INVESTIGATION OF METACOGNITION AWARENESS LEVELS AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze middle school students' metacognition awareness levels and problem solving skills. The research was carried out with a total of 1595 middle school students studying in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in a middle school in a city of the Central Anatolia Region. The metacognitive awareness scale (MAS) form B for children developed by Karakelle and Saraç (2007) and the problem solving inventory (PSI) for middle school level students developed by Serin and Saygılı (2010) were used as instruments. The research was developed in accordance with the survey model, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The SPSS program was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics, normality tests, correlation analysis, independent samples t test, and one-way variance analysis were run. For this study, the Cronbach Alpha value of the metacognitive awareness scale (MAS) for middle school students was found to be .84 and the problem-solving inventory (PSI) for children at the middle school level was found to be .65. Metacognition levels of females were higher than the males. Females and males were at the same level in the problem solving inventory. In the study, it was concluded that the metacognition awareness levels and problem solving skills were significantly different at different grade levels.

Keywords: Metacognition, middle school, problem solving skills.

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