Examination of the relationship between lower secondary school students' reflective thinking skills towards problem solving and metacognitive awareness

In this study, it is aimed to examine the relationship between secondary school students' reflective thinking skills towards problem solving and their metacognitive awareness. Correlational survey design, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. Determined through convenience sampling method, the sample of this study consists of 571 lower secondary school students studying in Afyonkarahisar in the 2022-2023 academic year. In the study, "Personal Information Form", "Reflective Thinking Skills Scale for Problem Solving" and "Metacognitive Awareness Scale for Children" were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the collected data. According to the research findings, the reflective thinking skills of secondary school students for problem solving and their metacognitive awareness were highly correlated and had mutually supportive features. Additionally, their ability to think of solutions to secondary scholl problems was found to be a significant predictor of their metacognitive importance. Keywords: Problem solving, reflective thinking, metacognitive awareness, lower secondary school students.