The status of beliefs and state of metacognitive and working memory of high school students

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of metacognitive beliefs and states on working memory of high school students in Birjand.
Method The research method was descriptive and correlational and it is a fundamental research. The study population was including all of the high school students in Birjand in the academic years 2015-2016. Due to the fact that the whole population was 2,000, by using the Cochran formula, 300 male and female students were selected. According to gender, stratified sampling method has been used. Data collection tools included ONeil & Abedi’s (1996) state metacognitive inventory; Wells & CartweightHatton’s (2004) metacognitive beliefs questionnaire; and, Dan’s (2008) working memory.
Findings The means of state metacognitive was above average; and the means of belief metacognition and working memory of students was lower than average. Metacognitive beliefs and state metacognitive explained 22% of the variance of the students’ working memory. Components of metacognitive beliefs explained 38% of the variance of the student's working memory. Beta coefficients of "uncontrollability and risk-taking" and "cognitive competence" was positive; so students who gain higher score on the "uncontrollability and risk-taking" and "cognitive competence", then will earn the higher score on working memory. Positive beliefs about worry, self-cognitive alertness and the need to control thoughts were not able to predict the working memory. State metacognitive components explained 3% of the variance of the students’ working memory. None of the state metacognitive components are not able to predict the working memory.