ABSTRACT
Summary: The educational conditions favoring the realization and use of a capacity or aptitude for innovation may be described using the results of research related to creativity, effective learning and teaching, and motivation. These include (1) interactions with expert teachers in a variety of settings, (2) access to a challenging curriculum, (3) opportunities to receive skilled coaching to develop talents, and (4) opportunities to satisfy individual needs and achieve developmental goals in innovator-friendly environments. To realize a talent, individuals must use their gifts to innovate; gifts remain underdeveloped, ignored, or perhaps even unknown to individuals without opportunities to know a gift exists as well as see how it may be realized in the world (Gagné, 2010). The author illustrates these points through a case study of Harry Potter, an adolescent with unrealized special powers, as portrayed in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling, 1997).
