Metacognitive awareness as a predictor of social emotional learning skills in gifted and talented students

The study aims to determine the relationship between metacognitive awareness and social emotional learning skills among gifted and talented students and to determine the effect of metacognitive awareness on social emotional learning skills in line with the relationship detected. It was also aimed to determine whether these concepts differ according to demographic variables. The research design is correlational research. The population consisted of 6th, 7th and 8th grade gifted and talented students in Istanbul, Turkey. The sample group consisted of 367 gifted and talented secondary school students obtained via a purposive sampling method. The Metacognitive Awareness Scale, the Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale, and a personal information form were used for the data collection purposes. Results show that there is a high level, significant positive relationship between metacognitive awareness and social emotional learning skills. In addition, metacognitive awareness significantly predicts social emotional learning skills. Several factors including spending little time on screen, having a mother with a high education level, and high perception of school success resulted in a difference in metacognitive awareness and social emotional learning skills for gifted and talented students. Significant implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.