Are Low-Achievement Classrooms Cognitively Unbalanced?

Authors: [1] Maybí Morell [2] Mayra Manzano

Pages: 20-26

Abstract:

Low-achievement academic scenarios, in which a large fraction of the students fails to promote to the next academic year, are a persistent reality of many universities, particularly in the initial stages of certain specialties. In this work we explore the epistemological beliefs and metacognitive strategies of a sample of first-year university students of Electric Engineering, where the non-promoting fraction is traditionally high (greater than 30%). In this situation, where academic achievement is generally low, we find significant differences between the promoting and non-promoting groups regarding both beliefs and strategies. Our results show that promoting students believe more in knowledge as a complex entity and use more self-checking strategies than non-promoting students. Within the promoting group, the less they believe in knowledge as handed down by authority, the better Grade Point Average they earned. Furthermore, students promoting with pending subjects use less planification and selfchecking as metacognitive strategies than those who promoted without pending subjects. These outcomes complement with strong correlation effects between the strategies and beliefs about the structure of knowledge and the ability to learn.