An evaluation of gifted students' perceptions on critical thinking skills

Abstract

The present study is a qualitative research which aims to identify gifted students' perceptions on critical thinking skills. The participants of the study are 34 students who are still enrolled to Science and Arts Center in Hatay, Turkey. As data analysis method, content analysis has been used, and the data has been gathered through a semi-structured interview form which consists of open-ended questions. The gathered data has been analyzed with NVivo11Pro and SPSS 20,0 programs. The results of the study show that the perceptions of gifted students on critical thinking skills are in line with the literature. However, it has been revealed that they have a fundamental problem in their "perceptions on critical thinking skills" as they perceive the word "critics" as a negative concept. As a result, it is suggested that educators working at Science and Arts Centers should know the concepts they use. Besides that they should also head for academical and in class activities if there is a misconception to identify and fix them.