Metacognitive monitoring and metacognitive strategies of gifted and average children on dealing with deductive reasoning task

Abstract

In this paper, we inquire into possible differences between children with exceptionally high intellectual abilities and their average peers as regards metacognitive monitoring and related metacognitive strategies. The question whether gifted children surpass their typically developing peers not only in the intellectual abilities, but also in their level of metacognitive skills, has not been convincingly answered so far. We sought to examine the indicators of metacognitive behavior by means of eye-tracking technology and to compare these findings with the participants’ subjective confidence ratings. Eye-movement data of gifted and average students attending final grades of primary school (4th and 5th grades) were recorded while they dealt with a deductive reasoning task, and four metrics supposed to bear on metacognitive skills, namely the overall trial duration, mean fixation duration, number of regressions and normalized gaze transition entropy, were analyzed. No significant differences between gifted and average children were found in the normalized gaze transition entropy, in mean fixation duration, nor - after controlling for the trial duration – in number of regressions. Both groups of children differed in the time devoted to solving the task. Both groups significantly differed in the association between time devoted to the task and the participants’ subjective confidence rating, where only the gifted children tended to devote more time when they felt less confident. Several implications of these findings are discussed.

Eye tracking technology on children's mathematical education: systematic review

“…Similarly, Wang et al (2022) highlight the developmental nature of metacognition and the small sample size. The small sample size is also indicated by other researchers (Bolden et al, 2015;Csíkos and Steklács, 2015;Dröse et al, 2021;Straka et al, 2021;Gauthier et al, 2022). Another important aspect is the young age of the students (Papavlasopoulou et al, 2019), so Lee-Cultura et al (2022) highlight the potential influence of age on outcomes and the ethical aspects of sensor use in research on children's interactions with mobile learning technologies.…”

“…Dröse et al (2021) indicate the importance of conducting future eye tracking studies with larger participant samples and extending them to other age levels. This view is also supported by Straka et al (2021) proposing eye tracking studies across age groups, from elementary school children to undergraduate students, to analyse key metrics for each group.…”

“…The application of eye tracking technology has proven useful in studying students' problem-solving processes, comprehension strategies, and metacognitive abilities (Straka et al, 2021). Kang et al (2023) used eye tracking in their study to investigate the role of metacognitive prompt information in solving mathematical word problems and to identify differences in solving ordinal problems, while Dröse et al (2021) note in their study that eye tracking provides insights into students' cognitive processes in mathematics education.…”

“…For this reason, eye tracking technology data is suggested to be supplemented with other data collection methods, such as a combination of event-related potential techniques (Kang et al, 2023), think-aloud method (Csíkos and Steklács, 2015) or interviews (Bolden et al, 2015). Such additions to data collection methods help to better understand and explain student behavior, explore the relationship between metacognitive and intellectual abilities (Straka et al, 2021), understand the links between observation data and student performance grades (Papavlasopoulou et al, 2019).…”

“…Another important aspect is the young age of the students (Papavlasopoulou et al, 2019), so Lee-Cultura et al (2022) highlight the potential influence of age on outcomes and the ethical aspects of sensor use in research on children's interactions with mobile learning technologies. Because eye tracking technology is a relatively new research modality, the researchers note that there remains a need for alternative metrics and comparative studies for the study of eye movements in gifted children (Straka et al, 2021), while there are currently limited metrics for studying student behavior (Gauthier et al, It is also noted that research needs to be replicated in more diverse settings (De Mooij et al, 2020). These collective limitations to challenges and opportunities for future research in this area, emphasizing the need for larger, more diverse samples, with clear measurements.…”