Abstract Abstract

Background: Hot executive functions, as one of the most critical cognitive and emotional components, play a decisive role in the academic performance of gifted students. These functions influence how students cope with setbacks, regulate emotions in academic contexts, and maintain motivation for completing long-term tasks. Nevertheless, underachieving gifted students appear to lack sufficient skills and competencies in this domain, and existing research has paid limited attention to this issue. Therefore, designing and providing specialized educational packages to enhance hot executive functions in this population is necessary.

Objective: The present study aimed to develop and validate an educational package targeting the enhancement of hot executive functions in underachieving gifted students.

Methods: This research was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, an educational package focused on enhancing hot executive functions in underachieving gifted students was designed, and in the second phase, the package’s validity was evaluated. A qualitative approach employing qualitative content analysis was used for the development of the package, and Lawshe’s method was applied to assess its content validity.

Results: The educational package was structured into 8 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. According to expert evaluations, the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) values for all sessions were no less than 0.82, and the Content Validity Index (CVI) values for all sessions exceeded 0.90, indicating a favorable validity status. Findings demonstrated that experts considered all sessions and their content essential and relevant; therefore, the content validity of the educational package was confirmed by the specialists.

Conclusion: Given the critical importance of hot executive functions in improving academic progress and successful learning in underachieving gifted students, the design and implementation of a specialized educational package to enhance these functions can be regarded as an effective and efficient intervention to advance the learning process and academic performance of this group.