Author(s):
Our NSF IUSE project is a three-year study on the use of systematic written reflection in an undergraduate Fluid Mechanics course to promote planning, monitoring, and evaluation by students for their lifelong learning self-regulation abilities. Students were prompted weekly to reflect about their in-class problem-solving and other activity in a flipped course. In addition, they received intentional instruction on how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their problem-solving processes during class. To enable a comparative assessment, a flipped classroom without the metacognitive-skills instruction and systematic reflection (i.e., without the metacognition support) was also implemented as the non-intervention cohort. The cohorts were compared using a final exam, concept inventory, and the Metacognitive Activities Inventory (MCAI). The weekly reflections were coded by two analysts to study students’ self-regulatory behaviors and investigate statistical associations between the reflective content and knowledge outcomes. The reflective category of “carefulness, organization, and diligence” was consistently discussed by students in relation to actionable, self-regulatory behavior, including checking one’s work, catching up if behind, or planning ahead with a study schedule. Throughout the course of the study, a positive shift in students’ perspectives regarding the value of the weekly reflection questions was observed; therefore, the changes made in posing these questions to students throughout the study will be discussed. Overall, our results point to the desirability of providing metacognition support in a STEM course.
