The purpose of the present study is to determine the effect of scientific psych buster teaching on the metacognitive skills of primary school students. This research was conducted with a semi-experimental method of pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all primary school students of Oskou city in East Azarbaijan province in the academic year of 2021-2022.  A sample of 48 people was selected by Convenience Sampling method. O'Neill and Abedi's (1996) State Metacognition Questionnaire (SMI) was completed by both groups as a pre-test. The teaching method of scientific buster in Persian lessons was implemented for 8 training sessions of 30 minutes each. Data analysis was done by single-variable covariance analysis with the help of SPSS-24 software. Data analysis based on covariance analysis showed that the scientific demystification teaching method has a significant effect on metacognitive skill (P<0.001). Also, the effectiveness of the scientific demystification teaching method on the components of metacognitive awareness, cognitive strategies, planning and self-evaluation (metacognitive) was also confirmed (P<0.001). Considering the effectiveness of scientific demystification in increasing metacognitive skills, its implementation was recommended as one of the problem-based learning approaches in schools.
Keywords: Scientific psych buster teaching method, metacognitive skill, awareness, cognitive strategy, planning.
Introduction
Identifying factors affecting learning in order to improve students' academic performance is one of the basic goals of educational research (Karimi Amoghain, et al. 2015) and one of the factors affecting students' academic success that has received attention from researchers is metacognitive skills (Golestan Jahromi & Golestan Jahromi, 2018). Students who use metacognitive skills such as planning, self-monitoring, and self-observation in their learning activities achieve more learning goals (Tsamago & Bayaga, 2023). Metacognitive skills, in a comprehensive category, include four dimensions of metacognitive awareness, cognitive strategies, planning, and self-review (O’Neil & Abedi, 1996). Metacognitive awareness is defined as the process of how one learns, how one uses available information to achieve a goal, the ability to judge cognitive processes in a particular task, and how one uses strategies to achieve goals. Cognitive strategies are strategies that help an individual prepare new information for integration with previous information and experiences and storage in long-term memory. Planning is setting a goal for learning, anticipating the time needed to study, determining the appropriate pace of study, analyzing how to approach the learning topic, and selecting learning strategies. Finally, self-evaluation is the learner's evaluation of his or her own work to become aware of how he or she is progressing and to monitor and guide it (O’Neil & Abedi, 1996). One of the reasons for the lack of development of students' metacognitive skills is the lack of a suitable learning environment (Geduld, 2019). One of the group investigation methods that can be effective in developing metacognitive skills is the scientific buster teaching method (Blessing & Blessing, 2010). Despite the attractive impact of the scientific myth-busting teaching method as a learning activity in textbook writing and a method in teaching concepts in elementary education courses, it can be safely said that no research has been conducted in Iran to examine the effectiveness of scientific myth-busting on metacognitive skills.
Materials and Methods
The present study is an applied research in terms of its purpose. Given that it was not possible to fully control the variables affecting the research, it was conducted in a semi-experimental manner with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the present study was all elementary school students in Osku County, East Azerbaijan Province, who were studying in the academic year 1400-1401. A non-random sampling method was used to select the sample. Two schools were selected from Osku County, and one third grade elementary student was selected from each school. The total number of students in the two groups was 48 (24 in the experimental group and 24 in the control group). The data collection tool was the State Metacognitive Inventory. This test has 20 items and four subscales, and the subject must indicate the extent to which he or she agrees or disagrees with each statement on a four-point Likert scale (from not at all = 1 to very much = 4). In order to confirm the validity, the questionnaire, along with the study hypotheses, was reviewed by 10 professors and experts from the University of Tabriz in the field of the present study and was finally approved. In order to examine and confirm the reliability, the questionnaire was first administered randomly among 30 students and its reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and its value was calculated to be 0.891. The implementation of the scientific myth-busting intervention, consisting of 8 sessions (each session 30 minutes), was considered for teaching Persian. The content of the lessons in these sessions was generally familiarization with the section on recognizing superstitious and folk proverbs common in the Osku region. To ensure the validity of the content of the educational package, the expert judgment method was used and the content validity ratio index was calculated. The value obtained for all sessions was more than 0.62, indicating confirmation of the validity of the educational intervention. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods, and the software used to analyze the findings was SPSS-24.
Discussion & Result
The findings of the study based on the results of the analysis of covariance showed that there is a difference between the two experimental and control groups in terms of metacognitive awareness, cognitive strategies, planning and self-evaluation; therefore, the scientific myth-busting teaching method has a significant effect on the metacognitive skills of elementary school students. In explaining the findings, it can be said that the knowledgeable person is a problem solver and interacts with the environment in testing hypotheses, developing generalizations and engaging in learning to reach solutions (Bruner, 1960). What happens in the scientific myth-busting teaching method is the induction of self-directed learning. At this stage, students' prior knowledge is activated and ideas are generated that require further learning. The scientific myth-busting learning space, as a socially self-regulated learning environment, actively guides students' learning experiences in a variety of ways (Badri Gargari & Ganaatpishe, 2015). They benefit from appropriate monitoring strategies and, whenever necessary, change the learning strategies used in response to their needs, task characteristics, and environmental conditions, which leads to creativity, learning management, enthusiasm for academic tasks, and improved classroom performance (Li & Yuan, 2022). The goal of users of the scientific demystification teaching method is to achieve a goal beyond carrying out the strategy, such as understanding a text, learning material for later recall, making connections, and finding answers to problems. The strategies of the scientific demystification teaching method are carried out by processing information in order to create a mental connection between the material to be learned with existing knowledge or to increase understanding and comprehension by changing the way of looking at the material in relation to other things (Heydari Raziabad & Abdollahi, 2019).
Conclusion
The scientific buster teaching method enables the process of maximizing learners' learning through setting learning goals, planning, increasing effort to achieve the desired goal, the ability to ask for help from others when needed, and the readiness for continuous monitoring and evaluation.