Metacognition, General Ability, and Mathematical Understanding

The purpose of the present study was threefold: (a) to examine the extent to which kindergarten children acquire metacognitive knowledge related to mathematics; (b) to investigate the relationships between children's metacognitive knowledge and general ability; and (c) to examine the relative roles of general ability and metacognition in facilitating word problem solutions. Participants were 32 kindergarten children. Results showed that preschoolers acquired a substantial metacognitive knowledge about mathematical word problems. That knowledge was highly correlated with mathematics performance, even after general ability was controlled. The study further shows that metacognition explained more of the variance in mathematics performance than general ability. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.