Eye-tracking and metacognitive skills: A review on the use of eye-tracking for measuring students’ metacognitive skills in chemistry learning

This study presents a review of empirical studies on eye-tracking in the education field and aims to describe the use of eye-tracking methods to measure students’ metacognitive skills in chemistry learning. Eighty papers published from the 2000s to 2018 that containing major discussion on students’ metacognitive skills in chemistry learning and the use of eye-tracking were selected for review and analysis. Content analysis for 6 month of the selected papers showed that (1) the eye-tracking for measuring students’ metacognitive skills in chemistry learning was employed by recording all eye movement activities with eye tracker placed under the computer screen with a distance of 60-70 cm from the users (students) and they can freely move the eye for solving the chemistry problems with a predetermined duration of time; (2) analysis of temporal and spatial data of eye-tracking showed a correlation between eye movement and increased metacognitive skills, in which the stabilization of students’ views on objects observed between 66-416 ms reflected both eyes and mind worked actively. Thus, researchers can employ the eye-tracking method to comprehensively investigate and describe students’ metacognitive skills in chemistry learning and also can be a metacognitive tool for reflective self-assessment in learning.