[[alternative]]A Study of Meta-cognition, Self-Concept of Biology, and Biology Ability of 12th Grade Students

[[abstract]]The present study employed the Inventory of Meta-cognition (IM), Inventory of Self-Concept of Biology (ISCB), and Test of Biology Ability (TBA) to investigate meta-cognition, self-concept of biology and biology ability of 12th grade students in Taipei area. In addition, the relationships among students’ meta-cognition, self-concept of biology and biology ability were also explored. The results of validation study showed that the internal-consistency reliability (Cronbach α coefficient) of the IM, the ISCB and the TBA were 0.92, 0.92 and 0.85 respectively. The results also showed that the content validity and construct validity of the three instruments were satisfactory. The subjects of this study were selected using stratified random sampling and cluster sampling. A total of 840 students was used for data analysis. The results of the study showed that subjects of the science major scored significantly higher on the IM than those of non-science major (p<0.01). However, no significant differences were found between male and female subjects on the scores of IM. Subjects of the science major scored significantly higher on the ISCB than those of non-science major (p<0.01). No significant differences were found between male and female subjects on the scores of ISCB. Subjects of the science major scored significantly higher on the TBA than those of non-science major (p<0.01). Significant differences on the TBA-U and TBA-A scores were found between male and female subjects. No significant differences were found between male and female subjects on the scores of the TBA-An and TBA-I. The correlations between meta-cognition and biology ability were low but significant (p<0.01). When the subjects were further categorized into high, medium, and low groups according to the IM measures, data analysis showed that students scored higher in the IM performed significantly better on biology ability (TBA scores) than those who scored medium and lower (p<0.01). Students scored medium in the IM performed significantly better on biology ability (TBA scores) than those who scored lower (p<0.01). The results further showed that positive correlations were found between self-concept of biology and biology ability (p<0.01). This indicated that a close association existed between self-concept of biology and biology ability. A positive correlation was also found between meta-cognition and self-concept of biology (p<0.01). This indicated that meta-cognition was closely associated with self-concept of biology.