The world is facing challenges in the 21st century that are very different from those in the previous centuries. Globalization, new technology, and knowledge growth in today’s societies call for creative and purposeful citizens who can combine excellence with ethics. Gifted students and professionals in science create new ideas and products that can be used in the benefit of our society. However, the creative process in science includes many ethical issues that need to be considered before publishing the new idea or the product. A globalized tendency has been to reform education to nurture the 21st century competences of our youth. The 21st century competences can be defined as an integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values, which young people are required to have in the 21st century. Many international organizations, such as The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and European Union have published documents outlining educational goals for the 21st century emphasizing creativity as an important goal.

Meanwhile, international companies, for example, Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation, have collaborated with educators and educational institutions for developing frameworks for teaching and assessing the 21st century competences. The discussion of the 21st century competences has been an important topic in creativity and talent development research as well. In this discussion, creativity has been seen as one of the most important competences we should nurture in our youth. The main focus of this special issue will be on the education for creativity and talent development in different fields including arts and humanities. The special issue will become an international forum for researchers to summarize the most recent developments and ideas in the field, with a special emphasis given to the challenges of the 21st century creativity.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Creativity in science and technology
• Creativity in arts and humanities
• Ethics and creativity
• Pedagogical programs in developing creativity
• The role of creativity in teaching and learning
• Development of multiple intelligences
• Creativity in different school subjects
• International trends in creativity and talent development research
• Creativity and student achievement
• How to teach creativity?
• How to measure creativity?