The Use of an Emerging Framework to Explore Students’ Cognitive Competency

Background/Objectives: A study on the development of a local framework to develop problem solving activity tasks that assess students' cognitive and metacognitive competency in solving non-routine problems. Methods/Statistical analysis: This study investigated the use of an emerging local framework called MODEL (Meanings, Organise, Develop, Execute, Link), in exploring students' cognitive competency in solving non-routine problems at junior college in six levels. The confidence levels of these students when attempting the problems were also examined. A total of 167 junior college students in Brunei Darussalam were involved in the study. Findings: The level of cognitive competency evaluated using the MODEL framework revealed that the maximum level attained by the students was level 4 (Execute). Although the students managed to obtain the mathematical solutions and contextualised their solutions, all failed to justify reaching the validation level (Link). Students are most confident in solving problems with familiar settings that they have experienced and majority of the students have the abilities to display cognitive process of applying realistic considerations to achieve level 3 (Develop) of the MODEL framework. Majority of the Brunei junior college students possess the abilities and skills to solve non-routine problems by applying prior knowledge, rules, procedures and experiences in the context of the problem to obtain solutions, but all of them had failed to justify or validate their solutions in the realities of the problem contexts. Students acquiring more abstract knowledge of the mathematics with maturity of thinking skills in a higher year group performed better in non-routine problems that are most significant to them. Application/Improvements: A simple integration of solving non-routine (real-life) problems into the curriculum might just be the solution for improving mathematical literacy.