The Effectiveness of Metacognitive Strategy Training (MCT) on Classroom Participation and Academic Achievement of Medical Science Students

Metacognitive strategies are the most important factors influencing the classroom participation and academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of metacognitive strategy training on the classroom participation and academic achievement. Present study was a quasi-experimental one with pretest and posttest design and control group. The statistical population of this research was all students of Shahid Beheshti Medical Science Faculty in 2016-2017 who were referred to the university counseling center due to academic and probation problems. According to the criteria for entering the research, 40 students were selected and randomly divided into two experimental groups (n=20), and control (n=20). The research instrument was the participation inventory in Rio Class (2013) and the student's grade as a component of the academic achievement. The experimental group received weekly intervention. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis. Findings showed that the mean of total grades of the students in the experimental group in the classroom participation (128.80) in the posttest is significantly higher than the mean of the control group (80.40). This difference was also significant in covariance analysis (P = 0.001). Also, in the experimental group, the mean of the posttest scores in the academic achievement (14.49) after metacognitive strategy training were significantly higher than the mean of the pretest(13.99), which was also significantly different in covariance analysis (P =0.001). The results indicate that the intervention of the metacognitive strategy increases the classroom participation of the students and their academic achievement.