Self-regulated learning behaviors of secondary gifted students in mathematical problem solving situations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate self-regulated learning behaviors of secondary gifted students in mathematical problem solving situations from the social cognitive perspective.The research method of this study was designed as a holistic multiple case study and the participants of the study are three secondary gifted students who are chosen for a Science and Art Center located in a big city. The data were gathered from semi-structured interviews, problem solving sessions, micro analytic questions, interviews students? written solutions, researcher?s field notes and observations. The data were collected using by videotape. We used the content analysis and constant comparative method for analyzing the data.In the light of analysis, we have the following main results:-Gifted students have learning goal orientations.-When they were able to produce solutions with their own, they found problems more valuable and have high self-efficacy beliefs.-Gifted students were able to make detailed descriptions about the problems that they encountered before.-The participants displayed a wide range of self-regulative behaviors, which intertwined with each other oriented to both understanding and solving problem in the situations, which organized with long text and / or required using visual model problems.-Gifted students evaluated their problem solving process with respect to themselves.In the light of results, we have several suggestions to mathematics teachers, researchers, programme developers, and mathematics teacher trainers.Key Words: Self-regulated learning, mathematical problem solving, non-routine problems, gifted students