Learning How to Learn Science: Metacognition in post-secondary physics education for bioscience majors

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

In this project, a cross-disciplinary team of the University of Maryland Physics Education Research Group (UMD-PERG) and an advisory team of biologists and biology-oriented education specialists is carrying out basic research in science learning among college-level bioscience students. An emphasis on meta-learning frames the approach of the team. This includes metacognition, epistemologies, expectations, and the construction of broad and powerful mental models; in short learning that goes beyond content and helps students understand what it means to learn science and how to learn it effectively. The project is studying student learning of fundamental issues in thinking about science; modifying current best-practices learning environments to make them effective tools for teaching meta-learning in a large-lecture enviornment; and developing survey tools to permit the documentation and evaluation of the state of student meta-learning attitudes and skills in large classes. The "laboratory" for this research effort is an algebra-based physics course, and the project builds on earlier work of the UMD-PERG in studying student meta-learning in high school and calculus-based university physics classes.