Variations between Elective and Non-Elective Mathematics Students of Colleges of Education in Using Metacognitive Strategies to Solve Geometric Theorem Problems

As a result of the shift from Objective Based Curricula (OBC) to Standard Based Curricula (SBC) which emphasizes the attainment of standard levels of competence and skills by learners, there is an emergence of high interest in the use of metacognitive strategies in the learning of mathematics. Working in groups or individually, learners design own strategies to solve problems, reflect on their work for evaluation and adoption of alternative approaches to the problem being solved for better results. These are approaches that fall in line with metacognitive strategies. This research piece sought to determine any differences in metacognitive strategies that may exist between elective mathematics students and non-elective mathematics students in colleges of education. Using a mix of two techniques of sampling, proportionate numbers for the sample were drawn from two colleges of education which were purposively selected. Data were collected to test the null hypothesis of whether elective and non-elective mathematics students differed in their use of metacognitive strategies when solving GT problems. Results of the independent samples t-test showed no significant differences (t(298) = -0.248, p = 0.2805) between elective mathematics students (M = 45.83, Sd = 8.27) and the non-elective mathematics students (M = 45.57, Sd = 10.27) when using metacognitive strategies to solve problems on GT.