The generality vs domain-specificity of metacognitive skills in novice learning across domains

Abstract

A first objective of this study is to determine the generality versus domain-specificity of the metacognitive skills that students bring into new learning situations. Additionally, this study addresses the relationship between intelligence and metacognitive skillfulness as predictors of novice learning. Fourteen high or (relatively) low intelligent psychology freshmen (novices in the domains of physics and statistics) participated in the experiment. Subjects passed through three different simulation environments representing physics, statistics, and a fictitious domain. Both the subject's metacognitive skillfulness and learning performances were assessed for each domain. Results support the generality of novice metacognitive skills across domains. Furthermore, metacognitive skillfulness contributes to novice learning partly independent of intellectual ability. Implications for metacognitive skill training are being discussed.