Helping students succeed through using reflective practice to enhance metacognition and create realistic predictions

Understanding how students can better manage their expectations has been a topic of interest in pedagogy for some time, yet solutions remain elusive. This paper describes a recent study which aimed to help students make more realistic predictions by increasing their metacognition. At the outset, participants completed a metacognitive awareness inventory and were asked to predict the grade for their next assessment. They were instructed on how to use a structured reflection spreadsheet and asked to reflect weekly for the study period. At the end of the study, the inventory was re-administered and participants predicted the submission time and grade for the next assessment. Although results showed a significant increase in scores in metacognition, they did not show improved prediction accuracy. Possible reasons for the outcomes and further work are discussed.

Full text available through ERIC at: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ991407.pdf