So I'm done because I'm confused now: Measuring metacognition in Elementary Algebra community college students.

摘要

This study measured the amounts of different types of metacognitive statements made by students enrolled in Elementary Algebra courses at a community college in California. A total of 17 students were interviewed three times during the course of a semester. All interviews were coded for types of metacognitive statements that fell into one of three categories: Awareness, Regulation, and Evaluation. Because of their frequency and linkage to many of the metacognitive statements, statements that were coded as Affective were also evaluated. All 17 students, as well as 24 of their classmates who were not interviewed, took a pre and post survey to assess their metacognitive skills at the beginning and the end of the semester. This research resulted in the codification of many subcategories of metacognition that were not extant in the literature previously. In addition, the data showed that students were statistically significantly more likely to use higher-level metacognitive skills more frequently while engaged in solving word problems while such skills dropped noticeably while solving equations without any context. My findings suggest that students' metacognitive skills, and hence their ability to learn and master mathematics, would benefit from more exposure to word problems during their instruction.