I am also a candidate for president in the upcoming elections: simulating an election campaign with gifted students

Abstract The aim of this research is to reveal the political tendencies and interests of gifted students at high school level and to enable them to explore political election processes and leadership aspects through an applied election campaign simulation. The study group of the research, in which the qualitative research method was adopted, consisted of 14 students, 6 female students and 8 male students, aged 15–16, who were diagnosed with giftedness (130 IQ and above) and who were studying at high school level in a Science and Art Center in Türkiye. In this direction, an election simulation was prepared by the researchers and applied for 12 weeks. The study employed basic qualitative research design. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews and student-produced documents and analyzed using descriptive analysis. To summarize the results of the study in general, it is possible to say that the gifted students in the study group achieved the gains expected from them at the end of the election campaign simulation, that conducting the political election process by doing and experiencing it, and moreover, by being the planner of this process at the beginning of this process, contributed positively to the students, and that the election simulation was associated with gifted students’ exploration of the political election process and their leadership aspects.