Metacognitive Skills of Nursing Students in Nigerian Universities

Chiejina EN, Ebenebe RC

Abstract: This study investigated the metacognitive skills of nursing students in Nigerian universities. The sample size was 240, and the respondents were selected by simple random sampling from government owned and private universities. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was Questionnaire on Metacognitive Strategies in Nursing (QMCSN). Mean score, standard deviation (SD) and Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient (rho) were used to answer the research questions while Wilcoxon Rank Sum and Mann-Whitney-U tests were adopted in testing the null hypotheses at 0.01 level of significance. The findings revealed significant correlation between the students learning strategies, their self-evaluation strategies and their metacognitive goals. Significant relationships were also observed among the students in government and private universities with regard to their classroom self-evaluation strategies as well as their metacognitive goals. Based on the findings, nurse educators were advised not to neglect the affective and motivational aspects of metacognition.

Keywords: Metacognition, Learning strategies, self-evaluation, goals, Nursing students