Board 333: Metacognitive Intervention to Improve Problem-Solving Skills in First-Year Engineering Students

Lizzie Santiago; Daniel Augusto Kestering; Anika Coolbaugh Pirkey; D. Jake Follmer

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--46914
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46914
Download Count: 54

Paper Authors

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Lizzie Santiago West Virginia University

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Lizzie Y. Santiago, Ph.D., is a Teaching Professor and Director of the Fundamentals of Engineering Program in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and completed postdoctoral trainings in Molecular Neurosciences and Neural Tissue Engineering.

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Daniel Augusto Kestering West Virginia University orcid.org/0009-0000-0790-8861

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Anika Coolbaugh Pirkey West Virginia University orcid.org/0000-0002-5349-3561

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Anika Pirkey is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor with the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at West Virginia University (WVU). Her dissertation research focused on increasing retention rates of non-calculus ready first year engineering students by improving their problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulated learning skills in mathematics. Additional ASEE publications to which she has contributed include "Identifying Deficiencies in Engineering Problem-solving Skills" and "Introducing First Year Engineering Students to Engineering Reasoning" presented at the Annual ASEE Conferences in 2020 and 2017 respectively.

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D. Jake Follmer West Virginia University

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Dr. Jake Follmer is an Assistant Professor (Educational Psychology) in the College of Applied Human Sciences at West Virginia University. He teaches courses related to quantitative methods, applied statistical analysis, and self-regulated learning. His research examines methods of promoting learning strategy use and success among students traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education.

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Abstract

To be successful in engineering, students must develop strong problem solving skills. Problem solving skills are normally promoted using cognitive strategies that help students focus on relevant information associated with the problem, identify the structure of the problem, and to solve the problem. However, cognitive strategies are not sufficient to ensure that students become good at solving problems. Cognitive strategies must be paired with metacognitive strategies to promote strong problem solving skills.

Metacognition refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess understanding and performance. Zimmerman’s self-regulated learning (SRL) model is used as a framework in this study to understand self-regulation and metacognitive monitoring. Metacognitive monitoring is a metacognitive strategy that helps students plan, monitor, and modify their problem solving approach.

This work-in-progress paper summarizes a current project in which students enrolled in a first-year engineering program at a mid-Atlantic land grant institution completed an intervention to improve their metacognitive monitoring during problem solving. Seventy engineering students (experimental group) enrolled in college algebra during their first semester at the institution were co-enrolled in an Introduction to Engineering Reasoning course. The intervention was designed to promote students’ metacognitive monitoring and reflection during problem solving and provided repeated applied practice using and improving their metacognitive strategies. To understand the effects of the intervention, we assessed students’ pre-course and post-course metacognitive awareness and monitoring accuracy. We also examined students’ current and subsequent course grades in the mathematics and engineering course sequence. We compared these outcomes with both a comparison group consisting of students enrolled in the Introduction to Engineering Reasoning course but not completing the intervention (n=35) and a matched control group of students not completing the introductory course.

This paper will summarize the implementation of the metacognitive intervention and the results of the implementation of this work in terms of 1) changes in students’ metacognitive monitoring and their problem solving skills across the course and 2) differences in post-course metacognitive and problem-solving skills based on condition. We will use this to support implications for the design and implementation of targeted self-regulated learning interventions for first-year and underrepresented students in engineering.

Citation
Format

Santiago, L., & Kestering, D. A., & Pirkey, A. C., & Follmer, D. J. (2024, June), Board 333: Metacognitive Intervention to Improve Problem-Solving Skills in First-Year Engineering Students Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46914

TY - CPAPER
AB - To be successful in engineering, students must develop strong problem solving skills. Problem solving skills are normally promoted using cognitive strategies that help students focus on relevant information associated with the problem, identify the structure of the problem, and to solve the problem. However, cognitive strategies are not sufficient to ensure that students become good at solving problems. Cognitive strategies must be paired with metacognitive strategies to promote strong problem solving skills.

Metacognition refers to the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess understanding and performance. Zimmerman’s self-regulated learning (SRL) model is used as a framework in this study to understand self-regulation and metacognitive monitoring. Metacognitive monitoring is a metacognitive strategy that helps students plan, monitor, and modify their problem solving approach.

This work-in-progress paper summarizes a current project in which students enrolled in a first-year engineering program at a mid-Atlantic land grant institution completed an intervention to improve their metacognitive monitoring during problem solving. Seventy engineering students (experimental group) enrolled in college algebra during their first semester at the institution were co-enrolled in an Introduction to Engineering Reasoning course. The intervention was designed to promote students’ metacognitive monitoring and reflection during problem solving and provided repeated applied practice using and improving their metacognitive strategies. To understand the effects of the intervention, we assessed students’ pre-course and post-course metacognitive awareness and monitoring accuracy. We also examined students’ current and subsequent course grades in the mathematics and engineering course sequence. We compared these outcomes with both a comparison group consisting of students enrolled in the Introduction to Engineering Reasoning course but not completing the intervention (n=35) and a matched control group of students not completing the introductory course.

This paper will summarize the implementation of the metacognitive intervention and the results of the implementation of this work in terms of 1) changes in students’ metacognitive monitoring and their problem solving skills across the course and 2) differences in post-course metacognitive and problem-solving skills based on condition. We will use this to support implications for the design and implementation of targeted self-regulated learning interventions for first-year and underrepresented students in engineering.

AU - Lizzie Santiago
AU - Daniel Augusto Kestering
AU - Anika Coolbaugh Pirkey
AU - D. Jake Follmer
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 333: Metacognitive Intervention to Improve Problem-Solving Skills in First-Year Engineering Students
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46914
DO - 10.18260/1-2--46914
ER -