Many of our students come to us underprepared for college or stuck in unhelpful study beliefs and habits. Spending small amounts of time talking about metacognition – how students understand their own learning – can make a huge difference in their learning and performance (McGuire, 2022). The University of Arizona has a robust webpage that includes resources (linked videos, course slides) for faculty on teaching students metacognition.
Saundra McGuire offers helpful supplements in her book, Teach Students How to Learn. Among her suggestions are to:
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers additional strategies that can be useful to students:
Use your syllabus as a roadmap
Why is it arranged this way?
What are key themes?
Summon your prior knowledge
What do you already know about this?
Think aloud and use writing
Verbalizing thoughts aloud and in writing can aid deep learning
Ask yourself metacognition questions, e.g.:
What strategy did I use that was helpful?
What is confusing about this topic?
What conclusions can I make?
How does this relate to what we learned last week?
Organize your thoughts
Take notes from memory
Read short sections of text and write down what you remember
Review your exams
Your preparation, what you missed, and why
Test yourself
Practice tests, flashcards, etc.
Use the student learning center