Searching for the Impact of Teacher Behavior on Promoting Students' Cognitive and Metacognitive Skills

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: The Role of Teachers for School Improvement

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of teacher factors included in the dynamic model of educational effectiveness on students’ cognitive (i.e., mathematics) and metacognitive (i.e., prediction and evaluation) skills. Written tests in mathematics and the “Metacognitive Skills and Knowledge Assessment” tool were administered to all grade 4 and 5 students (n=924) of 15 Cypriot schools at the beginning and at the end of a school year. Students completed a questionnaire measuring teachers’ classroom behavior. Multilevel SEM analyses revealed a reciprocal relationship between students’ cognitive and metacognitive skills. Almost all teacher factors were associated with achievement in mathematics but only four (i.e., modeling, assessment, questioning, dealing with misbehavior) were associated with the development of students’ metacognitive skills. Implications of findings are drawn.

Authors

• Leonidas Kyriakides, University of Cyprus

• Maria Anthimou, Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture

• Charalambos Y. Charalambous, University of Cyprus