An Empirical Study on Metacognition of Senior Secondary Students

Abstract

In the field of educational psychology, metacognition is an emerging concept. Metacognition is a higher thinking skill that involves active control over the process of thinking that is used in learning situations, it includes knowledge about when and where to use particular strategies for learning in achieving learning goals. The aim of the present study was to investigate relationship between metacognition and achievement motivation of senior secondary students. The study also tried to find out the differences in the metacognition of senior secondary students based on gender, locality and type of management of institution. The study was conducted on the sample of 160 senior secondary students of Bengaluru, India. The Metacognition Inventory (Govil, 2003) was used to measure metacognition of students and Achievement Motivation Scale (Deo and Mohan, 2005) was used to measure students’ achievement motivation. Pearson’s Product moment correlation and ‘t’ test were employed to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that metacognition and achievement motivation of senior secondary students were positively correlated with each other, gender had no significant impact on the metacognition of senior secondary students, on the other hand there was significant difference in metacognition level of students of government institutions and private institutions and also there was significant difference in metacognition level of rural and urban senior secondary students. This study suggested the teachers to emphasize on constructivist approach in teaching and learning processes to promote metacognition in the students to construct and regulate their knowledge. Further the present study also recommended some strategies for students to enhance their metacognition.