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where they would have benefited from using them. The negative effects were found to be caused
by students not having a habit of engaging in metacognitive activity and only consider tools which
the teacher had demonstrated.

To amend these issues, several instructional strategies were proposed. The ones associated with
metacognition involve activities where students design their strategy and are regularly prompted to
present and evaluate it. To expand the number of tools known by students, teachers are
recommended to engage students in activities where they acquaint themselves with a tool. In these
activities, students practice various competencies associated with efficient tool usage, and their
engagement therefore ranges from letting the teacher operate the tool or following a step-by-step
instruction to exploring freely.

Why is relevant for adult educators and adult education centers?

Why this case study is a success / best practice?

The case study explores how digital tools can be used in mathematical modelling and the positive
effects they can have. However, it also identifies some challenges that can arise, such as students
not knowing how to operate the tools effectively or not using them to enhance their metacognitive
activity. To address these challenges, the case study suggests two strategies for training students'
metacognitive competency and developing a habit of employing it, as well as strategies for
repeatedly engaging students in activities where they gain awareness of tool features and train their
proficiency in using them. Finally, it concludes that instruction needs to be designed to develop both 30
areas of competency while not overloading students' cognitive capacity, and that teachers need to
be aware of how the effects that can be generated by the tool usage are dependent on how the

problem is designed.

5.3 TURKEY

Metacognitive Skills and Problem-Solving

The purpose of this study is to investigate the metacognitive strategies that middle school students
used in the process of solving problems individually. The study group consisted of 37 middle school
students in the eighth grade. The students were asked one non-routine word problem, and their
written answers were collected. After solving the problem, the students filled out a self-monitoring
questionnaire that requested them to reflect retrospectively on the metacognitive strategies they
employed for the problem. In order to obtain detailed data, semi-structured interviews were
conducted with six students, three of whom gave correct responses and the other three gave wrong

answers to the problem. The data was analysed through the model of metacognitive activity during
problem-solving. The results showed that metacognitive skills have a significant effect on students‟
problem-solving success. The study found that students with high metacognitive skills tend to solve
the problem correctly by using appropriate strategies, mathematical notations, and logical reasons.
The results also revealed that students with poor metacognitive skills have difficulties in