Investigation of metacognitive behaviors used by secondary school students in solving non-routine problems

In this research, the metacognitive behaviors used by middle school students in solving non-routine problems and the metacognitive behavioral sequences that distinguish the correct solutions are examined. In this context, the case study method, which is one of the qualitative research methods, are used in the investigation. The study is conducted with 11 secondary school students studying in a public school. The data of the research are collected by the multi method-interview method developed by Wilson (2001) and non-routine problems are used in this process. The analysis of the data is accomplished by descriptive analysis method. As a result of the findings obtained, it has been determined that students use behaviors related to awareness, regulation and evaluation dimensions with a close percentage in solving non-routine problems. Students used the planning behavior the most in the process. In addition to this, it has been seen that students generally start the process with the behavior belonging to the awareness dimension in true and false solutions then, continue with the behavior belonging to the regulation dimension, and they complete the process with behaviors related to the evaluation dimension. It was determined that the students who reached more correct solutions at the end of the process reached the correct solution in all questions in which they used certain behaviors belonging to the awareness dimension. Again, it was seen that the students who reached more correct solutions at the end of the process reached the correct solution in all questions in which they showed the behavior of controlling the result.