INFLUENCE OF METACOGNITION AS 21ST CENTURY LEARNING STRATEGY ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF BIOLOGY STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the influence of metacognition and self- efficacy belief on academic achievement on senior secondary school student in biology. To guide the study, four research questions were posed and four hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05% probability level. Ex-Post Facto design was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu state. A sample size of three hundred and twenty SS11 Biology students were used for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select four schools where the entire SS11 students are offering biology and simple random sampling was used to select two classes each from the schools involved. Two instruments were used for data collection in this study namely: Metacognition (MTC) and Self-Efficacy Belief (SEB) questionnaire. Also students’ annual (1^st, 2^nd, 3rd term) results of S11 biology from the schools involved in the study were collected by the researcher as the Achievement Test. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study revealed that metacognition significantly influence students’ academic achievement in biology, t-calculated value for the mean scores difference of students with high and low metacognition was 0.24 with 320 degree of freedom and associated probability of 0.001. There was no significant influence on mean score of self-efficacy belief on students’ academic achievement in biology. There was a significant influence of gender and metacognition on mean score of students’ academic achievement in biology. There was a significant influence of gender and self-efficacy belief on mean score of students’ academic achievement in biology. In line with the findings of the study, the educational implications of the findings were highlighted and the recommendations such as Teachers and parents should endeavor to encourage and motivate learners to believe in themselves, create conducive environment at home. They should bring out time to interact with the learner and assess their performance in tests, assignments and examinations. Based on these findings, it was recommended that biology classroom teachers, science education, and policy maker should embrace metacognition and self-efficacy belief in science curriculum implementation