Identifier

etd-06252013-154139

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Theory, Policy, and Practice

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

To function effectively as nurses in the evolving, complex healthcare system, nursing students must learn to be skilled thinkers, know how to learn, and know how to use what they know in novel situations. Research in the field of metacognition may offer a useful framework to improve learning and to enhance critical thinking and clinical decision-making in nursing students. The purpose of this study is to describe how pre-nursing students’ self-reported metacognitive awareness correlates with age and academic variables and to explore the effects of a metacognitive intervention on students’ metacognitive awareness. Using a quasi-experimental research design, the study consisted of a pre-test, an intervention, and a post-test with no control group. Students in a pre-nursing course completed the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) before and after a metacognitive intervention. Students’ pre-test scores on the MAI were correlated to age and academic indicators including overall College grade point average (GPA), nursing GPA, and standardized test scores on the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS). Post-test MAI scores were correlated with grades on the final reflective portfolio, a course-specific academic indicator. The study also analyzed whether or not there was a statistically significant increase in MAI scores following a metacognitive intervention. Results of the study indicated that, in adult pre-nursing students, metacognitive awareness is not correlated with age or academic indicators. Following the metacognitive intervention, there was a statistically significant increase in students’ knowledge of cognition. Increases in total MAI scores and regulation of cognition scores were not statistically significant. Recommendations for improvements in faculty development related to metacognition and metacognitive interventions and implications for future research are discussed.

Date

2013

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Blanchard, Pamela

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.2644

Download

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS