| Abstract: | Recent developments in strategy instruction research suggest that learning in a particular discipline is enhanced by guiding students through the development of content-relevant metacognitive strategies. The potential of such an instructional approach for university settings is discussed in this paper, and is supported with evidence from an experimental field study. The study, conducted with 28 experimental and 28 matched control students over 13 weeks of an introductory computer science course, involved (a) students' development of a metacognitive strategy relevant for computer programming, (b) modelling and coaching procedures with complete explanations about strategy use, and (c) a socially supportive learning context. The instructional method had significant short-term and long-term effects on students' cognitive and affective learning outcomes. |
