The effect of metacognition on emotional engagement, arousal and attention during the learning process

Date

2019-05

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Abstract

ABSTRACT In 1983, A Nation at Risk identified concerns for education for the future generations of students (Gardner, Larsen, Baker, Campbell, & Crosby, 1983). With past and current efforts, research has contributed to the use of metacognitive strategies. These strategies can aid students to be engaged and retain knowledge. Specifically, metacognitive strategies can enhance reading comprehension (Vauras, Kinnunen, & Rauhanummi, 1999). In addition, metacognition can have an affect on emotional engagement, arousal, and attention. Emotional engagement can be measured by skin conductance (Potter & Bolls, 2012). Arousal can be measured by respiration (Potter & Bolls, 2012). Attention can be measured by heart rate (Potter & Bolls, 2012). To explore this, 41 voluntary subjects participated in a randomized experimental research study. The study was designed with two groups, pre-test and post-test with a counterbalanced design. The groups contained a combination of two of the following topics: mitosis, meiosis, tracheophytes, and bryophytes. For each group in the research design, there were two out of the four passages. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups. Each group experienced a pre-test data collection period followed by an intervention and then a post-test data collection. During the research process, the BioPac measured skin conductance, respiration, and heart rate to measure emotional engagement, arousal, and attention. No significant difference was found in emotional engagement before an intervention and after. Emotional engagement was not a response of metacognitive treatment. According to Potter and Bolls (2012), the eccrine sweat gland should respond to cognitive processing. There was significance difference in arousal before an intervention and after. Arousal changed over the course of time. Additionally, participants showed more emotional engagement in the post-test. According to Wientjes, stressful mental tasks can affect responses like arousal (Wientjes, 1992). Therefore, the mental tasks presented in this study had an affect on arousal. Additionally, there was a significant difference in attention before an intervention and after. The pre-post intervention had an affect on attention. As explained by Potter and Bolls (2012), “cognitive tasks such as visual, attention, and mental imagery” (pg. 79) has an effect on attention. In the research study, the participant was subjected to cognitive tasks through pre-post test intervention, therefore, attention was affected. This study researched metacognition in the field of education to evaluate how to increase comprehension in students. This study also contains many implications and recommendations for future research in the area of metacognition and innovative technologies in the field of agricultural education.

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Keywords

Metacognition, Learning process, Innovative technologies, Heart rate, Skin conductance, Respiration, Emotional engagement, Arousal, Attention

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