THE EFFECTS OF A LEARNING STRATEGIES INTERVENTION IN A POST-SECONDARY STEM CLASS
Open Access
- Author:
- Tise, Joe Christopher
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Psychology
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- July 13, 2018
- Committee Members:
- Rayne Audrey Sperling, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Peggy Noel Van Meter, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Learning strategies
Cognitive strategies
SRL Intervention
Self-regulated Learning
Generative Learning
Elaborative strategies
Elaborative Interrogation
Analogies
Intervention - Abstract:
- Despite the demonstrated benefits of self-regulated learning, (SRL), many students do not spontaneously engage in SRL. This has led practitioners, policy makers, and researchers to call for increased focus on teaching students to self-regulate; one approach is to teach cognitive learning strategies. Much of the SRL intervention literature shows promising results. For example, students show gains in reported strategy use, metacognitive awareness, and academic performance. The current study tests the implementation of a contextualized cognitive learning strategies intervention in a college-level biology course. The overarching goal of the study was to examine the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at teaching students to use two cognitive learning strategies in the biology domain: creating analogies and elaborative interrogation. These strategies were taught using Wittrock's (1994) generative learning model of science comprehension. Participants in the intervention group included 79 volunteers and control group participants included 61 volunteers from the same course. It was hypothesized that the intervention would positively impact treatment participants’ metacognitive awareness, SRL strategy use, and academic performance (measured by the Jr. MAI version B, SRSI-SR, and exam performance, respectively). Further research questions addressed whether pre-survey differences in self-efficacy, strategy use, and metacognitive awareness existed in students who elected to attend the intervention compared to the control group. Results indicated that treatment and control participants were no different regarding their pre-survey metacognitive awareness, self-efficacy, or strategy use. The intervention appeared to increase students’ reported SRL strategy use, but demonstrated little benefit for metacognitive awareness and academic performance. A discussion of these results, limitations of the study, future research recommendations, and conclusions are discussed in detail.