Metacognitive Blindness in Mathematical Problem-Solving: An Analysis of Junior High School Students on Function Relations

Abstract

This research is based on the importance of mathematical problem-solving skills as a fundamental competency that students must master. However, PISA results show that Indonesian junior high school students' problem-solving skills remain relatively low. One suspected factor contributing to low problem-solving skills is metacognitive failure in the form of metacognitive blindness, a condition in which students are unaware of mistakes in the problem-solving process. This study aims to analyze junior high school students' problem-solving ability in function relations material, examined in the context of metacognitive blindness. The research used a qualitative, descriptive approach. The study subjects were grade VIII junior high school students selected using purposive sampling. Data collection was carried out through problem-solving ability tests, structured interviews, and documentation. Problem-solving skills were analyzed based on Polya's four steps: understanding the problem, planning the solution, executing the solution plan, and re-examining the results obtained. Metacognitive blindness is identified through three types of red flags, according to Goos: lack of progress, error detection, and anomalous results in each problem-solving phase. The findings reveal that all five subjects experienced metacognitive blindness, with error detection being the most dominant red flag. Students demonstrated procedural competence without metacognitive awareness, as evidenced by Faizan, who achieved the highest score (58) yet remained unable to detect anomalous results. The study concludes that metacognitive blindness significantly contributes to low problem-solving performance, and this condition persists even when students work on structured, routine problems. These findings imply that explicit metacognitive scaffolding should be implemented across all achievement levels, not only for low-performing students, as procedural fluency can develop independently of metacognitive competence. Keywords: problem-solving ability, metacognitive blindness, function relations, polya steps, red flag goos.