Metacognitive factors in scientific problem-solving strategies

The aim of this study on 42 seventh graders (ages 12-13) was to determine whether and to what extent students' metacognitive level is linked to their conceptualization and performance in problem solving at school, especially science problems. This hypothesis is supported by a number of studies showing that metacognition is a factor in learning. Two indexes were devised for the study: an index of metaknowledge about classroom learning, and an index of metacognitive monitoring in relation to task difficulty on a non-academic problem. These two indexes were related to the students' intelligence test scores and solving strategies on electricity problems. The results showed that (1) the metaknowledge level was more closely tied to crystallized intelligence (Gc), and (2) metacognitive monitoring was more closely associated with fluid intelligence (Gf). Moreover, both metacognitive indexes were strongly linked to scientific problem-solving strategies (correlations around .50).