Enhancing Metacognition Through the Reflective Use of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Abstract

Background: An important concern of nursing practice and education is the difficulty new graduates experience while making the transition from graduate nurse to practicing nurse. Method: Using a comparative descriptive design, self-regulated learning strategies were used to enhance metacognitive critical thinking abilities as 32 new graduate nurses reflected during 8-week preceptorship programs. Results: Verbal protocol analysis revealed the majority of noun referents as metacognitive with thinking nouns increasing in rank from Week 1 to Week 8, present tense verbs were used most fre-The quest to improve metacognitive critical thinking abilities has gained increasing momentum during the past 30 years throughout the world. The President's Council of Economic Advisers has mandated that critical thinking is the one characteristic a worker needs for high productivity and to be competitive in the business world by making well thoughtout decisions (Paul, 1993). Professional disciplines acknowledge the importance of improving domain specific thinking abilities, but are unable to guarantee it as an educational outcome. Metacognition is self-communication about task demands and cognitive strategies a person engages in before, during, and after performing a task (Beitz, 1996). Once learned, metacognition supports lifelong reflective thinking in divergent situations, enables one to handle ambiguity, assists with problem solving, promotes responsibility for actions, and fosters devel-78 quently with lower-level thinking phrases. Common themes in the narrative were knowledge observation, thinking strategies, judgments of self-improvement, judgments of competence, judgments of resources, self-reactions, and selfcorrection strategies. Conclusions: New graduate nurses have unique circumstances to overcome in making a transition to the workplace, and having self-regulatory skills would enable this process. The data suggest nursing education and practice consider self-regulated learning prompts with new graduates to promote thinking strategies. opment of self-confidence for rapid decision making. Metacognitive critical thinking abilities in nursing practice are crucial as health care becomes more complex, the knowledge base expands, and nurses practice more autonomously (Brigham, 1993). Novice practitioners lack experience in prioritizing and accurately applying domain specific data. Therefore, they have difficulty making efficient and accurate judgments concerning patient care. This situation translates into tremendous economic losses for health care institutions caused by the attrition of new graduate nurses (Anderson, 1989). Thus, underdeveloped metacognitive critical thinking skills impact health care with poor clinical judgments and professional dissatisfaction. Specifically, the significant problem is helping new graduates problem-solve in clinical situations as they transition from graduate nurses to practicing nurses by using metacognitive critical thinking processes. Selfregulation uses critical thinking skills and refers...

Development and Evaluation of Web-Based Animated Pedagogical AgentsforFacilitating Critical Thinking in Nursing

“…The qualitative method was a think-aloud protocol used previously to study the critical thinking of nurses (Kuiper, 2002;Taylor & Dionne, 2000). This approach elicits reports of thought sequences, or cognitive processes, during the performance of a task such as solving a problem; ideally, this should provide a valid source of data on thinking and thought processes (Ericsson, 2002;Patton, 2002).…”

Transforming Student Perspectives Through Reflective Writing

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It is frequently cited as an important teaching technique when critical thinking is the primary goal, 2,4-11 and the primary outcome of reflection is self-awareness and learning. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It is frequently cited as an important teaching technique when critical thinking is the primary goal, 2,4-11 and the primary outcome of reflection is self-awareness and learning.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It is frequently cited as an important teaching technique when critical thinking is the primary goal, 2,4-11 and the primary outcome of reflection is self-awareness and learning. 10(p15) Many authors agree that an event or situation beyond the learner's typical experience must occur if the reflective process is to be triggered [1][2][3]5,8,9 and that the reflective process is most successful when context for reflection is structured to provide an appropriate balance of challenge and support. 10(p15) Many authors agree that an event or situation beyond the learner's typical experience must occur if the reflective process is to be triggered [1][2][3]5,8,9 and that the reflective process is most successful when context for reflection is structured to provide an appropriate balance of challenge and support.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The type of thinking required during reflection is referred to as metacognition, which is the self-communication about task demands and cognitive strategies a person engages in before, during, and after performing a task, 8 or ''thinking about one's thinking while thinking to make one's thinking better.'' [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In transformational learning, the teacher triggers reflection by purposefully providing dissonance-producing questions to the adult students. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In transformational learning, the teacher triggers reflection by purposefully providing dissonance-producing questions to the adult students.…”

“…10(p15) Many authors agree that an event or situation beyond the learner's typical experience must occur if the reflective process is to be triggered [1][2][3]5,8,9 and that the reflective process is most successful when context for reflection is structured to provide an appropriate balance of challenge and support. [1][2][3] Multiple methods of categorizing reflective activities exist in the literature, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] but the framework specified by Mezirow 1 was used for this learning package. Students are then guided in the process of reflection to ensure that the reflective process goes far enough to help them become aware of their assumptions and attitudes.…”