Metacognitive Awareness and Knowledge Acquisition Approaches among Colleges of Education Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Recently, scholars in education and psychology have been conducting various researches on how best college students acquire knowledge and academically succeed. This study examines the relationship between metacognitive awareness skills and the dimensions of knowledge acquisition approaches among pre-service teachers in Colleges of Education. In this quantitative study, a total of 500 pre-service teachers participated in the study comprising of, 280 males and 220 females, studying in Colleges of Education in North-West geo-political region of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation was employed for data analysis of the study. The descriptive result showed that majority of the pre-service teachers are employing surface knowledge acquisition approach and majority fall in the low level of metacognitive awareness skills. However, inferential statistics revealed a significant and positive relationship between metacognitive awareness, and deep knowledge acquisition approach, but a significant and negative relationship, with surface knowledge acquisition approach. Theoretical and practical implications of the study, as well as recommendations for future research, were presented as well.