Observation of Metacognitive Skills in Natural Environments: A Longitudinal Study With Mixed Methods

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Physics Education

Background:

• In-situ evaluation methods for metacognitive skills yield more accurate data than traditional off-line approaches.
• Metacognitive skills are crucial for effective problem-solving in academic disciplines like physics.
• Understanding student learning patterns requires longitudinal and mixed-methods research designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the application of metacognitive skills by secondary students within natural learning environments while solving physics problems.
• To investigate longitudinal behavioral patterns in student learning.
• To compare the efficacy of in-situ versus off-line evaluation methods for metacognitive skills.

Main Methods:

• Employed mixed methods over one academic year, analyzing 509 think-aloud protocols from secondary students.
• Utilized response categorization (liquefying) and the Van der Stel and Veenman protocol to assess metacognitive skill quality.
• Applied graph analysis to identify individual student behavioral patterns and learning trajectories.

Main Results:

• Observed a reduction in conceptual errors and vocabulary uncertainty throughout the academic year, though conceptual ambiguity persisted.
• Metacognitive skills related to Orientation and Planning were most frequently utilized by students.
• Identified distinct behavioral patterns, enabling the identification of academically challenged and at-risk students.

Conclusions:

• In-situ evaluation of metacognitive skills in physics problem-solving provides valuable insights into student learning processes.
• Mixed methods, including think-aloud protocols and graph analysis, effectively reveal individual learning paces and patterns.
• Findings support the development of automated in-situ evaluation techniques for metacognitive skill assessment.