McGuire

Students spend plenty of time thinking about their coursework. The problem for many is that they don't spend time thinking about their thinking -- that is, they aren't using metacognitive strategies.

Metacognition, the awareness of one's own mental processing, is what Saundra McGuire, Master's of Teaching '71, argues is a key to students' success. And while relevant to all students, it can be particularly effective for minority students.

Another key, she said in Anabel Taylor Hall Auditorium, Feb. 6, is not so much a student's ability, but their use of the right learning strategies. McGuire explained how she uses cognitive science principles to help her students adopt effective learning strategies.

A former director of the Cornell Center for Learning and Teaching and former senior lecturer in chemistry at Cornell, McGuire is now director of the Center for Academic Success at Louisiana State University (LSU). There she has developed teaching strategies that have helped many struggling students excel in their classes.

The problem with many students entering college, she explained, is that high school taught them to study, but not to learn.

"There's a big difference between studying and learning: Studying is about the 'whats,' and learning is about the 'whys, hows and what-ifs,'" she said.

Students who have done well in high school by relying on what McGuire calls "surface learning," like rote memorization, often underestimate their role in their own learning process.

"Seventy percent of students think they're above average," McGuire said. "They have high confidence, so if they don't do well, they don't think its their fault.

"Students typically don't relate doing well to effort," she said. Her strategies are a big change from traditional studying -- "We're trying to create a paradigm shift," she said.

At LSU, McGuire has developed a set of phases for effective learning. They are:

"Power hour" is what McGuire likes to call an intense study session. She urges students to spend about five minutes setting a goal for their power hour, and then 20-50 minutes working toward that goal (with cell phones, e-mail and other distractions turned off).

McGuire's interest in learning strategies began during her graduate years at Cornell, when she was a teaching assistant for several chemistry courses.

"I realized that students who struggled weren't doing poorly because they weren't smart," she said. She started leading weekly review sessions for chemistry students in Cornell's Africana Studies and Research Center, and she saw vast improvements in their learning.

While the principles of metacognition can be applied to all students, McGuire explained how they are particularly effective for members of underrepresented groups.

"African-American students are less likely to have been cognitively challenged in high school," she said. They are also subject to stereotype threat, which is the fear of reinforcing a negative stereotype about one's demographic. "That often prohibits students from asking questions," she explained.

McGuire's lecture was sponsored by the National Science Foundation-funded CU-ADVANCE Center and the Cornell Black Professional Women's Forum; it was the first of the annual series of speakers that is part of Cornell's NSF ADVANCE Award.

Graduate student Melissa Rice is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.