Impact of Metacognition on Academic Performance in College Courses: A Systematic Review
Keywords:
Metacognition, metacognitive instructional elements, academic performanceAbstract
This study contributes a systematic literature review of the effectiveness of incorporating metacognition instruction into college-level courses. The interventions examined were limited to course-level metacognitive strategies explicitly intended to enhance students’ academic performance, that is, graded assignments, course grades, or pass rates. Fifty-nine research studies involving 11,153 college students were analyzed. At least one statistically significant finding in which the intervention increased academic performance was found in 91.5% of the studies analyzed. These findings indicate that course-level metacognitive instruction is positively associated with improved academic performance, with positive correlations observed across various disciplines and geographic locations.
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