The role of artificial intelligence applications in critical reading and writing skills of gifted students

The main purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between the critical writing, critical reading and artificial literacy scale scores of gifted middle school students. The study also examines the predictive power of the sub-dimensions of artificial intelligence literacy on critical writing and critical reading scores of the gifted middle school students in a relational manner. In the context of the importance of high-level cognitive skills in the 21st century and the transformative potential of rapidly developing artifical intelligence technologies in education, the study aims to fill an important gap in the literatüre by evaluating the role of artificial intelligence applications in the development of gifted students in these areas. The sample of the study, which was designed in the relational survey model in which quantitative research method was adopted, consisted of 432 gifted middle school students attending Science and Art Centers (BİLSEM) in Istanbul. Critical Reading Scale, Critical Writing Scale and Artificial Intelligence Literacy Scale, Information Form on Artificial Intelligence Use and Attitudes were used as data collection tools. SPSS 25 package program was used for data analysis. The findings showed that there were statistically significant and positive relationships between AI literacy scale scores and both critical reading and critical writing skills. It was determined that especially "Evaluation", 'Use' and "Ethics" sub-dimensions of AI literacy had significant predictive effects on critical reading and writing skills. The "Evaluation" sub-dimension stands out as the strongest predictor for both critical literacy skills. This shows that gifted students' skills of questioning and verifying artificial intelligence outputs and being aware of ethical dimensions are related to their success in critical reading and writing processes. In addition, it was found that the critical reading and writing skills of students who "always" used artificial intelligence tools in Turkish lessons were significantly higher than those who used them "occasionally". In terms of gender, male students had significantly higher scores in critical reading and writing skills than female students. However, age and grade level did not create a significant difference. These results suggest that the integration of artificial intelligence into educational environments has the potential to support the development of high-level cognitive skills of gifted students. While the study makes important contributions to the literature on the role of artificial intelligence in education, it also emphasizes the necessity of using artificial intelligence effectively in teaching critical literacy and writing.