Within the educational psychology literature there is an abundance of research in the field of metacognition. The concentration of this research however has been in primary and secondary school contexts with little attention given to tertiary students' understanding or use of metacognition; there has been even less attention to whether age is a factor in tertiary students' perceptions of their metacognitive processes. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of two distinct groups of first year university students, towards their understanding and usage of metacognitive processes and strategies. The two groups defined were traditional school leavers and mature age students. The findings from the exploration of these perceptions were compared to ascertain the similarities and differences in metacognitive processes between the two cohorts. The data collected for this study were obtained through a process of individual face-to-face in- depth interviews. The choice of this methodology was deliberate in order to gather rich data about the students' perceptions and experiences rather than attempt to measure their levels of metacognition against some predetermined standard. Data were collected and analyzed on the two constructs of metacognition which were identified in the literature search. These were metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive control. A range of affective variables such as self efficacy, motivation and expectancy of success, which impact on students' metacognitive abilities and processes, were also considered in the data collection and analysis. The findings indicated that age was a factor in determining some differences and similarities in students' perceptions of their own and others metacognitive processes. In certain cases the traditional school leavers' recency of experience with formal study was deemed an advantage; in others the life experience of the mature age students was perceived an advantage. In some instances the age of the student had no discernable impact on their understanding of, and ability to, utilize metacognitive strategies. These findings assist to broaden the understanding of student perceptions of metacognition in the tertiary context. The findings also make it imperative that tertiary institutions make fewer assumptions about the skills and abilities of their commencing students based on the criterion of age and offer more opportunities to assist students to understand the value of developing and improving their metacognitive processes.

Intermediate calculus bridges secondary school and advanced university mathematics courses. Most mathematics education research literatures indicated that the conceptual knowledge in intermediate calculus has challenged first year undergraduate mathematics and science learners to a great extent through the lecture method. The content knowledge attained by them has been tremendously decreasing. Negative attitude exhibited by students toward calculus was highly influenced by the lecture method used. Generally, students have not looked at the learning of all mathematics courses offered in universities as normal as other courses. Due to this lack of background conceptual knowledge in learners, they have been highly frustrated by the learning of advanced mathematics courses. Taking the understanding of teaching and learning challenge of conceptual knowledge of calculus into consideration, Ethiopian public universities have been encouraging instructors to devise and implement active learning methods through any professional development training opportunity. The training was aimed to enhance learners’ content knowledge and attitude towards calculus. This is one of the main reasons for the motivation of this study that experimental group learners were allowed to be nurtured by the lecture method in their mainstream class, and then also the active learning intervention method integrated with GeoGebra in the mathematics laboratory class. Only conventional lecture method was used to teach the comparison group in both the mainstream and mathematics laboratory class. The purpose of the study was to explore the Gambari and Yusuf (2016) stimulus of the jigsaw co-operative learning method combined with GeoGebra (JCLGS) on statistics and chemistry learners’ content knowledge improvement and change of their attitude towards calculus. The post-positivism mixed methods tactic was used in a non-equivalent pre- and post-test comparison group quasi-experimental design. The population of the study was the whole freshman mathematics and science degree program learners of two public universities in Ethiopia in 2017. Samples of the size 150 in both the experimental and comparison groups were drawn utilizing two-stage random sampling technique. A questionnaire using a Likert-scale on attitudes and an achievement test were sources used for data collection. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics conducting an independent samples t-test and a Two Way ANOVA for repeated measures using SPSS23. Each of the findings on content knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and procedural knowledge development produced through the TWO-Way ANOVA, respectively as F(1,148)=80.917; 𝜂2=.353; p<.01, F(1,148)=106.913; 𝜂2=.419; p<.01, and F(1,148)=7.328; 𝜂2=.047; p<.01, revealed a statistically significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups from pre-test to post-test. These findings show that the experimental group participants were highly beneficial in developing their content knowledge and conceptual knowledge through the active learning approach and technology-based learning strategy using Vygotsky’s socio-cultural learning theory. The JCLGS learning environment representing Vygotsky’s socio-cultural learning theory modestly influenced the procedural knowledge learning of the experimental group learners’. Although the lecture method affected the comparison group students’ knowledge development in calculus during the academic semester, the impact was not comparable to that of the active learning approach and technology-based learning strategy. The major reason for this was the attention and care given to the active learning intervention integrated with GeoGebra by the researcher, data collectors, and research participants. Overall findings showed that the active learning intervention allowed the experimental group students to considerably enhance their conceptual knowledge and content knowledge in calculus. Learners also positively changed their opinion towards calculus and GeoGebra. The intervention was a group interactive environment that allowed students’ to be reflective, share prior experience and knowledge, and independent learners. As a matter of fact, educators are advised to model such a combination of active learning approach and technology-based learning strategy in their classroom instructional setting and practices. Consequently, their learners will adequately benefit to understand the subject matter and positively change their opinion towards university mathematics. / Mathematics Education / Ph. D. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)