Content area
This dissertation investigated how research-based teaching may improve students’ ability to generalize learning beyond the classroom by enhancing metacognition, feedback literacy, and abductive reasoning. Chapter 1 evaluated a metacognitive intervention using nested structural equation models within a quasi-experimental design. The intervention combined metacognitive awareness training with an exam wrapper merging exam corrections and self-regulatory reflexive writing. Results indicated a positive change in performance trajectories after the intervention among students who opted in, but the multicomponent nature of the intervention limited causal interpretations. Chapter 2 further analyzed students’ feedback viewing behaviors as a potential mechanism behind the change in performance trajectories. Findings showed that students who viewed feedback more frequently were less likely to repeat mistakes and performed better on exams, suggesting that the feedback engagement, prompted by the intervention, drove improvement. Despite feedback engagement, repeated mistakes nevertheless occurred frequently, suggesting that students struggle to apply feedback to new contexts. Chapter 3 expanded the research pipeline by proposing a curriculum that explicitly trained the abductive skills needed to recognize and generalize information to new contexts (i.e., generative scientific reasoning) using agent-based modeling, project-based learning, and iterative feedback. Preliminary results found that the students demonstrated a significant increase in generative scientific reasoning. Collectively, these studies emphasize that quality feedback alone is insufficient; rather, students must be taught how to meaningfully interact with it. The work highlights the need for scaffolded learning environments that train metacognition and prompt abductive reasoning to equip students with tools to recognize patterns, refine understanding, and apply learning across varied contexts.