Fostering Metacognitive Awareness in Introductory Biology: A Lesson on Protein Structure

In many introductory biology classes, active-learning strategies are used to enhance students&rsquo; levels of content learning. However, students are not typically able to accurately gauge this increased learning, especially early in their academic careers. This lesson focuses on protein structure, a foundational yet challenging concept in introductory biology, and integrates metacognitive activities to help students assess their content knowledge and learning processes. Our goals are to increase students&rsquo; metacognitive awareness and foster their self-regulatory learning skills over the course of the semester. The lesson was implemented at three universities for two semesters with six lecture classes in total. Students participated in a variety of activities, including worksheets, reflective writings, small-group discussions, and clicker questions. To assess students&rsquo; content learning, we used pre- and post-intervention content-based assessments on the topic. To measure students&rsquo; levels of metacognitive awareness and to foster their metacognitive reflection, we used built-in confidence questions following each content question for both pre- and post-assessments. Analyses of reflection assignments and survey data revealed that students developed skills in monitoring their learning and valued the opportunity to cultivate metacognitive skills in their early years of college. Our results also indicate that embedding metacognitive activities into class interventions is an effective strategy to improve students&rsquo; learning gains and awareness in learning challenging content. <em>Primary Image:</em>&nbsp;A small group was working on the metacognitive assignment facilitated by a learning assistant in one of our active learning classrooms.