Social Metacognition

Description

Preparing for an exam with a group can be a tricky venture. How to find out who in the group knows what? Which group member needs help? And who can help with one’s own questions? Under the umbrella of “social metacognition”, accurate monitoring and knowledge exchange behavior of learners in group situations is analyzed.
For many students, learning collaboratively or preparing for an exam together with a learning partner is part of their everyday academic life. In the context of effective, individual learning strategies, it has been shown that monitoring and controlling one’s own learning behavior is of crucial importance. Nonetheless, studies of monitoring partner’s learning and engaging in particular knowledge exchange behaviors are very scarce.
In this research project, basic mechanisms of social metacognition are investigated from different angles. A first hypothesis assumes that individual monitoring accuracy leads to better knowledge exchange behavior. Second, the influence of perceived differences between the learner’s current learning state and the partner’s current learning state is analyzed. And finally, it is examined if learners can accurately estimate the partner’s performance after a collaborative learning phase.