A Metacognitive Knowledge, Metacognitive Experience, and Its Effects on Learning Outcomes for Stem and Non-Stem Malaysian Students
This study examined the effects of metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experience, and quality learning on learning outcomes for STEM and non-STEM Malaysian university students. A sample of 958 STEM and 1256 non-STEM students on Diploma and bachelor programmes took part in the study using the adopted and adapted survey questionnaires. The metacognitive theory was used as the framework to build a research model with four constructs which was analysed using SEM. The results showed that all five of the hypotheses were supported for non-STEM students and also the five hypotheses were supported for STEM students. It is estimated that the model for non-STEM students accounted for 39% of the variance for learning outcome and 53% of the variance for quality learning and the model for STEM students accounted for 54% of the variance for learning outcome and 46% of the variance for quality learning. The results indicated a lack of emphasis on using teaching approaches that encouraged critical thinking and reflective thinking skills for STEM students when compared to non-STEM students. It also implies that STEM students are more focused on process and knowledge acquisition than non-STEM students.