A n Investigation of Perceptions of Gifted Students toward the Concept of Digital Citizenship

IXth INTERNATIONAL EURASIAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CONGRESS, İzmir, Türkiye, 22 - 25 Haziran 2022, ss.116-129

Digital citizenship is an indispensable part of the new world shaped by digital developments and technology, so

this study aimed to determine gifted and talented students' perceptions of digital citizenship as a leading key to the

path to world citizenship. For this purpose, the qualitative analysis was used through semi-structured interview

questions carried out with 40 gifted and talented high school students attending 9, 10, 11, and 12th grades in

Science and Art Centers participated in Erzurum province. In addition, content analysis was used in

phenomenology to analyze the conclusions of the research. As a result, the first findings, gifted and talented high

school students answered the first question are accessed, security, and citizenship; the second findings are socialist,

diverse source, rights, education, and virtuality in positive aspect; security, time, diversion, healthy, and belief in

negative aspect. The last findings are new laws and security measurements in supporting ways. Given the given

categories, there is a need to create security measures, informational applications, and activities based on digital

citizenship by means of new education program. Future studies could look at digital literacy, data management,

and data security, which influence positive or negative perspectives of gifted and talented students on digital

citizenship.