Relationship between Metacognitive Awareness and Reflective Learning of Medical Students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University
Tahany Ahmed Mesbah
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt.
Rabab Abdel Raoof Abed *
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt.
Amira Salem Al-Sagheer
Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt.
Mona Sayed Ghaly
Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aim: To examine the relationship between reflective thinking and metacognitive awareness to help medical students to be independent learners who can control their learning and improve their professional performance.
Study Design: It is a cross-sectional correlational study.
Place and Duration of the Study: This study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine-Suez Canal University in August 2018.
Methodology: This is a cross-sectional correlational study; the study population included the undergraduate medical students in all study years at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. The sample was 264 randomly selected students by using a cluster sampling technique. The instruments that were used for data collection were the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) to measure students’ metacognitive awareness levels, Reflection-in-Learning Scale (RLS) to measure the students’ reflective learning levels.
Results: The descriptive statistics of both MAI and RLS total scores of students in the six study years revealed that students have mean total MAI total scores = 178 ± 26 and have mean total RLS total scores = 60 ± 13.
The Spearman's correlation between the metacognitive awareness and the reflective learning skills of medical students revealed that there was a statistically significant high positive correlation between the metacognitive awareness and the reflection in the learning of FOM-SCU students (p= 0.699, p-value<0.0001).
Multiple regression analysis revealed that the weighted combination of the predictor variables explained approximately 50% of the variance of reflection in learning.
Conclusion: It is concluded from this study that the students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University have fair to good metacognitive awareness and partial to ample reflective abilities. There is a significantly high positive relationship between metacognitive awareness and the reflective learning skills of medical students.
Keywords: Metacognition, reflection, self-directed learning, self-regulated learning.