Developing social competencies of gifted students in secondary school: Action research

It is known that gifted individuals experience some social competence problems. Some of these social competence problems are due to the lack of self-regulation skills. In this study, it was aimed to determine the social competences that gifted students in secondary school have and do not have, and to develop their social competences by teaching them self-regulation skills in their schools in line with the data obtained. Nine gifted students attending a support education class in a secondary school constitute the participants of the study. Three of these participants were determined as focus students. During the research process, action plans were made and implemented for teaching self-regulation skills, and since the data collected in each lesson were continuously analyzed and action plans were organized and implemented with new decisions taken, the research design was action research. A twenty-session self-regulation-related social competence development program was implemented for gifted students attending secondary school and how the program contributed to the students was examined. It was determined that the social competences related to self-regulation should be developed during the design phase of the program created to develop the social competences of gifted students. During the implementation process of the program, it was revealed that the participant focus students who were determined to need development in their self-regulation skills exhibited behaviors that disrupted the lesson order in the classroom, had problems in friendships and exhibited unexpected low success. After the implementation of the program, it was determined that there was an improvement in the students' emotional regulation and communication skills, and they exhibited less problem behavior in school and in the classroom. It was found that the parents of the participant focus students' expectations for their children changed and they realized the mistakes they made in teaching social skills.