Poster #25 - The Effect of Epistemic Cognition Interventions on Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: 75.043 - MTCC Poster Session 17
  In Poster Session: 75.043-5 - Epistemic and Generative Interventions Promoting Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Critical thinking and conceptual understanding, which underlie the higher-order thinking required in the 21st century, are important educational outcomes. Researchers have demonstrated that adaptive epistemic cognition, which concerns how people understand, evaluate, and use knowledge, is critical for attaining these outcomes. Accordingly, interventions have been designed to promote students’ epistemic cognition. In this meta-analysis, we synthesized data from 26 experimental and quasi-experimental studies with 59 effect sizes and 4,373 participants. We found the epistemic cognition interventions had a statistically significant, medium-sized effect on academic achievement (Cohen’s d = .509, p < .001). Moderator analyses were limited by small sample sizes but point to findings that warrant further research, such as interventions involving elementary students having among the highest effect sizes.

Authors

• Brian Cartiff, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Rebekah F Duke, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Jeff A. Greene, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill