Metacognitive planning skills of good and poor problem solvers towards understanding the problem

Problem-solving is one of the essential topics in mathematics education. For this reason, detailed research has been conducted on problem-solving in recent years. This research examined the planning skills of good and poor problem solvers to understand the problem. The case study model was used as a qualitative research method. Within the scope of the research, a screening test (problem-solving test) was administered to 142 seventh-grade middle school students in a private school in the east of Turkey, and data was collected from eight students selected according to the results of this screening test. The study data was collected with the think-aloud protocol applied to the participants. Content analysis was performed on the collected data. The study's results showed that good problem solvers reread the problem step by step, identified the keywords correctly, read the keywords, and wrote true what was given and requested. It has been shown that poor problem-solver students read the problem in its entirety when rereading it, could not identify the keywords correctly, and could not write what was given and asked correctly. In line with the results obtained in the research, suggestions are presented to improve the problem-solving skills of excellent and poor problem-solver students. The research is expected to contribute to the literature on problem-solving in mathematics education by revealing the cognitive skills of excellent and poor problem-solver students in understanding the problem.