Investigating Middle School Students' Metacognition and Mathematical Reasoning of Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

Described as being aware of and controlling one's own thinking processes and a benefit of consequences, metacognition is known that it is related to both academic achievement and students' thinking. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the problem-solving and metacognition skills of middle school students with regard to genders, class levels, number of siblings, financial status of the family and educational backgrounds of the parents. For this purpose, 280 middle school students were selected from a public middle school in Melikgazi, Kayseri using convenience sampling method. As a result of the analysis based on the four factors of metacognition scale and problem-solving inventory, boys are good not only at solving problems requiring mathematical reasoning but also at monitoring what they do, what they will do, and most importantly, their own thinking processes. Surprisingly, 5th grade students had higher predictive abilities than 8th graders. Although predictive skills were higher, 5th graders had lower level of problem-solving skills with 6th graders than upper-classes. Also, students whose mothers have undergraduate and graduate degrees are better at solving problems than those whose mothers have never attended a school or who have graduated from elementary school.