Metacognitive practices help learners to monitor their own progress and take control of their learning as they read, write and solve problems in the classroom. Research indicates that metacognition is a powerful predictor of learning. Metacognitive practices make a unique contribution to learning over and above the influence of intellectual ability. The implication of this research is that improving a learner’s metacognitive practices may compensate for any cognitive limitations they may have.

Metacognitive practices have been shown to improve academic achievement across a range of ages, cognitive abilities and learning domains. This includes reading and text comprehension, writing, mathematics, reasoning and problem solving and memory. Metacognitive skills help students to transfer what they have learnt from one context to the next, or from a previous task to a new task.

 Meta Cognition

Meta cognition refers to the cognitive control and monitoring of first-order cognitive processes. Meta means beyond and cognition means, to know. Metacognition means to go beyond just knowing to understanding how you know what you know. Flavell, [1] defines metacognition as, "knowledge and cognition about cognitive phenomena". Metacognition is a dialogue between the learner and his/her thought processes that results in monitoring and regulation of learning. It is thus an ability to plan strategies for producing what information is needed, to be conscious of one’s own steps and strategies during the act of problem solving and to reflect on and evaluate the productivity of one’s own thinking. According to Flavell, meta cognition is composed of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation [2].  

Metacognitive Knowledge

Metacognitive knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes, knowledge that can be used to control cognitive processes. Flavell further divides metacognitive knowledge into three categories: knowledge of person variables, task variables and strategy variables [3].

Need and Significance of the Study

The aim of education wide over focuses on enhancing student’s cognitive skills. There has been a surge for understanding ways to improve student’s cognitive abilities therefore. In other words, cognitive skills focus on improving students thinking abilities. In the past few years however, educational psychologists have shifted gears one step ahead towards helping students not only think but also regulate their thinking. The importance of developing student’s metacognition has been coming to the fore. Research reviews highlight that like any other psychological concept; metacognition of a student could have a bearing on various other cognitive abilities. It is therefore necessary to identify the relationship that may exist between student’s metacognition and their learning styles. The research review also indicates that not many studies have been conducted to study how learning styles influence the levels of metacognition among student teachers. This was important since the focus of developing desired metacognitive skills requires a direction. 

Statement of the Problem 

A research problem, in general, refers to some difficulty which a researcher experiences in the context of either a theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same [4]. A good statement of the problem must clarify exactly what is to be determined or solved. It must restrict the scope of the study to specific and workable research question [5]. The study entitled-A Study on Meta Cognition of the B.Ed Trainees in Thanjavur. 

 Operational Definition of the Key Terms 

Here, the investigator presents a definition of important key terms which are tagged in the topic i.e., variables. They are: 

Meta Cognition 

Metacognition is the knowledge and beliefs about cognition, in addition to the skills and strategies enabling the self-regulation of cognitive processes. 

B.Ed. Trainees

The students are studying in teacher training colleges after undergraduate or post graduate. 

Objectives 

The objectives of the study have been formulated by the investigator are given below:

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their gender

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their subject

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their college Locality. 

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their students residence

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their nature of stay

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their type of family

• To find out the whether there is any significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees with respected to their marital status

Hypothesis: 

• There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their gender

• There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their type of subject

• There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their college Locality

• There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their students residence

• There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their nature of stay

• There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their type of family

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their marital status.

Research methodology is a systematic way to solve a research problem. It describes the various steps of research to be adopted in solving research problem. It may be called as the procedure adopted by the researcher in research work for realization of objectives. It is a systematic and scientific manner of conducting an investigation on research problem. According to Good, “Methodology is a science of methods or principles of procedures” as cited in Maheswari, 2011. Research methodology is broader concept because it includes too many procedures are used to conduct research. It also includes the design of the study. Survey research is one of the most important methods to measure variables in applied social research. It is a non-experimental descriptive research method which gives direct experiences to the researcher through observation, questionnaires and interviews. According to Crane, “The survey will involve questionnaire, interview as well as consultations. They will establish what is happening and what people think”. Survey research sometimes called as field research. Because, the researcher should go to meet the sample directly and collect data. It gives direct experience to the researcher.

Population 

Population may be called as a collection of individuals or object or things or events or units or items which are categorized under common characteristics. It means that those all are separated by at least one common factor with others. According to Best and Kahn, “A population is defined as a group of individuals with at least one common characteristic which distinguished that group from other individuals. The population selected for the present study is B.Ed trainees in Thanjavur.

Sample and Sampling Technique of the Study 

Sample is a small portion or unit of the large population. A good sample should reflect the parameters of the population. According to Best and Kahn, defined the sample “A sample is a small portion of the population that is selected for observation and analysis”. In the word of Manhein, “A sample is a part of the population which is studied in order to make inference about the whole population”. The data were collected from 306 B.Ed trainees from Thanjavur with use of simple random sampling technique. 

Generally, the sample may be defined as “the adequate and proportional part or unit of the large population which is used to make inferences with respect to the whole population on the basic of observed or obtained phenomena”. 

Tool used in the Study

Tools are very essential instrument to measure or assess or evaluate any type of variables. According to Best, “Research tool is the means for describing and quantifying the data collected by the investigator many different methods and procedures have been developed to aid in the distinctive ways of describing and quantifying data”. In social sciences, the researchers should pay a great attention in tools which may be constructed or it available in readymade mode. The precise in measurement is directly depends on objectivity of the measuring tool. Reliability is an essential quality of standardization and it explains the stability of the tool. The internal consistency of the tool is called as reliability. The reliability values of meta cognition Scale is 0.748 by using Split half method respectively.

Statistical Techniques Used 

The following statistical procedure is used for the study:

• Mean and standard deviation 

• ‘t’ test 

• “F” test 

Analysis and Interpretation 

Hypothesis-1

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their gender. 

The calculated t - value 1.184 is less than the critical value 1.97 corresponding at 0.05 level significant, this implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of male and female students under consideration is not significant. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted (Table 1). 

Hypothesis – 2 

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their subject.

The calculated t- value 0.883, is less than the critical value 1.97 corresponding at 0.05 level significant, this implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of arts and science students under consideration is not significant. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted (Table 2). 

Hypothesis - 3 

There is no significant different of the Meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees with respect to the college locality.

The calculated t-value 3.141, is higher than the critical value 1.97 corresponding at 0.05 level significant, this implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of rural and urban college students under consideration is significant. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected (Table 3). 

Hypothesis – 4 

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their students residence.

The calculated t - value 1.533, is less than the critical value 1.97 corresponding at 0.05 level significant, this implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of rural and urban students under consideration is not significant. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted (Table 4). 

Hypothesis- 5 

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their nature of stay. 

The calculated t - value 0.658, is lower than the critical value 1.97 of corresponding at 0.05 level significant. This implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of day and hostel students under consideration is not significant. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted (Table 5).

Hypothesis – 6 

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their type of family.

The calculated t-value 2.553, is higher than the critical value 1.97 corresponding at 0.05 level significant. This implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of nuclear and joint family students under consideration is significant. Hence the null hypothesis is rejected (Table 6).

Table 1: Shows mean scores, standard Deviation and ‘t’ value of meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between male and female students

Table 2: Shows mean scores, standard Deviation and ‘t’ value of Meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between arts and science students

Table 3: Shows mean scores, standard Deviation and ‘t’ value of Meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between rural and urban college students

Table 4: Shows mean scores, standard Deviation and ‘t’ value of Meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between of rural and urban students

Table 5: Shows mean scores, standard Deviation and ‘t’ value of meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between day scholar and hostel students. 

Table 6: Shows mean scores, Standard Deviation and ‘t’ of meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between nuclear and joint family students 

Table 7: Shows mean scores, Standard Deviation and ‘t’ value of Meta cognition among B.Ed teacher trainees between married and Unmarried students. 

Hypothesis – 7 

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed trainees in terms of their marital status. 

The calculated t - value 1.088, is less than the critical value 1.97 corresponding at 0.05 level significant, this implies that the difference in meta cognition mean score of married and Unmarried students under consideration is not significant. Hence the null hypothesis is accepted (Table 7).

Table shows that, there is a significant difference in meta cognition mean score of rural and urban college students under consideration research hypothesis accepted. (t=3.141).

Table shows that, there is significant difference in meta cognition mean score of nuclear family and join family students under consideration research hypothesis accepted. (t=2.553)

There is no significant difference of the meta cognition among B.Ed. trainees in terms of their gender(t=1.184), subject(t=0.883), student’s residence(t=1.533), nature of stay(t=0.658) and marital status. (t=1.088).

The present study pointed out that there is a significant difference between the meta cognition of the urban and rural students is significant the mean score of the rural students higher than urban students. And there is significant  difference  between  the  meta cognition of the joint family and nuclear family. The mean score of the nuclear family is higher than the joint family. There is no significant difference between the meta cognition among B.Ed. Trainees in terms of their gender, subject, student’s residence, nature of stay and marital status.

The study reveals that there is a significant difference between the meta cognition of the urban and rural students and there is significant difference between the meta cognition of the joint family and nuclear family.

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2. Goswami, Marami. Measurement and Evaluation in Psychology and Education. New Delhi: Neelkamal Publications Private Limited, 2011.

3. Kumar, Kumod, and Yodida Bhutia. "Study Habits and Achievement of Students in Mathematics in Secondary Schools." Edutracks, vol. 12, no. 4, 2012.

4. Kothari, C.R. Research Methodology: Research Problem. New Delhi: New Age International Private Limited.

5. Koul, Lokesh. Methodology of Educational Research: Meaning of Hypothesis. New Delhi: Vikas Publication House Private Limited, 1984.