Instructor recommendations for student learning strategies and metacognition
An analysis of undergraduate biology syllabi
Bibliographic Data
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
Cognition · Mathematics education · Metacognition · Pedagogy · Science education · Syllabus · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods · Neuroscience · Psychology
Content analysis
Closing the Opportunity Gap
A review of research on metacognition in science education
Anatomy of STEM teaching in North American universities
The Role of Direct Strategy Instruction and Indirect Activation of Self-Regulated Learning—Evidence from Classroom Observation Studies
Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques
Promoting Self-Regulation in Science Education
Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math
Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work
Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics
Variation in Incoming Academic Preparation
Recasting the agreements to re-humanize STEM education
Expanding opportunities to learn in secondary science classrooms using unconventional forms of classroom assessments
Can a brief, digital skill training intervention help undergraduates “learn to learn” and improve their STEM achievement
Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth
Beyond a Test Score
Just because I am first gen doesn't mean I’m not asking for help”
Effect of syllabus tone
Examining Decision-Making Processes and Heuristics in Academic Help-Seeking and Instructional Environments
You Never Become Fully Independent”
Lifting Black Student Voices to Identify Teaching Practices That Discourage and Encourage STEM Engagement
Interrogating Structural Racism in STEM Higher Education
Devalued Black and Latino Racial Identities
From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt
Approaches to learning in science
Closing STEM opportunity gaps through critical approaches to teaching and learning for Black youth
Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner
"I Need Help!" Social Class and Children's Help-Seeking in Elementary School
The Role of Metacognitive Knowledge in Learning, Teaching, and Assessing
(No) Harm in Asking
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |