Developing Metacognitive Engineering Teams

Abstract

Metacognition is the awareness and understanding by a student of his or her own learning own skills, performance, preferences, and barriers. This paper describes efforts to develop metacognition in engineering teams at Rowan University, through writing, team-building exercises and the use of the Learning Combination Inventory (LCI).  The theoretical basis for the LCI is the Interactive Learning Model, which posits that learning processes occur through four distinct learning patterns: sequential, precise, technical, and confluent.  The LCI was used to profile the learning style of each student in the Rowan Chemical Engineering department. During the fall 2003 semester, teams of students reviewed their LCI profiles with faculty, wrote team charters and used biweekly written status reports to reflect on their progress throughout the semester. These activities were intended to further each student's awareness of his/her own abilities, heighten awareness of the variety of individuals and foster improved interpersonal and teaming skills. This paper describes student response to these activities as well as the effect of these activities on team performance.