Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, United States
Abstract: Introductory biology courses are typically the first classes students take when beginning their biology or ecology degree programs. These courses can be difficult for students, and performance in these classes is often a predictor of persistence and completion of degrees. Success in these courses requires high levels of metacognitive awareness (the ability to monitor learning), and this perception of learning is used to predict performance on tasks (metacognitive accuracy). Higher metacognitive awareness is thought to correlate with higher metacognitive accuracy and academic performance. However, previous studies examining these relationships have been inconclusive. We hypothesized that inconsistent findings are due to aspects of student motivation, such as mindset and locus of control. Understanding relationships between these variables can enhance student success by helping students develop self-regulatory learning skills. These skills are particularly important for biology and ecology students as they evaluate and modify mental models during the learning process. Two research questions guided this study: 1. To what extent do mindset and locus of control mediate relationships between metacognitive awareness, metacognitive accuracy, and exam scores? 2. To what extent do levels of awareness, mindset, locus of control, or accuracy change after students take their first exam?
To measure awareness, mindset, and locus of control, students enrolled in an organismal diversity and ecology course in Spring 2022 completed a survey before and after their first exam. Accuracy was measured comparing predicted to earned exam scores. We confirmed that there was no relationship between metacognitive awareness, metacognitive accuracy, and exam scores, and also showed that mindset and locus of control did not affect these relationships. We did, however, find evidence that suggests mindset and locus of control affect how students perceive their metacognitive awareness level. We also showed significant differences in levels of metacognitive accuracy and mindset after the first exam. Further analyses of these data will examine how patterns of self-reported study strategy use associate with levels of metacognitive accuracy and performance. This study sought to further investigate relationships between metacognitive awareness, metacognitive accuracy, and performance by examining two additional student characteristics: mindset and locus of control. These components can impact student success in introductory biology and ecology courses. We believe this information could inform teaching practices by allowing instructors to identify components of metacognition most important to development of self-regulatory skills.
