The effect of an instructional practice based on metacognition upon teacher trainees academic achievement, metacognitive awareness, achievement motivation and critical thinking

The aim of the study is to find out ?The Effect of An Instructional Practice Based on Metacognition Upon Teacher Trainees? Academic Achievement, Metacognitive Awareness, Achievement Motivation and Critical Thinking?. The study group was consisted of the chosen teacher trainees among studying at Fırat University, Primary Education Department (Daytime Classes and Evening Classes), Science Teaching and Turkish Language Education Department, Turkish Language Teaching (Daytime Classes and Evening Classes) in spring term of 2011-2012 academic year after a cluster analysis.Groups are consisted of 22 teacher trainees in Turkish Language Teaching (Daytime Classes and Evening Classes) and 25 teacher trainees (Daytime Classes), 28 teacher trainees (Evening Classes) in Science Teaching Department after a cluster analysis. An experimental study was used in the study.The study was carried out via ? pre test- post test control group model?. The experimental was group was applied the instructional practice based on metacognition. The control group was applied the traditional methods. Furthermore, the study was supported by quantitive study. To do this, the data gathered from the activities applied to the experimental group were analyzed. The data of the study were gathered through ?An Academic Achievement Test for The Measurement and Evaluation Course, ?A Metacognitive Awareness Scale for Taecher Trainess (ÜFAR)?, ? Achievement Focused Motivation Scale (BOM)?, ?California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI)? and some activity forms. Some of the findings of the study are below:-Statistically significant difference were observed in some factors of pre test - post test academic achievement, metacognitive awareness and critical thinking mean scores of the experimental groups in favour of post test.-No statistically were observed significant differences between pre test - post test achievement motivation points of the experimental groups.-Statistically significant differences were found in some factors of post test academic achievement, metacognitive awareness and achievement motivation scores of the experimental and control groups in favour of the experimental groups.-No statistically were observed significant differences between post test critical thinking scores of the experimental and control groups.-No statistically significant differences were observed in metacognitive awareness, achievement motivation and critical thinking achievement scores of the Experimental I Group and Control I Group.-Statistically significant differences were found in some factors of academic achievement, metacognitive awareness and achievement motivation scores of the Experimental II Group and Control II Group in favour of the experimental group.The results of the study shows that an instructional practice based on metacognition affected the development of the teacher trainess positively. However, the instruction period should be extended for more efficient results.Key words: Achievement Motivation, Awareness, Critical Thinking, Metacognition.