Metacognition in Mathematics Problem Solving: A Case of Making Monitoring and Regulation Visible
Shiqi JIN and LEONG Yew Hoong
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Published in The Mathematician Educator, 2025, Vol 6, No. 2, pp 47-71.
Abstract
This paper reports a two-student case study on how parts of 5th-grade students’ metacognitive processes became visible while they solved a nonroutine mathematical problem. The students used a designed Problem Solving Metacognition (PSM) worksheet that incorporated explicit metacognitive prompts for anticipated decision points, including understanding difficulty, inadequate progress, key insights, and uncertain answer. These prompts encouraged brief records of students’ monitoring and regulation. A marker-response analysis traced how each student responded across the problem solving stages and revealed distinct metacognitive profiles. The case study suggests that the PSM worksheet may offer a practical way to make students’ metacognitive actions more visible and analysable in regular mathematics problem solving classrooms.