Promoting students' metacognition in elementary school mathematics classes: Directing students' attention to metacognition as "a teacher in your brain" and metacognitive training

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to determine if students' metacognition and, in turn, their problem-solving ability would be promoted and enhanced if they were given special lectures in their elementary school mathematics classes. The participants were 48 fifth-grade students, half of whom received the special lectures, and the other half of whom were in a non-intervention control group. The special lectures were designed to help the students recognize the importance of metacognition, which was explained to them as a teacher in your brain, by showing them metacognitive strategies useful for solving mathematical problems and training them extensively to practice the metacognitive strategies in 3 units of their mathematics classes (about 6 months). All students completed pre-and post-intervention tests designed to determine their ability to solve mathematical problems and the degree of their metacognition. The tests were re-administered 1 year later as a follow-up. The post-intervention survey revealed that problemsolving scores and metacognition scores increased significantly only in the experimental group. The number of students whose metacognition scores improved 3 points or more was significantly greater in the experimental group. Moreover, students' self-assessment of mathematical word problems was more accurate in the experimental group than in the control group. These results suggest that the special lectures enhanced the students' metacognition as well as their problem-solving ability. Analysis of the data from the 1-year follow-up survey demonstrated that the effect had been retained.