Exploring Student Metacognitive Failures Based on Red Flag in Mathematic Problem Solving: A Case Study in Mathematic Education Program

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore student's metacognitive failure based on red flag in mathematics problem solving. Red flag is a term that indicates the metacognitive failure was occurred, which is characterized by (1) there is an error detection, (2) no progress at processing step of activities, and (3) there is an ambiguity in the final answer, that can be appeared in metacognitive activities. There are three metacognitive activities, i.e. (1) metacognitive awareness, (2) metacognitive evaluation and (3) metacognitive regulation. At least, 10 students were determined as research subject candidates who were organized by two groups. The first group consisted of students who were assigned to create an exemplification by using numbers, meanwhile another group contained of students who used some formula to solve the problem. Consequently, two research subject were taken from each groups. The data were collected by assignment sheet which was completed by the subject through think aloud and followed by interview based on the results of their works. The findings in this study showed that students who solved problems by making assumptions using numbers had 10 metacognitive failures, which included all red flags. Equally important that, students who used formulas in solving the problems had three metacognitive failures which included all red flags Keywords: metacognitive failure, activity metacognitive, red flag, problem solving.