New Perspectives in Science Education

Although engagement by students is a key factor in them learning, the students have little practice and knowledge on how they need to approach learning at the university level in these large classes. Students In the introductory classes focus on trying to memorize details of the content. They do this at the expense of losing site of how the details fit into the bigger picture which diminishes the transfer of the knowledge to applied or theoretical models. Including a focus on the learning of the connectivity of the information from big picture to detail and ways that the material can be learned. Students address their metacognition of the material. If the coursework provided to them is purely memorization they may meet some success, however, if the undergraduate class is striving for model development, then students often struggle and seem disinterested at best, and disengaged at worst. One key to helping the student is of course to develop good skills in being a student, but often that is perceived as just attending class and reading the book, all of which are important, but they do not focus on some of the difficulty with learning at the university level. Developing models of understanding [Modeling] can accomplish this metacognitive aspect. Models perform two fundamentally different functions. A model can represent target system, a theory; it interprets laws and axioms of that theory. Students need to address how they learn, Metacognition. Metacognition is, put simply, thinking about one’s thinking. More precisely, it refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess one’s understanding and performance. Metacognitive practices increase students’ abilities to transfer or adapt their learning to new contexts and tasks. Metacognition instruction should also be embedded with the content and activities about which students are thinking. Research has shown that using Learning assistants in large classes can facilitate group discussions, promoting supportive spaces that encourage interaction and collaboration among students, and assist in learning outcomes designed in the course by faculty.

Keywords: Metacognition, Learning Assistants, Modeling, Undergraduate Biology.

References:
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