Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Metacognitive strategies in secondary science education(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2022) Benson, Stacey Rochelle; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesStudents often struggle to meaningfully reflect on their conceptual understandings, establish well-defined learning goals, and employ strategies that effectively bridge learning gaps. The benefits of metacognitive strategies in the science curriculum to enhance student self-awareness is well-documented in the research literature. Metacognition refers to one's considerations for their own thinking and learning. Metacognitive strategies can be subdivided into three categories: planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Planning strategies are utilized prior to a task or unit to encourage goal setting, establish prior knowledge, and identify learning objectives. Monitoring strategies aid students in actively gauging their learning progress. Evaluation strategies nurture student reflection on learning success and assessment preparation techniques. The effectiveness of planning, monitoring, and evaluation metacognitive strategies on assessment performance and perceived learning was investigated within an Alberta Biology 20 class of 19 students. The project time frame was subdivided into five, approximately two-week sessions, and the first session represented a non-treatment stage. Students implemented planning, monitoring, evaluation, and combined strategies for the subsequent four treatment sessions. At the conclusion of each session, students were summatively assessed on their recent content knowledge. Box and Whisker Plots were generated for a visual comparison of the assessment score distributions. A Friedman Two-Way Analysis of Variance by Ranks and a Post-hoc test examined significance between assessment scores for the five sessions. Assessment score ranks sums were statistically significant between the no treatment sample and treatments 2, 3, and 4 respectively, suggesting that metacognitive strategies may contribute to an increase in assessment performance. Likert-style surveys with accompanying open-ended questions were provided to participants at the conclusion of each treatment. The anonymous surveys required students to compare strategy effectiveness between and within treatments, to consider how likely they were to independently use metacognitive strategies in future classes, and to express their interest in learning additional strategies for a particular type. Survey data supported the claim that the incorporation of metacognitive strategies within the curriculum improved the perception of learning. Most students retained a favorable opinion of metacognition strategies throughout the study, and believed the strategies were effective at fostering the development of conceptual understandings.Item Concept maps in middle school science(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Johnson, Trevor Adam; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe focus question for this study was, How does the use of concept maps impact the learning of science content? Concept mapping is a strategy used by students to visually represent their learning and understanding through a detailed, hierarchical map. Early learners, such as middle school students, need a way to connect their prior knowledge with newly learned material. Ninety students participated in the study which included treatment and nontreatment subgroups. During treatment units, students were explicitly taught concept mapping to support science content. Pre and post unit tests, surveys, and interviews were processed via quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Results suggested that concept maps increased students' unit test scores, with an average normalized gain of .58 across all treatment groups. Survey questions showed mixed results, with increases and decreases for selected question groups. Concept maps were seen by students to be beneficial to learning science content.Item The effects of a teacher prescribed problem-solving pathway on novice problem-solvers in a chemistry classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Houseman, Randal C.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisMany high school chemistry students struggle developing the skill of problem solving. When faced with novel problems they often do not even know where to begin. This leads them to leave problems blank or partially completed and prevents them from spending the necessary time and effort wrestling with the problem. This study investigated a teacher prescribed problem solving pathway and its effect on the strategies that students used to solve problems. It also looked at the impact on the students' attitudes and confidence with problem solving. Documented Problem Solutions, confidence surveys, and a survey of strategies called I Do Not Understand Survey were used in conjunction with student work and reflections to determine if the treatment had any effect on the students' approach to problem solving. The results indicate that students incorporated most of the strategies used in the prescribed pathway and continued to use these strategies one-month post-treatment. Unfortunately, the study did not translate to improved attitudes and confidence toward problem solving. The students' reflections shed light on the number of students who feel some level of stress when confronted with a challenging problem.Item The effects of metacognition and standards-based grading on student achievement and perception in high school chemistry(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Wunderlich, Katrina M.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisIn this study, students in a first-year high school chemistry class were introduced to assignments designed to increase metacognition. Students were also assessed using standards-based grades rather than a traditional system to better align course content to enhance metacognitive abilities. Student pre- and post-surveys, teacher and student reflections, and student interviews were used to analyze treatment. Results suggest that the majority of students experienced increased understanding of expectations, greater control over grades, and a stronger focus on learning.Item Misconception probes in human anatomy and physiology(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Quinton, Murvyn Scott; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisLearning is a process of acquiring knowledge and understanding. When students enter the classroom, they bring their current knowledge and understanding with them. Teachers build upon this knowledge to move students toward new levels of comprehension. The problem is that in many cases, students bring incorrect information or misconceptions into the classroom. When teachers add more upon these concepts, the students often end up with a blending of the correct and inaccurate information. Misconception probes are a tool that requires students to address these problematic concepts and allow teachers to identify the specific misconceptions that students have so that they can be corrected. This study investigated how the use of misconception probes would affect students in a science classroom. Specifically, the areas investigated were the impacts on learning and achievement and the impact on student confidence. Students were given misconception probes that focused on problem concepts within the selected unit, and then remedial instruction was given to address the misconceptions. Performance on the unit exams did not show a significant change; however, some students showed a marked decrease. Student metacognitive awareness of what they did and did not know increased. This resulted in students providing more accurate assessments of their confidence on the surveys given before the exams. This action research showed that misconception probes can be a valuable tool to help inform the teacher and to help students to recognize where their understanding is lacking.Item The effects of direct instruction of metacognitive skills through self-regulated learning and self-efficacy development in the mathematical sciences(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Larsen, Karin Camille; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughThis study explored how direct instruction of metacognitive processes through self-efficacy and self-regulated learning skills impacts student ability to independently and intrinsically drive academic growth to move through the novice to mastery continuum. This goal was to provide students with the skills and practices to foster perseverance, confidence, self-regulation, and sense of agency throughout the learning process. The treatment was implemented with a sixth-grade study skills class with a contextual practice component integrated in math. Content mastery changes were assessed through math topic assessments. Self-efficacy and metacognition changes were evaluated through interviews, open-response questions, interactive notebook entries and self-confidence surveys for growth mindset and self-regulated learning. Results were statistically insignificant. Even though there was minimal or arguable quantitative evidence of change in student practice and behavior, there were positive results. There is some evidence suggesting an improvement in student ability to articulate areas of weakness and utilize strategies to improve academic performance. While average test scores did not increase, there was an improvement in normalized gains, especially in the lower to mid-performing sub-groups. This indicates movement toward content mastery.Item Metacognitive strategies in an earth science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Knochenhauer, Laura Ashley; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe purpose of this research was to determine whether teaching about the levels of thinking along with the intentional inclusion of metacognitive strategies would increase the level of thinking of secondary students in an Earth science course. Of secondary interest was the impact of these practices on the confidence level of students. Students first participated in a non-treatment unit where they were not taught about Bloom's Taxonomy or levels of thinking nor were reflections included in their classroom practice. Students took a pre-unit and post-unit Thinking Test, Thinking Survey, and Confidence Survey during the non-treatment unit to determine the normal gain during a unit of instruction. Following the non-treatment unit, students learned about the levels of thinking through direct instruction and classroom activities. Throughout the unit, students reflected on what they learned, how the learned, and practiced writing high level questions about the content they learned that week. Again, the pre- and post-unit Thinking Test, Thinking Survey, and Confidence survey were administered to determine if the treatment had an effect on students' abilities to think at higher levels. The results indicated that students significantly improved their ability to answer higher level questions following treatment. However, no significant difference was found in student confidence. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that learning about the levels of thinking and implementing metacognitive strategies positively influences students' ability to think at and use higher levels of thinking but does not impact student confidence.Item Clickers in the high school biology classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Schaller, Micaela; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisStudents were exposed to handheld response clickers as a means aimed to increase engagement and content retention as well as help with metacognition. Data collection tools included a pre- and post-science engagement survey, pre- and post-unit content surveys, a clicker attitude survey, and a qualitative final student interview. Results showed small to negligible normalized gains in treatment versus non-treatment units of study. Similarly, students' science engagement pre- versus post scores were generally unchanged. The Clicker Attitude Survey and post student interview though, showed that when clickers were used in the classroom, students generally did have a positive opinion of clicker use and were anecdotally more likely to examine their own learning.Item Metacognition and the next generation science standards(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Monroe, Bobbi Lynn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisMiddle school seventh grade science students need to improve retention, understanding, and transfer of the science and engineering practices within the Next Generation Science Standards. Metacognitive strategies were introduced to the students' lessons at the beginning and end of each meeting time to reflect on the practice or practices used during the lesson, lab, or activity. Quarter grades from assessments covering the practices were used before and after the intervention to measure learning gains. Student surveys were also administered to determine understanding, enjoyment, and engagement of the technique. Interpretation and conclusion are to be discussed after completion of this action research.Item Laboratory skills performance assessments in chemistry(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Buchan, Tyler James; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe use of performance assessments in the chemistry laboratory present unique opportunities for formative assessment. When used in conjunction with student self-assessment checklists performance assessments can also promote metacognitive activity. In this study students were given explicit instruction in basic lab skills and then completed individual performance assessments where they demonstrated their ability. The lab skills assessed were measuring mass using an electronic balance, measuring volume using a graduated cylinder, lighting a Bunsen burner, measuring volume using a pipet, and completing one trial of a titration. Pre- and post-treatment tests, surveys, self-assessments, skill assessment rubrics, formative quizzes, a summative unit exam, and interviews were used as data collection instruments. Data were processed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The results indicated a positive change in students' attitudes toward chemistry and the laboratory. Also, the results showed that students made gains in their ability to perform laboratory skills. Finally, students made progress academically as a result of the treatment.
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