A Study On The Relationship Between High School Students’ Tendency To Think Critically In Mathematics,Mathematics Metacognition And Academic Performance In Mathematics

Quality education is at the heart of our education,with a focus on cultivating students’ innovative spirit and requiring them to learn.As a science,mathematics is closely linked to innovation,and criticism is the basis and prerequisite for innovation.The rigour and openness of mathematical thinking also lay the foundation for the cultivation of critical thinking.Moreover,metacognition can monitor and regulate students’ mathematical learning activities,helping them to find appropriate learning strategies and make the transition from learning to learning.The development of critical thinking and metacognition in mathematics is therefore urgent.At present,a large number of studies have confirmed the positive relationship between critical thinking and metacognition in mathematics and academic achievement in mathematics,but only a few scholars have explored the relationship between the two at a theoretical level.Furthermore,the training of thinking skills must be based on thinking dispositions,and therefore the formation of critical thinking dispositions in mathematics should be given more emphasis in the process of mathematics education.Given this,this study uses high school students as the target population to reveal the relationship between critical thinking dispositions,mathematical metacognition,and academic performance in mathematics and their mechanisms of action through empirical research,and to examining relevant teaching examples to explore their pedagogical value.From these findings,pedagogical insights are drawn to enhance the thinking skills and academic performance of senior secondary school students.Firstly,this study systematically reviews the literature to clarify the logical relationship between critical thinking disposition,mathematical metacognition,and academic achievement in mathematics,establishes a structural equation model with mathematical metacognition as the independent variable,academic achievement in mathematics as the dependent variable,and critical thinking disposition and its dimensions as mediating variables,and proposes research questions and research hypotheses.Secondly,this study used the Questionnaire on Mathematical Critical Thinking Tendencies and Mathematical Metacognition of High School Students to conduct a questionnaire survey on 503 high school students from one or two high schools in Liuzhou City and used Excel to collect the data and applied SPSS25.0 and AMOS24.0 software to conduct item analysis,exploratory factor analysis,validation factor analysis,and reliability analysis on the scale,and the results showed that the scale’s reliability and validity were acceptable.Then,SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0 software were used again to conduct the analysis of status quo,analysis of variance,correlation analysis,and mediation effect analysis to understand the current situation of mathematics critical thinking disposition and mathematics metacognition among high school students,to analyse the correlation between the three variables,to test the mediation role of mathematics critical thinking disposition and its dimensions between mathematics metacognition and mathematics academic performance,and thus The study also identified the relationships and pathways between the three variables and tested the corresponding research hypotheses.Finally,examples of teaching and learning that develop students’ dispositions to critical thinking in mathematics and mathematical metacognition in the mathematics classroom are examined to explore their pedagogical value.The findings are:(1)Overall,senior secondary students’ critical thinking dispositions and mathematical metacognition are both at an average to a high level.(2)There were significant differences in high school students’ tendency to think critically in mathematics in terms of gender,grade level,academic achievement in mathematics,student leaders,classroom teachers,and enjoyment of mathematics;and there were significant differences in high school students’ metacognition in terms of gender,grade level,academic achievement in mathematics,classroom teachers,and enjoyment of mathematics,but not in terms of student leaders.(3)There was a significant positive correlation between critical thinking disposition in mathematics,mathematics metacognition and its dimensions,and academic achievement in mathematics in any of the two.(4)Mathematical metacognition was a positive predictor of academic achievement in mathematics,and the tendency to think critically in mathematics was a positive predictor of academic achievement in mathematics.(5)Critical thinking disposition and its dimensions mediated the relationship between mathematical metacognition and academic achievement in mathematics.Finally,this study draws out pedagogical implications from the findings of the study that are conducive to the development of mathematics critical thinking dispositions and mathematics metacognition in high school students,providing new perspectives to enhance their mathematical thinking skills and academic performance.Specifically,in developing senior secondary students’ critical thinking dispositions in mathematics,mathematics teachers should(1)turn their attention to mathematics education to teach students to think and enhance their critical awareness;and(2)create a relaxed,democratic,and open learning environment to activate students’ enthusiasm for mathematics.In terms of developing mathematical metacognition in senior secondary students,mathematics teachers should(1)permeate mathematical thinking methods and strengthen the guidance of mathematical metacognitive knowledge;(2)create positive experiential contexts and attach importance to the regulatory role of mathematical metacognitive experiences;and(3)awaken students’ self-awareness and improve their ability to monitor mathematical metacognition.