RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METACOGNITION AND ACHIEVEMENT IN HISTORY OF XI STANDARD STUDENTS

*P. Vel Murugan and **R. Stella

*Assistant Professor and **Research Scholar, Bishop Agniswamy College of Education, Muttom, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu – 629 202.

 

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to find out the relationship between metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students. Metacognition Inventory constructed by Punitha Govil and Achievement Test in History Questionnaire developed by the investigator were used to collect the relevant data. The sample consists of 300 XI standard students of whom 114 are male and 186 are female. The data are analysed by ‘t’ test and Karl Pearson’s Product moment correlation. The results indicate that there is significant relationship between metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students.

 

INTRODUCTION

Education is a purposeful continuous and lifelong process for individual adjustment and development. It serves as a dynamic process. Its nature is theoretical as well as practical. As a science as well as an art “It is very important for the progress of an individual and society”. It is through education that man develops his thinking and reasoning, problem solving and creativity, intelligence and attitude, positive sentence and skills and good values and attitude. It is through education that he is transformed into human social, moral and spiritual being. According to Tagore, “Education means enabling the mind to find out that ultimate truth which emancipates us from the bondage of dust of gives us the wealth, not of things, but of inner light, not of power but of love, making truth its own and giving expression to it”.

METACOGNITION

Metacognition is cognition about cognition or knowing about knowing. It can take many forms. It includes knowledge about when and where to use particular strategies for learning or for solving problems. Metamemory, individual’s knowledge about memory is an especially important form of metacognition. Metamemory included general knowledge about memory, such as knowing that recognition tests (such as multiple-choice questions) are easier than recall tests (such as essay questions). It also encompasses knowledge about one’s own memory; such as knowing whether one have studied enough for upcoming tests. Metacognition is studied in the domain of artificial intelligence and modeling. Therefore it is the domain of interest of emergent systemic.

IMPORTANCE OF HISTORY

History is a subject at the secondary school level which offers a systematic study of man in relation to his society. A country is great not by its number, but by the character of its people. In a democratic country like India every citizen has to play a pivotal role in the upliftment of the nation. Therefore, it is generally agreed that a citizen must be educated in such a way so that it would develop certain desirable skills, attitude and values in him for the manifestation of his own self as well as for the progress of the nation. Hence schools must prepare students for dealing with social controversies, cultural change and manifold problems in the society. In the attainment of this coveted aim of education, history is quiet important because it is an unending dialogue between past and present where by an analysis is made, on the basis of which we can mould better future. It also helps, to know and understand the world activities and events taking place in the society, behaviours of the people and cultural activities of several people. The students can develop the international brotherhood and adjust with other people of the society.

ACHIEVEMENT

The term achievement is used more generally to describe performance in the subjects of the curriculum. Academic achievement has been criterion for judging the individual, right from the start of formal education. If the goal of education is enhancing the academic achievement of the individual, then researchers will have empirically to find answers to various questions related to achievement. The variables studied in this area as correlates of achievement are large in number. Mainly academic achievement refers to how the student performs in the examination and how much marks to gets from the examination. The total marks earned by the student are the academic achievement of student.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Metacognition is cognition about cognition. It is the awareness of one’s own thoughts. The thinking ability is the higher order of the mental ability of the human beings. It is an act, which can give practice to the students in the selection, evaluation, revision of cognitive tasks, goals and strategies. The metacognitive knowledge encompasses all the information about a proposal task that is available to a person. This knowledge guides the individual in the management of a task and provides information about the degree of success that he or she is likely to produce. The higher secondary students have hypothetical thinking ability and they can solve any type of problems.

Achievement refers to the knowledge attained or skills developed in the school subjects usually designed by test scores or by marks assigned by teachers. Achievement of the students depends upon so many factors. Metacognition is one of the factors. This factor is in positive, it will lead the student towards better achievement. Therefore the investigator wants to know the relationship between the metacognition and achievement in history of XI standard students.

OBJECTIVES

1. To find out whether there is any significant difference between male and female XI standard History group students in their metacognition.
2. To find out whether there is any significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard History group students in their metacognition.
3. To find out whether there is any significant difference between government and aided school XI standard History group students in their metacognition.
4. To find out whether there is any significant difference between XI standard History group students from nuclear family and joint family in their metacognition.
5. To find out whether there is any significant difference between male and female XI standard students in their achievement in History.
6. To find out whether there is any significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard students in their achievement in History.
7. To find out whether there is any significant difference between government and aided school XI standard students in their achievement in History.
8. To find out whether there is any significant difference between XI standard students from nuclear family and joint family in their achievement in History.
9. To find out whether there is any significant relationship between metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students.

NULL HYPOTHESES

1. There is no significant difference between male and female XI standard History group students in their metacognition.
2. There is no significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard History group students in their metacognition.
3. There is no significant difference between government and aided school XI standard History group students in their metacognition.
4. There is no significant difference between XI standard History group students from nuclear family and joint family in their metacognition.
5. There is no significant difference between male and female XI standard students in their achievement in History.
6. There is no significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard students in their achievement in History.
7. There is no significant difference between government and aided school XI standard students in their achievement in History.
8. There is no significant difference between XI standard students from nuclear family and joint family in their achievement in History.
9. There is no significant relationship between metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students.

METHODOLOGY

The investigator adopted survey method. The population for the study is XI standard students in Nagercoil Educational district. The investigator has used stratified random sampling technique for collecting the data. The stratification has been done on the basis of gender, location of school, type of school and type of family. The sample consists of 300 XI standard History group students from 11 schools. Among them 114 are male and 186 are female students. Metacognition Inventory constructed by Punitha Govil and Achievement Test in History Questionnaire developed by the investigator were used for collecting the data. ‘t’ test and Karl Pearson’s Product moment correlation were used to analyse the data in this study.

ANALYSIS OF DATA

Table 1

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE XI STANDARD HISTORY GROUP STUDENTS IN THEIR METACOGNITION

Metacognition and its Dimensions	Male (N =114)		Female (N=186)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Knowledge of Cognition	36.72	5.579	37.69	5.196	1.507	Not Significant
Regulation of Cognition	50.43	6.819	50.91	7.138	0.586	Not Significant
Metacognition	87.15	11.186	88.68	11.304	1.148	Not Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is no significant difference between male and female XI standard History group students in their knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition.

Table 2

Metacognition and its Dimensions	Rural (N =135)		Urban (N=165)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Knowledge of Cognition	37.06	5.056	37.54	5.597	0.780	Not Significant
Regulation of Cognition	51.47	6.074	50.12	7.657	1.706	Not Significant
Metacognition	88.55	9.827	87.73	12.335	0.637	Not Significant

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN SCHOOL XI STANDARD HISTORY GROUP STUDENTS IN THEIR METACOGNITION

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is no significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard History group students in their knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition.

Table 3

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND AIDED SCHOOL XI STANDARD HISTORY GROUP STUDENTS IN THEIR METACOGNITION

Metacognition and its Dimensions	Government       (N = 89)		Aided (N=211)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Knowledge of Cognition	38.11	4.877	36.99	5.524	1.748	Not Significant
Regulation of Cognition	52.22	6.760	50.10	7.034	2.457	Significant
Metacognition	90.34	10.539	87.16	11.451	2.326	Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is no significant difference between government and aided school XI standard History group students in their knowledge of cognition, but there is significant difference between government and aided school XI standard History group students in their regulation of cognition and metacognition. While comparing the mean scores of government and aided school XI standard History group students, the government school XI standard History group students are better in their regulation of cognition and metacognition.

 

Table 4

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XI STANDARD HISTORY GROUP STUDENTS FROM NUCLEAR FAMILY AND JOINT FAMILY IN THEIR METACOGNITION

Metacognition and its Dimensions	Nuclear Family (N =272)		Joint Family (N=28)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Knowledge of Cognition	37.34	5.309	37.14	5.899	0.172	Not Significant
Regulation of Cognition	50.60	6.969	51.96	7.421	0.929	Not Significant
Metacognition	88.00	11.164	89.11	12.378	0.456	Not Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is no significant difference between XI standard History group students from nuclear family and joint family in their knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition.

Table 5

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE XI STANDARD

STUDENTS IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN HISTORY

Variable	Male (N =114)		Female (N=186)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Achievement in History	20.22	5.766	23.33	4.285	4.975	Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is significant difference between male and female XI standard students in their achievement in History. While comparing the mean scores of male and female XI standard students, the female XI standard students are better in their achievement in History.

Table 6

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RURAL AND URBAN SCHOOL XI STANDARD STUDENTS IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN HISTORY

Variable	Rural (N=135)		Urban (N=165)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Achievement in History	21.33	4.428	22.82	5.546	2.591	Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard students in their achievement in History. While comparing the mean scores of rural and urban school XI standard students, the urban school XI standard students are better in their achievement in History.

Table 7

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND AIDED SCHOOL XI STANDARD STUDENTS IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN HISTORY

Variable	Government       (N=89)		Aided (N=211)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Achievement in History	24.42	5.742	21.19	4.517	4.720	Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is significant difference between government and aided school XI standard students in their achievement in History. While comparing the mean scores of government and aided school XI standard students, the government school XI standard students are better in their achievement in History.

Table 8

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XI STANDARD STUDENTS FROM NUCLEAR FAMILY AND JOINT FAMILY IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT IN HISTORY

Variable	Nuclear Family (N=272)		Joint Family (N=28)		Calculated value of ‘t’	Remarks at 5% level
	Mean	S.D	Mean	S.D
Achievement in History	22.03	5.107	23.29	5.199	1.220	Not Significant

(At 5% level of significance, the table value of ‘t’ is 1.96)

It is inferred from the above table that there is no significant difference between XI standard students from nuclear family and joint family in their achievement in History.

Table 9

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN METACOGNITION AND ACHIEVEMENT

IN HISTORY OF XI STANDARD STUDENTS

Metacognition and its Dimensions	Calculated value of ‘γ’	Remarks at 5% level
Knowledge of Cognition	0.154	Significant
Regulation of Cognition	0.165	Significant
Metacognition	0.178	Significant

(At 5% level of significance for 298 df the table value of ‘γ’ is 0.113)

It is inferred from the above table that there is significant relationship between knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students.

FINDINGS

1. There is no significant difference between male and female XI standard History group students in their knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition.
2. That there is no significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard History group students in their knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition.
3. There is no significant difference between government and aided school XI standard History group students in their knowledge of cognition, but there is significant difference between government and aided school XI standard History group students in their regulation of cognition and metacognition. While comparing the mean scores of government and aided school XI standard History group students, the government school XI standard History group students are better in their regulation of cognition and metacognition.
4. There is no significant difference between XI standard History group students from nuclear family and joint family in their knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition.
5. There is significant difference between male and female XI standard students in their achievement in History. While comparing the mean scores of male and female XI standard students, the female XI standard students are better in their achievement in History.
6. There is significant difference between rural and urban school XI standard students in their achievement in History. While comparing the mean scores of rural and urban school XI standard students, the urban school XI standard students are better in their achievement in History.
7. There is significant difference between government and aided school XI standard students in their achievement in History. While comparing the mean scores of government and aided school XI standard students, the government school XI standard students are better in their achievement in History.
8. There is no significant difference between XI standard students from nuclear family and joint family in their achievement in History.
9. There is significant relationship between knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students.

INTERPRETATIONS

The ‘t’ test result reveals that the government school XI standard History group students are better than the aided school XI standard History group students in their regulation of cognition and metacognition. This may be due to the fact that the government school students get more learning experiences through a set of activities that help pupils control their learning. It is quite different from the learning experiences of aided school. Most of the government school students’ learning reflects their metacognitive regulation.

The ‘t’ test result reveals that female XI standard students are better than the male XI standard students in their achievement in History. This may be due to the fact that the female students are having more memory. Since History is theoretical subject, it is easy to get more marks for female students while comparing with male students.

The ‘t’ test result reveals that the urban school XI standard students are better than rural school XI standard students in their achievement in History. This may be due to the fact that the urban school students get more knowledge and experience in their day to day life and also the school provides variety of activities.

The ‘t’ test result reveals that the government school XI standard students are better than the aided school XI standard students in this achievement in History. This may be due to the fact that the government school teachers are competent and talented enough while comparing to the teachers of aided schools. Moreover the freedom given by the government school environment helps the teachers to act individually and independently to enrich the academic achievement of their students.

The ‘’ test result reveals that significant relationship is found between knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition and metacognition and achievement in History of XI standard students. This may be due to the fact that the history achievement includes metacognitive knowledge like the individuals ideal about themselves and metacognitive regulation like the learning experiences. Through metacognitive processes they have something to do with the current and on-going cognitive facts etc. The combinations of above three metacognitive factors help the learner reach a goal. So the achievement in History is directly correlated with the above dimensions of metacognitive awareness which helps the achievement of XI standard students in History.

 

REFERENCES

• Aggarwal, Y.P. (2002). Statistical methods, concepts, application and computation. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
• Dejong, F.P.C.M. (1996). Cognitive and metacognitive processes of self-regulated learning.
• John W. Best & James V. Khan (2004). Research in education. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.
• Kumar (1999). Methods and techniques of social research. Agra: Lakshmi Narain Aggarwal Educational Publishers.