Smpy's First Decade: Ten Years of Posing Problems and Solving Them

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Abstract
The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) began in 1971 with the purpose of devising ways of identifying and facilitating the education of such students. The solutions and their longitudinal evaluation are described. Use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was shown to be an effective way of identifying students in the 7th grade who would achieve academically at a superior level in high school. Moreover, acceleration was deemed an effective alternative for educating gifted children. Curricular flexibility rather than special programs for the gifted has proved the most effective way to facilitate the education of precocious students. For the mathematically precocious, SMPY devised fast-paced mathematics classes. These were shown to have long-term effects. SMPY has also discovered large sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability and in mathematics and science achievements in high school.