A Metacognitive Profile of Vocational High School Student's Field Independent in Mathematical Problem Solving

Abstract

The study was designed to discover examine the profile of metacognition of vocational high school student of the Machine Technology program that had high ability and field independent cognitive style in mathematical problem solving. The design of this study was exploratory research with a qualitative approach. This research was conducted at the Machine Technology program of the vocational senior high school. The result revealed that the high-ability student with field independent cognitive style conducted metacognition practices well. That involved the three types of metacognition activities, consisting of planning, monitoring, and evaluating at metacognition level 2 or aware use, 3 or strategic use, 4 or reflective use in mathematical problem solving. The applicability of the metacognition practices conducted by the subject was never at metacognition level 1 or tacit use. This indicated that the participant were already aware, capable of choosing strategies, and able to reflect on their own thinking before, after, or during the process at the time of solving mathematical problems.That was very necessary for the vocational high school student of Machine Technology program.