Assessing students' Metacognitive Skills

Abstract

Objective. To develop a diagnostic test for assessing cognitive skills related to metacognition in a physiology course. Methods. Cognitive skills believed to be related to metacognition (visualizing lecture information and interpreting diagrams) were identified in a first-professional year (P1) physiology course and test items were constructed for each. Analyses included overall reliability, item discrimination, and variance comparisons of 4 groups to assess the effect of prior physiology coursework and diagnostic test score level on the first examination in physiology. Results. Overall reliability was 0.83 (N 5 78). Eighty percent of the test items discriminated positively. The average diagnostic test scores of students with or without a prior physiology course did not differ significantly. Students who scored above the class mean on the diagnostic test and who had taken a prior physiology course also had the highest average scores on the physiology examination. Conclusion. The diagnostic test provided a measure of a limited number of skills related to metacognition, and preliminary data suggest that such skills are especially important in retaining information.

O uso de medidas intelectuais na análise do monitoramento metacognitivo de crianças

“…Diversos autores têm defendido que as habilidades metacognitivas não se desenvolvem espontaneamente (Cornoldi, 2010;Garret et al, 2006;Garret et al, 2007;Panaoura & Panaoura, 2006). Somam-se a tal argumento as informações já apresentadas de que o monitoramento metacognitivo adequado acompanha o bom desempenho cognitivo.…”

“…Isto porque o uso de estratégias metacognitivas para o exercício do monitoramento não é um comportamento observável (Garret, Alman, Gardner, & Born, 2007). Um critério de categorização da avaliação do monitoramento metacognitivo é o momento de sua realização: a avaliação on-line compreende a avaliação concomitante à execução das tarefas com demanda cognitiva, e avaliação off-line corresponde às avaliações feitas em um momento diferente da realização da atividade cujo monitoramento se deseja investigar (Desoete, 2008).…”

Is Intelligent Online Tutoring Software Useful in Refreshing Financial Accounting Knowledge?

“…The cognitive skills (and time) involved in initial learning are very different than those involved in refreshing (or re-learning) information (Garrett et al, 2007;Lalley & Gentile, 2009). This suggests that while there may be evidence that OTS such as ALEKS ® and Quantum ® are useful in the initial learning of financial accounting, it is an open question as to whether these programs are useful in reviewing introductory material in the setting of a more advanced class.…”

“…Intermediate instructors often spend extensive time reviewing introductory material before the class is ready for more advanced topics. While advances in education technology appear to offer useful solutions in this context, most empirical studies (Baxter & Thibodeau, 2011;Johnson, Phillips, & Chase, 2009;Potter & Johnston, 2006) only evaluate these advances in the context of learning new material À not in the context of reviewing and refreshing material learned previously, which is a different metacognitive task (Garrett, Alman, Gardner, & Born, 2007). We examine the ability of online tutoring software (OTS) to aid students with a weak knowledge or memory of introductory accounting material and find evidence that suggests the technology is successful in equalizing base accounting knowledge between these students and their more advanced peers.…”

Pharmacy Students’ Ability to Think About Thinking

“…Garrett et al assessed metacognitive skills students need to monitor their learning. 7 Austin and Gregory explored pharmacy students' ability to self-assess their clinical knowledge and communication. 8 To date, no studies have examined pharmacy students' ability to monitor and predict their performance on examinations.…”