Metacognitive strategies of decision making in educational activities: efficiency in higher education

Introduction. The article presents the results of an empirical study focused on metacognitive strategies of undergraduate students’ decision making in educational activities. The aim of the research is to identify the role of metacognitive involvement in justifying the effectiveness of metacognitive decision-making strategies in students’ educational activities. Materials and Methods. The study involved 118 students of St. Petersburg State University and was based on the following psychological tests and questionnaires: D.V. Lyusin’s emotional intelligence questionnaire, E.Yu. Mandrikova’s questionnaire of activities self-organization, D.A. Leontiev and E. N. Osin’s differential reflexivity test, C. Ryff’s scales of psychological wellbeing, adapted by T. D. Shevelenkova and P.P. Fesenko, V.M. Byzova and A.E. Loviagina’s questionnaire of psychosomatic behavior styles, Schraw and Dennison’s Metacognitive awareness inventory (MAI), adapted by A.V. Karpov and I.M. Skityaeva, E.I. Perikova and V.M. Bysova’s questionnaire aimed at studying the circumstances and strategies for overcoming difficult life situations, and students’ academic performance indicator. Results. The academic performance indicator, which was used for assessing the effectiveness of educational activities, revealed the strong link with metacognitive awareness. Therefore, metacognitive awareness could be considered as a criterion for the effectiveness of decision making in educational activities. The study revealed correlations between metacognitive awareness and personality traits (self-organization of activity, psychological well-being, and styles of psychosomatic behavior) and the cognitive sphere of personality (emotional intelligence and reflexivity). The authors describe metacognitive strategies of decision making in educational activities in groups with different levels of metacognitive awareness and academic achievement. Conclusions. The authors conclude that high level of metacognitive awareness in educational activities improves students’ academic performance. Efficiency of metacognitive strategies in decision-making in educational activities is determined by high level of metacognitive awareness, emotional intelligence and the desire for personal growth.