A web integrated ebook with collaborative metacognitive scaffolding to improve mathematical literacy in growth contexts

Improving mathematical literacy through digital technology remains an important challenge in secondary mathematics education. This study developed and evaluated a web-integrated e-book with collaborative metacognitive scaffolding (CMS) to improve eighth-grade students’ mathematical literacy in growth contexts involving linear and nonlinear functions. CMS was operationalized through prompts, animated dialogue, reflective questions, and group-oriented tasks that guided students in comprehension, connection, monitoring, evaluation, reflection, motivation, and collaboration during mathematical reasoning. The study used a Research and Development approach based on the Plomp model and evaluated product quality in terms of validity, practicality, and effectiveness. The effectiveness test involved 66 students from a public junior high school in Pati Regency, Indonesia, with 34 students in the experimental group and 32 students in the control group. The intervention was implemented over five classroom meetings using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design. The results showed that the e-book met the criteria for validity and practicality based on expert judgment, teacher responses, student responses, and classroom implementation. The experimental group showed a significant improvement in mathematical literacy, with an N-gain score of 0.42 indicating a moderate level of improvement. Posttest results also showed that students who learned through the web-integrated e-book with CMS achieved better mathematical literacy than students who received regular instruction. SEM-PLS analysis further indicated that metacognitive activity was the strongest factor associated with students’ mathematical literacy. The study contributes a pedagogically structured digital resource that integrates contextual growth problems, multiple representations, and CMS rather than relying on digital presentation alone.