivation is shaped by the conditions around them.

Classic Motivation Theories and What They Mean for Gifted Learners

Dr. Clinkenbeard walked through five major theories that help us understand motivation in gifted students.

1. Expectancy and Value Theory

Students ask two questions:
Can I do this (expectancy)? Do I want to do this (value)?

Gifted students often expect to succeed, but they may not value the task if it feels boring, repetitive, or disconnected from their interests. This is why underachievement sometimes looks like apathy rather than struggle.

2. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation, including Flow

Gifted students tend to show slightly higher intrinsic motivation, but true engagement depends on the right mix of interest and challenge. This is where Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow comes in (read John Spencer’s great article about Flow Theory; you can also read Csikszentmihalyi’s book from my affiliate link- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). When challenge meets interest, the self-censoring part of the brain quiets. Jazz improvisation studies offer a vivid example of this effect.

Underachievement research adds another layer. Many formerly underachieving gifted adults credit one caring adult who supported them without judgment. Relationships matter for motivation.

3. Goal Theory and Mindset

Goal theory was a big part of my dissertation, and I always encourage teachers and parents to read Dr. Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (this is an affiliate link from which I may earn from Amazon). It was a powerful read for me, and really tied into my findings of math achievement and math motivation of gifted elementary students.

A fixed mindset is when people believe that their intelligence is fixed since birth and cannot really change. The downside of a fixed mindset is that when learning gets tough, students can have imposter syndrome (this is when students worry that others will think they aren’t as smart as once thought because something is hard for them, or students may worry that their success has been due to luck). Thus, the fixed mindset and possible imposter syndrome keeps students from pushing themselves to try hard things.

Dr. Clinkenbeard reminded us that brain malleability exists from pre-birth through old age. A growth mindset (the belief that our ability can grow and change) is not a slogan. It is a neurological reality. “Our brain changes learning, and learning changes our brain!”

Her comparison of two classic profiles was striking:

Satisfied Sam earns average grades but pursues advanced projects independently (this exemplifies a growth mindset, also called mastery goals, since Sam is focused on mastering new learning).
Safe Sally earns top grades but avoids challenge to protect her academic image (this exemplifies a fixed mindset, or performance goals, since Sally is concerned with keeping up grades over learning new things that might be challenging).

Which student is underachieving?

4. Self-Regulated Learning

Planning, monitoring, and reflection are essential skills, yet many gifted students underuse them. For students who have rarely struggled, challenges that require self-regulation can feel overwhelming. Productive struggle is not optional. It is how self-regulation develops.

5. Attribution Theory

How students explain success and failure deeply influences motivation. The healthiest attributions are internal and controllable.

Examples:
I succeeded because I worked hard (the student is attributing success to hard work)
I struggled because I used the wrong strategy (the student is attributing failure to the wrong strategy).

Gifted learners often receive messages about talent rather than effort, and this can distort their explanations for both success and failure.

Bringing Theory Into Practice: The TARGET Model

Dr. Clinkenbeard shared the TARGET model, a practical framework that treats motivation as something educators can influence.

T: Task
Challenge, novelty, variety, and enthusiastic presentation matter.
Issue for gifted learners: make sure the task is meaningfully differentiated.

A: Authority
Give students age-appropriate choices in content, process, and product.
Issue for gifted learners: coach them to choose challenge, not comfort.

R: Recognition
Use praise and rewards carefully. Focus on improvement.
Issue for gifted learners: avoid overpraising talent to prevent imposter syndrome.

G: Grouping
Mixed-ability groups can build community, but gifted learners need peers who think at similar levels, too.
Issue for gifted learners: avoid using gifted students as classroom tutors.

E: Evaluation
Private, criterion-referenced, and centered on growth is better versus norm-referenced testing, when possible.
Issue for gifted learners: accountability systems and adaptive tests can complicate differentiation at the high end.

T: Time
Adjust pace and workload so students can reach mastery. Offer meaningful extension options.
Issue for gifted learners: avoid giving more of the same.

Key Takeaways

Motivation among gifted learners is not a single pattern. It varies across populations and is shaped by experience. Definitions of giftedness also differ widely in research, which makes generalizations tricky.

One last interesting thing that I learned from Dr. Clinkenbeard: Aerobic exercise improves general cognitive functioning more than anything else. I always knew that aerobic activity was good for the heart, but I did not realize how important it was for cognitive functioning, too. Movement matters, so we need to make sure that our students are getting exercise every day!

She also emphasized strong evidence for talent development models grounded in neuroplasticity. Executive function can grow. Self-regulation can improve. Challenge rewires the brain. OBDRAC (Optimal Brain Development Requires Appropriate Challenge) is essential because neurogenesis requires effort.

Final Thoughts

This session reinforced so much of what we know about gifted learners. They need challenge. They need encouragement rooted in growth. They need opportunities to pursue their interests deeply. And they need adults who understand how motivation develops.

If you want to explore further, Dr. Clinkenbeard recommended to us to look into productive struggle research and the work of Siegle and McCoach on motivation.

So, what takeaways do you have from this motivation research? How have you handled instances of fixed mindset in your gifted students? Share your strategies with us in the comments below! ~Ann