New Perspectives in Science Education

Research in science education has addressed as one of its main lines the proposal of several comprehensive models of the components of problem solving. These models coincide in distinguishing between the variables that relate to the structure of knowledge in memory and those that relate to the cognitive functions that operate on that knowledge, to prepare, control and monitor the execution of a solution in a new task. It also recognizes a third component related to the motivation, attitudes and beliefs of the subject that solves problems. The ability to solve problems in a particular domain results from the complex interaction of the knowledge structure, cognitive functions and beliefs about oneself and about the task. The differences observed during the process, from the interpretation of the problem to the persistence in trying to solve it, can be attributed to variations in aspects of these three cognitive constructs. The purpose of this research was to evaluate two affective variables, the achievement motivation, associated with the interest for academic success; and the attitude towards chemistry learning, associated with the conceptions about it; as well as a cognitive variable such as metacognition, necessary for the development of several of the scientist's own abilities, in freshman science and engineering students of a Peruvian university. The level of correlation between these variables and their influence on the academic achievement of the students was determined. The results obtained show the high degree of correlation between the selected variables, although only achievement motivation turned out to be a variable predictor of academic achievement.

Keywords: Achievement motivation, learning attitudes, metacognition, problem solving;