Amp Up The Wrappers: Multiple Metacognitive Wrappers Do Not Improve Student Academic Performance Nor Metacognition In A Single-Course Intervention

Metacognition is essential to student success in higher education. However, many students often lack the metacognitive skills that would support their academic success. One potential way instructors can foster students’ development of metacognition and increase academic performance is through student reflection on instructor feedback via post-activity and post-exam reflection exercises (i.e., metacognitive wrappers). The present study aims to investigate whether increasing the number of and varying the type of metacognitive wrappers can augment academic performance and metacognitive awareness. Undergraduate students enrolled in two sections of an educational psychology course (N = 99) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (metacognitive reflection or control reflection). Over the semester, students completed a pre- and post-Metacognitive Awareness Inventory questionnaire and four exam and activity reflections. Results showed no improvement in academic performance nor metacognitive skills due to exam wrappers. Though the results of this study showed that an increased number of and variety of wrappers had no improvement of academic performance nor metacognitive awareness due to exam wrappers, it does provide researchers a robust experimental framework to model in future studies.