Close the Metacognitive Equity Gap: Teach All Students How to Learn
Keywords:
metacognition, developmental education, equity, learning strategies, metacognitiveAbstract
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36896/4.1ep1
In his seminal book, Toward Excellence with Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Gap, Ferguson (2008) persuasively argued that the achievement gap between students from different racial groups is not the result of a difference in ability, attitudes or work ethic between groups, but rather a difference in the academic skills acquired. Often, we in the academic community use the term educational equity when referring to closing the achievement gap between different groups of students, such as majority versus minoritized, lower socioeconomic versus higher socioeconomic, or students from well-resourced versus under-resourced schools (Harris & Herrington, 2006). I have recently begun using a parallel term, metacognitive equity, to describe closing the gap between students who use metacognition (effective thinking and learning strategies) and those who do not. I posit that it is the gap in metacognitive strategies that contributes most to the persistent achievement gap and that all students must be taught how to learn.
References
Benko, M. H., Vogelsang, K.M., Johnson, K.C., & Babij, A. R. (2019). Strategies to prevent cognitive overload: A team-based approach to improving student success and persistence in a gateway introductory chemistry course. In S. Kradtap Hartwell & T. Gupta (Eds.), American Chemical Society Symposium Vol. 1330, Enhancing retention in introductory chemistry courses: Teaching practices and assessments (pp. 187-200). ACS Publications. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2019-1330.ch012
Chen. S. (2020). Book review: Teach yourself how to learn. Journal of Food Science Education 19, 120-121. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4329.12203
Cook, E., Kennedy, E., & McGuire, S. Y. (2013). Effect of teaching metacognitive learning strategies on performance in General Chemistry courses. Journal of Chemical Education, 90, 961-967. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed300686h
Ferguson, R. F. (2008). Toward excellence with equity: an emerging vision for closing the achievement gap. Harvard Education Press.
Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp. 231-236). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Harris, D. N., & Herrington, C. D. (2006). Accountability, standards, and the growing achievement gap: Lessons from the past half-century. American Journal of Education, 112(2), 209-238. https://doi.org/10.1086/498995
Kaldor, E., & Swanson, H. J. (2018, November 15). A campus-wide strategy to develop metacognition in gateway science courses [Conference session]. Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. Portland, Oregon, United States.
Kaldor, E. & Swanson, H. (2019). How can you elevate metacognition on your campus? Try the ace-your-course challenge. Forum for Teaching & Learning, 28(2), 5-7. https://doi.org/10.1002/ntlf.30186
McGuire, S. Y. (2015). Teach students how to learn: Strategies you can incorporate into any course to improve student metacognition, study skills, and motivation. Stylus Publishing.
McGuire, S. Y. (2018). Teach yourself how to learn: Strategies you can use to ace any course at any level. Stylus Publishing.
Muteti, C. Z., Zarraga, C., Jacob, B. I., Mwarumba, T. M., Nkhata D.B., Mwavita M., Mohanty, S., & Mutambuki, J. M. (2021). I realized what I was doing was not working: The influence of explicit teaching of metacognition on students' study strategies in a general chemistry I course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 22, 122-135. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RP00217H
Mutambuki J. M., Mwavita, M., Muteti, C. Z., Jacob, B. I., & Mohanty, S. (2020). Metacognition and active learning combination reveals better performance on cognitively demanding general chemistry concepts than active learning alone. Journal of Chemical Education 97(7), 1832-1840. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00254
Putnam, R. D. (2015). Our kids: The American dream in crisis. Simon & Schuster.
Rickey, D. & Stacy, A. M. (2000). The role of metacognition in learning chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education 77(7), 915-920. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed077p915
Sebenius, A. (2016, January 13). The importance of high-school mentors. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/01/mentorship-in-publicschools/423945/
U.S. Department of Education. (2012, March 6). New data from U.S. Department of Education highlights educational inequities around teacher experience, discipline and high school rigor [Press release]. https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/new-data-us-department-educationhighlights-educational-inequities-aroundteacher-experience-discipline-and-highschool-rigor
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.