Keywords (Extracted from title, table of contents and
abstract of thesis)
Population, Science, Planning,
Metacongitive, Instruments, Performance, Assessment, Separately,
Students, Analysed, Impac, Results, Learning, Awareness, Training,
Teachers, Programs |
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Abstract
The study was aimed
to examine the impact of science teacher’s metacognitive awareness
on the performance of students in the subject of chemistry.The main
objectives of the study were to examine the nature and concept of
metacognition, measure the metacognitive perception of secondary
school science teachers, identify their metacognitive activities,
relate all these to student performance and measure the perceived
metacognition of students.
For literature review, a number of empirical studies and research
articles on metacognition were reviewed.Efforts were made to collect
primary sources.A number of research journals were consulted for
review as enlisted at annexure 12 and 13.
For selection of sample a multistage sampling technique was used.The
sample size was determined by using criteria given by Johnson &
Christensen (2000. p178).Thus for this study a sample of 60 urban
science teachers (35 male and 25 female) and 60 rural science
teachers (35 male and 25 female) were selected randomly from the
population. With each science teacher a sample of 15 students of
grade X was also randomly selected.Thus, a total of 1800 students
and 120 science teachers were chosen as a sample for the study, this
being highly representative of the population.
The review of literature presented a detailed picture of the
research conducted on different aspects of metacognition. After an
extensive literature review the researcher adapted Schraw and
Dennison (1994) Inventory because it was claimed to be a reliable
and valid instrument. Based on Schraw and Dennison, 1994 inventory,
the researcher constructed separate inventory for measurement of
metacognitive awareness of teachers and students. Each of the
inventory consisted of 37 items having sub scales of procedural
knowledge, declarative knowledge, conditional knowledge, planning,
management strategies and evaluation, all derived from the original
Schraw and Dennison survey (Annexure 1 & 2).The researcher also
developed a multiple-choice test in the subject of chemistry to
assess the performance of students. The test items basically
involved deep thinking.The items were based on the textbook of
chemistry being taught in the schools.The final version of the test
consisted of 30 items (Annexure 3).
Before actual launch, the inventory and the chemistry test were
pilot tested to check for clarity, ambiguity and to check for
timing. For the pilot test, 10 science teachers and 100 students
were selected. Very minor adjustments were made as a result of the
pilot but the tests appeared to work well.
Before undertaking the research exercise, formal approval was
obtained from the Directorate of Schools and Literacy department for
the collection of data (Annexure 4) and School Principals,
explaining the purpose and requirements of the study through a
letter (Annexure 5).Then, in a meeting with school science teachers,
the objectives of the study and application procedure were
discussed.The directions were administered in oral format by the
researcher.The researcher personally administered the instruments in
all schools. Before giving instruments, a brief introduction about
the research was provided to the students.The inventory was first
administered to the respondents followed by the subject-based test
to students.Average completion time for the inventory and
achievement test was ten and thirty minutes respectively.
The data obtained involved response patterns from 120 chemistry
teachersand 1800 students to the 37 questions in the survey as well
as some personal information about the respondents. Student
chemistry test data was also obtained. All the data was entered onto
a spreadsheet before statistical analysis. Some of the data were of
an integer nature following an approximation to a normal
distribution. Other data were ordinal in nature, following no clear
distribution pattern.The data have been analyzed using two different
approaches. In the first approach, it was assumed that metacognitive
awareness was formed of sixThus, both parametric and non parametric
statistical approaches were employed.underlying skills and that a
‘score’ for metacognitive awareness could be calculated by collating
the scores on the 37 questions.
It was found that male teachers achieved higher scores on knowledge
of cognition and regulation of cognition; similarly, the overall
score of male teachers on MAI was also higher than female
teachers.However, the study revealed that this difference was not
significant.
It was also found that teachers with more than 15 years experience
and with in-service training possessed higher scores on the
metacognitive inventory. Further teachers with higher academic and
professional qualifications achieved higher score on the MAI. It was
also revealed that teachers who always consulted library achieved
higher mean score on the inventory. Similarly, the study did not
reveal any significant gender differences in the MAI score of
students.The study further revealed that children of highly educated
mothers and the students who had always the opportunity of tuition
performed better on the achievement test and the inventory. Students
of highly metacognitively aware teachers have a higher mean score
both on the chemistry test and metacognitive inventory, similarly
performance of highly metacognitively aware students on the
achievement test was better than low metacognitively aware students.
In the second approach, each question was analyzed separately which
indicated that metacognition is not a single variable but is highly
multivariate.This approach was considered as factor analyses; of
both the response patterns of the students and the response patterns
of the teachers showed no underlying structure at all. This
undermines the claims of the original authors of the inventory but,
more importantly, suggests that metacognition is not a single
variable or even the six variables which were derived from the
Following this approach, it was found that some specific teacher
skills (of a metacognitive nature) were correlated with student test
performance (see table 4.3.1). These included the perception of
having a good memory, consciously focusing on information, pausing
regular while teaching, considering all options for solving problem
as well as having a clear conception of student goals, an awareness
of student learning and being willing to summarize lessons.It can
be argued that these are the some of the characteristics of a ‘good’
teacher and, therefore, are likely to generate better test results.The study recommended that these areas may be focused in the
training programs of teachers.It was further recommended that as
parental guidance has a key role in the performance of students.Therefore, the parents may give attention to this aspect
for the betterment of their kid
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