Abstract
In the present study, we investigated moderator effects of meta-cognition in relation to motivational beliefs, learning strategies, and academic achievement in math. Participants were 543 junior high school students. The indices of motivational beliefs were expectancy of success and task values, and the learning strategies were memorizing-repeat strategy and understanding-oriented strategy. Academic achievement was measured by the results on the first-term examination. Participants were categorized according to meta-cognition as low, middle, or high. Measurement equation modeling was conducted to test the hypothesis. Some differences were found between the low and high meta-cognition groups in the relation between motivational beliefs and the understanding-oriented strategy, and in the relation between the learning strategies and academic achievement. In the middle meta-cognition group, the relationships were weaker than in the other two groups. It was inferred that meta-cognition has quadratic effects for these relationships.
