Cooperative problem based learning: how does it foster metacognitive skills?

Abstract

Metacognitive skills are a crucial set of skills that forms the basis of professional skills for future engineers. The skills help in planning, monitoring, and evaluating, which are required to solve global, challenging and audacious problems typical in complex real-world issues. These skills do not naturally occur and cannot be taught. Instead, they need to be trained through appropriate learning activities. Constructivist learning approaches have been shown to be effective in fostering metacognitive skills development, such as Cooperative Problem Based Learning (CPBL) which integrates the principles of cooperative learning (CL) into problem-based learning (PBL). This single case study research investigates an engineering student's metacognitive skills development as he went through CPBL to identify crucial elements during implementation. In-depth interviews were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenology approach to study how metacognitive skills were developed. Each phase of CPBL helps develop metacognitive skills of the student. Therefore, it is important to follow closely the phases in CPBL so that students can develop metacognitive skills that will make them better learners and future engineers.