The purposes of this study were to investigate 6th-graders` use of cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies in usual learning and testing situations, and to compare the difference in the use of the strategies by students` science achievement,...
The purposes of this study were to investigate 6th-graders` use of cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies in usual learning and testing situations, and to compare the difference in the use of the strategies by students` science achievement, learning motivation, and gender. The relationship among these strategies, science achievement, and learning motivation were also examined, and the portion of variance of explanation for achievement score was studied by a multiple regression analysis. The results showed that high-achieving students used more cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies in usual learning and more cognitive strategies in testing situations than low-achieving students. Highly motivated students used more cognitive and metacognitive strategies than poorly motivated students in all situations. Elementary female students used more learning strategies than male students in usual learning. On the other hand, no gender differences was found to be significant in the use of strategies in testing situations. These learning strategies were significantly correlated with the science achievement and motivation scores. The cognitive strategies in usual learning accounted for the significant portion of the variance of the achievement score. Educational implications are discussed.