PhenomenonAs a component of self-regulated learning, metacognition is gaining attention in the medical education research community. Metacognition, simply put, is thinking about one's thinking.... Show morePhenomenonAs a component of self-regulated learning, metacognition is gaining attention in the medical education research community. Metacognition, simply put, is thinking about one's thinking. Having a metacognitive habit of mind is essential for healthcare professionals. This study identified the metacognitive competencies of medical students as they completed a conceptual learning task, and provided insight into students' perceptions of self-regulated learning in their curriculum. Approach: Eleven third-year medical students from a Dutch University were purposively sampled to participate in this qualitative study. The study design included a think-aloud assignment followed by a semi-structured interview. During the assignment, participants were instructed to think aloud while solving questions about medical physiological concepts such as blood flow, pressure, and resistance. Think-aloud data were collected through audiotaping and used to identify participants' metacognitive competencies. The assignment also served as a prompt for an interview in which participants were questioned about metacognitive knowledge, monitoring, experiences, and perceptions of self-regulated learning in their curriculum. All data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed iteratively using a template analysis. Findings: Students differed in their use of metacognitive skills, with an overall focus on monitoring and, to a lesser extent, on planning and evaluation. Additionally, differences were found in students' metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences. There was apparent use of inefficient, superficial predictive cues. Regarding perceptions of self-regulated learning skills, some students felt no need to develop such skills as they perceived medical education as an exercise in memorizing facts. Others emphasized the need for more insight into their actual level of knowledge and competence. Insights: Pre-clinical medical students require explicit teaching of metacognitive skills to facilitate self-regulated learning. Educators should aim to integrate metacognition in the everyday discourse of the classroom to foster an environment in which students discuss their own learning.Supplemental data for this article is available online at . Show less
The overall aim of this thesis was to improve health professions education by investigating spaced learning, concept learning and metacognitive learning using an educational neuroscience-inspired... Show moreThe overall aim of this thesis was to improve health professions education by investigating spaced learning, concept learning and metacognitive learning using an educational neuroscience-inspired approach. Our studies illustrate that cognitive psychology and neuroscience may guide the development of educational interventions. Examples from cognitive psychology are: the post-decision wagering method, overt learning theory, and metacognitive theory. Additionally, neuroscience informed us on the use of spacing formats. Vice versa, we used educational theories as input for neuroscientific hypotheses to uncover the mechanisms of concept learning. Our fMRI study is an example of how educational neuroscience may also be used to answer fundamental research questions about the science of learning. Overall, I argue that the value of educational neuroscience-inspired research lies in the interdisciplinary nature of the field and the open-minded view on collaborating with other disciplines. Furthermore, educational neuroscience has an urge to explain underlying mechanisms of behaviour and the field embraces the importance of flexibility in methods. I believe it is this combination of qualities that makes educational neuroscience a valuable addition to currently existing approaches in the health professions education research community. Show less
This thesis shows the final results of a longitudinal project where the same participants (12 to 15 yrs.) were followed for three consecutive years. The first objective of this study was to... Show moreThis thesis shows the final results of a longitudinal project where the same participants (12 to 15 yrs.) were followed for three consecutive years. The first objective of this study was to investigate the development of both quantity and quality of metacognitive skills. The second objective was to establish whether the development of metacognitive skills is intelligence-related or relatively intelligence-independent. Finally, the generality vs. domain-specificity of developing metacognitive skills was investigated. While thinking aloud, participants performed two different tasks representing two different domains: A text-studying task and a problem-solving task. Participants__ intellectual ability was assessed, as well as their metacognitive skills and learning performance for both domains separately. In summary, this thesis has shown that (1) Metacognitive skills do increase spontaneously in frequency and quality during young adolescence, albeit not continuously. The various subscales of metacognitive skillfulness do not develop at the same pace; (2) Metacognitive skills have their own contribution to the prediction of learning performance, on top of intellectual ability. The relation between intellectual ability and metacognitive skills as predictors of learning performance is not affected by development between 12 and 15 yrs.; (3) Around the age of 15 yrs. metacognitive skills become fully general. Show less
