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A Study On Strategy To Improve Metacognitive Capabilities In Mathematical Problem-solving For Rural Secondary Students

Posted on:2009-04-23Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:A J WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2167360245967269Subject:Subject teaching
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Modern society has witnessed explosive increase in knowledge and intelligence. It becomes critical and fundamental for educators to teach students how to learn effectively. It has been long recognized that metacognition is a crucial aspect of learning capabilities, and students'metaconitive ability is usually reflected in and can be fostered through their problem-solving processes. As rural secondary schools represent a significant proportion in China, this research selects Grade 8 students in a rural area as our research subjects, and conducts a survey on their current metacognitive levels in mathematics and investigates how to improve them. The metacognitive questionnaire on mathematical problem-solving developed by J. Tang et al. is adopted to carry out the survey, and results are summarized as follows:There is significant statistical evidence to conclude that the average metacognitive level of rural secondary students is lower than that of those from key secondary schools in cities.For rural secondary students, the average metacognitive levels of top, average, and bottom students are significantly different.For rural secondary students, the average metacognitive level of females is slightly higher than that of males, but this difference does not have statistical significance.Given these results, by integrating with existing research, this thesis examines potential reasons for the discrepancy between rural and city secondary students, and analyzes individual and environmental factors that lead lower metacognitive levels for rural students. Individual factors are mainly due to the mass loss of top students in rural schools and, hence, the absence of quality companion for the student community, thereby resulting in lower metacognitive capabilities. Environmental factors may come from diverse sources such as family, school, and social culture. For instance, rural families typically have relatively poor financial resources; parents were usually not well educated and cannot take scientific approaches to their children's education. In addition, other factors such as the volatile and aging teaching staff and loss of rural social culture also negatively affect students'metacognitive capabilities.Given the aforesaid analyses, this thesis proposes strategies to improve rural students'metacognitive capabilities from both individual and environmental perspectives. From an individual aspect, the metacognitive capabilities can be enhanced by fostering students'non-intelligence quality, helping them to develop their knowledge systems, leading them to methodological training, and directing them to scientifically assessing learning outcomes. As for environmental factors, cognitive capabilities can be strengthened by encouraging parents to participate and enforcing their children's metacognitive training, and nurturing an immersed learning culture.Two case studies and the improvement of metacognitive scores demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategies.
Keywords/Search Tags:rural secondary students, metacognitive, Mathematical Problem-solving, Strategies
PDF Full Text Request
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