ERIC Number: EJ1463326
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Apr
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-4308
EISSN: EISSN-1098-2736
Available Date: 2024-11-15
Instructor Recommendations for Student Learning Strategies and Metacognition: An Analysis of Undergraduate Biology Syllabi
Sharday N. Ewell1,2; Alayna Harvey1; Amanda Clark3; Megan E. Maloney1; Laurie S. Stevison1; Cissy J. Ballen1
Journal of Research in Science Teaching, v62 n4 p1132-1158 2025
An inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities for marginalized students (i.e., opportunity gaps) leads to challenges in identifying effective study behaviors, metacognition, and academic help-seeking in higher education. While students benefit when these skills are taught explicitly through co-curricular workshops and courses, these interventions often require significant time investment from faculty and students, underscoring a need for alternative interventions that provide students with access to resources related to these skills. Course syllabi are one potential resource that can address these needs, and we asked to what extent biology syllabi are used for this purpose. We collected a national sample of introductory biology syllabi and used content analysis to determine if syllabi are learner-centered and whether they incorporate information on study behaviors, metacognition, and academic help-seeking. We found that most syllabi are not learner-centered, encourage ineffective study behaviors, did not include metacognition recommendations, and include incomplete academic help-seeking recommendations. We make several recommendations on how to incorporate complete, accurate information regarding study behaviors, metacognition, and academic help-seeking.
Descriptors: Learning Strategies, Metacognition, Undergraduate Study, Undergraduate Students, College Science, Science Education, Course Descriptions, Biology, Introductory Courses, Content Analysis, Student Centered Learning, Study Skills, Help Seeking
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA; 2Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi, USA; 3Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA