Metacognitive strategy interventions to improve analytical thinking skills: A quasi-experimental study

This quasi-experiment tested whether metacognitive training systematically enhances analytical thinking in 438 Malaysian first-year undergraduates, and it fills the under-tested area of applying Social Cognitive Theory mechanisms in the Malaysian higher education context. Intervention participants were given six weekly sessions on planning, monitoring, and reflection, while controls received normal instruction. t-test and PLS-SEM findings revealed that knowledge of tasks (MKT) and knowledge of person (MKP), and planning (MRP) and monitoring (MRM) significantly affected analytical thinking, explaining 73.5 % of its variance. Knowledge of strategies (MKS) and regulation/control (MRC), on the other hand, were not significant. The results underscore the significance of integrating planning and monitoring cues in coursework to improve students' higher-order thinking. One main limitation is the reliance on single-item scales for some of the constructs, and future studies should use longitudinal designs. The implications are useful for curriculum development in higher education.