Understanding students' challenges in using their metacognition to enact effective learning strategies

Abstract Supporting the development of metacognition is a powerful way to promote student success in college. Students with strong metacognitive skills are positioned to learn more and perform better than peers who are still developing their metacognition. Students with well-developed metacognition can identify concepts they do not understand and select appropriate strategies for learning those concepts. They know how to implement strategies they have selected and carry out their overall study plans. However, students may encounter challenges in using metacognition to inform their learning. To help students develop metacognitive knowledge in the form of conditional and procedural knowledge, instructors can model strategies that align with a learning task and give students opportunities to practice those strategies. In other cases, students may know how, when, and why they should use effective strategies, but they may decide not to use them because those strategies cause them discomfort. In this study, we aim to understand students' challenges in using their metacognition to enact effective learning strategies. Quantitative and Qualitative analysis were conducted for data collected from survey and interview.