Metacognitive skills are important for students to be able to accurately reflect on and regulate their learning. Although instructors may provide students with the opportunity to develop metacognition by asking them to reflect on their performance, students often do not use these opportunities productively. Students may overestimate their performance, misinterpret the reflection activity, or simply not complete the activity at all. Additionally, students often lack the ability to gauge their competence and accurately self-assess. In the introductory course under study, students reflected on process skills, such as teamwork, interpersonal communication, and critical thinking during their weekly discussion sections. These skills were selected because development of these skills is necessary for students’ success in the course, in later courses, and in the workforce. In this study, groups of students were provided one category from a set of process skill rubrics developed by the Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in STEM (ELIPSS) project to guide their reflections. The student groups were asked to reflect on their performance of the targeted skill by scoring themselves and providing evidence to justify their score. Group scores were compared to an observer’s scores and the written responses were analyzed, giving insight into students’ metacognition abilities and areas where more support is needed.

Looking for evidence of metacognition in undergraduate chemistry student process skill reflections

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.