Measuring Metacognitive Knowledge, Monitoring, and Control in the Pharmacy Classroom and Experiential Settings.

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2020; 84 (5) Article 7730. REVIEW Measuring Metacognitive Knowledge, Monitoring, and Control in the Pharmacy Classroom and Experiential Settings Michelle L. Rivers, MA,a John Dunlosky, PhD,a Adam M. Persky, PhDb,c a Kent State University, Kent, Ohio University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Chapel Hill, North Carolina c Associate Editor, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Arlington, Virginia b Submitted June 11, 2019; accepted October 31, 2019; published May 2020. Objective. To provide a user’s guide on measuring metacognition in authentic contexts so that educators and researchers can explore students’ metacognition with an aim towards improving their students’ metacognitive processes and achievement. Findings. Metacognition can be measured in a variety of ways depending on whether the interest is knowledge, monitoring, or control. These methods include surveys, assessment of student predictions versus their performance on examinations, or investigating students’ decisions during their learning process. Summary. Metacognition refers to people’s knowledge about and regulation of their cognitive processes. These aspects of metacognition are important for supporting students’ success in academic and experiential settings. In particular, students who recognize successful learning strategies can accurately monitor their own progress and make effective study decisions that are more likely to help them meet their learning goals. Thus, measuring metacognitive knowledge, monitoring, and control can help educators identify struggling students who may benefit from interventions to improve their metacognitive processes. Keywords: metacognition, self-awareness, assessment, measurement her study times and use different strategies in hopes of improving her learning and performance on the next examination. INTRODUCTION Riley begins studying for an examination she will take tomorrow in her pharmacy course. She starts by diligently reviewing her notes from class. As she flips through her notes, she feels confident that she understands infusion kinetics and decides she does not need to devote any more effort to learning that topic. However, she keeps getting the concepts of hepatic clearance and renal clearance confused. To overcome this confusion, Riley decides to reread the section of her textbook about these topics. During the examination, Riley is feeling a bit anxious because although she studied the evening before, she still feels that she does not fully understand hepatic and renal clearance. She completes her examination but before turning it in, she goes through each question and puts a check next to the ones she is uncertain about so she can look up the answers later. Based on this rough analysis, she estimates that she will receive a score of about 80% on the examination. She plans to begin studying earlier for future examinations so that she can space out Defining Metacognition In the aforementioned scenario, Riley is using different aspects of metacognition. Metacognition is generally defined as “thoughts about one’s own thoughts,”1 or more specifically, “one’s knowledge concerning one’s own cognitive processes and products or anything related to them.”2 Metacognition consists of three primary components: knowledge, monitoring, and control (Table 1).3 Metacognitive knowledge refers to facts and beliefs about how we learn, such as our knowledge about the effectiveness of learning strategies or our efficacy in our ability to learn (ie, self-efficacy4). Riley presumably believed that studying the night before an examination (ie, cramming) and rereading were effective learning strategies, but after taking the examination, she realized that these strategies may have been limited. Metacognitive monitoring refers to evaluating the process of learning or current state of knowledge. Riley engaged in monitoring to discover that she felt confident in her understanding about infusion kinetics (and less confident about hepatic Corresponding Author: Michelle L. Rivers, Kent State University, 600 Hilltop Dr., Kent, OH 44242. Tel: 330-6722166. Email: . 549 American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2020; 84 (5) Article 7730. Table 1. Aspects of Metacognitiona for Educators to Consider When Developing Strategies to Improve Student Learning Concept Definition Example Metacognitive knowledge Knowledge or beliefs about how one learns Metacognitive monitoring Assessing the current state of learning or performance Metacognitive control Regulating some aspect of learning a Believing that cramming and rereading are effective learning strategies Feeling confident about understanding a concept Estimating performance on a particular question, topic, or overall exam Deciding to stop studying a concept Planning to look up material and study more in the future Changing study strategies Modified from Dunlosky & Metcalfe3 clearance) and to estimate her performance on the examination. Metacognitive control is the regulation of learning activities. Riley decided when she was going to study, what strategies she would use, and after the examination, how she would study differently for future examinations. Each of these aspects of metacognition can limit or enhance learning depending on the quality of the students’ knowledge, monitoring, and control processes, –how students regulate their learning can make a real difference in their ultimate success. Most educators have probably encountered students like Riley who are using metacognitive knowledge and monitoring to inform how they will control their learning and test taking. Some students’ study habits will be sophisticated, while others’ study habits will be much less so. The latter may have difficulties monitoring their progress and even believe that some ineffective strategies are effective, which can undermine their learning. Accordingly, this review offers some advice on how to assess students’ metacognition by providing a review of the kinds of questions that can be asked (and empirically answered) about students’ metacognition within authentic educational settings, including the typical measures of metacognition and the limitations associated with each. Our goal in reviewing these measures was twofold. First, we wanted to help educators and discipline-based education researchers5 assess metacognition, which can inform instruction. If, for example, an educator discovers that many students tend to be overconfident with respect to their knowledge of particular concepts, the educator can alert their students to not underestimate the difficulty of the content and might decide to spend more time teaching those concepts. Second, measuring metacognition across time will allow educators to evaluate whether an intervention (eg, a change in instruction) improves student metacognition (for advice on conducting instructional research in a classroom, see (...truncated)