This study was aimed to identify the relationship between problem solving skills, metacognitive awareness, and mathematics achievement as well as to identify the role of metacognitive awareness as a  mediator. This study involved a total of 333 Form Four students from ten secondary schools in Malaysia. Data were collected using questionnaires, while information about mathematics achievement was provided by the school management. Data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. Results indicated that all variables correlated significantly with each other, while path analysis revealed the mediation effect of metacognitive awareness between problem solving skills and mathematics achievement. The findings suggest the importance of problem solving skills in influencing secondary school students’ mathematics achievement through the development of metacognitive awareness.

In the research, a quasi-experimental model was applied and the experimental group received the process approach to learning and teaching mathematics, which builds on the cognitive-constructivist findings of educational profession about learning and teaching mathematics. In the control group, the transmission approach prevailed.
In the research, the question was answered of what impact the implementation of the process approach to learning and teaching mathematics has on the learner’s knowledge, which can be tested and assessed.
Students in the experimental group (EG) performed significantly better in basic and conceptual knowledge, in solving simple mathematical problems, and in complex knowledge than those in the control group. Results of the research have also shown that there are statistically significant correlations between individual areas of mathematical knowledge. The correlations between the areas of knowledge are from medium high to high, indicating that conceptual knowledge correlates significantly with solving simple mathematical problems and with complex knowledge.