Metacognición en el aprendizaje autorregulado y rendimiento académico en estudiantes de altas y medias capacidades

Abstract

Self-regulated learning—the ability to manage cognition, motivation, and behavior to achieve academic goals—is crucial for academic performance, with metacognition (conscious reflection on one’s own learning and the adjustment of strategies) being a central component. Although previous studies link the use of self-regulatory strategies to better performance, particularly in secondary education, further exploration is needed regarding how students’ ability levels influence these strategies—especially in those with high abilities (HA), who may particularly benefit from metacognitive development. This study analyzed metacognitive awareness and knowledge in 203 10th-grade students (46 with high abilities and 157 with average abilities, AA) from three schools in Murcia, Spain. It examined how these factors, along with achievement motivation and sociocultural variables, influence academic performance. The instruments used included the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), and an academic success attribution scale. The results confirm that students with HA show greater overall metacognitive awareness and better knowledge of cognition (declarative, procedural, and conditional) compared to their AA peers. However, a novel finding is that regarding knowledge about the regulation of cognition, no significant differences were observed in most components (planning, organization, monitoring, and evaluation), except for error correction, where HA students scored higher. This could be due to many regulatory skills operating automatically and being difficult to articulate through self-reports—especially in HA students—or because AA students have not yet fully developed these competencies. Regarding metacognitive knowledge of achievement motivation, gender-related nuances emerged. Both HA students (boys and girls) and AA girls exhibited a deeper learning profile (high in strategic and deep approaches, low in surface approach). In contrast, AA boys tended to score higher in the surface approach, suggesting less depth and a possible sociocultural influence on their study methods. The study confirms the positive impact of metacognition on academic performance. Declarative knowledge and error correction were positive predictors in both groups. The strategic approach also positively predicted performance, while the surface approach had a negative relationship in the AA group. Interestingly, task evaluation was negatively associated with performance, possibly reflecting low awareness of how to assess one’s own learning at this stage. Likewise, planning and organization—possibly externally guided at this educational stage—did not show predictive capacity. Finally, the socio-family factor was highlighted: specifically, parental education level was significantly correlated with children’s metacognitive knowledge of cognition, particularly in HA students. This finding suggests that family modeling and an enriched home environment can foster the development of metacognitive skills. In conclusion, metacognition is key to academic performance, but its development and expression are influenced by factors such as intellectual ability, gender, and socio-family context. Although HA students show advantages in cognitive knowledge, they do not necessarily excel in all aspects of regulation. These results underscore the need for early pedagogical interventions that promote conscious and strategic use of metacognitive skills, tailored to different student profiles, and highlight the importance of future research using more diverse methodologies to better capture the interaction between metacognitive knowledge and its real-world application.