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Learning From Their Own Learning: How Metacognitive And Meta-Affective Reflections Enhance Learning In Race-Related Courses, Nancy L. Chick, Terri Karis, Cyndi Kernahan

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This interdisciplinary project examined how students think and feel about their learning in race-related diversity courses. Students in four classes (literature, psychology, geography) reflected on cognitive and affective dimensions of their own and their classmates’ learning. The Color Blind Racial Attitudes Scales (CoBRAS) confirmed qualitative analyses of learning patterns in three of the classes that resulted in moving from lack of awareness about racism to increased understanding and in the fourth class that lacked this movement. Findings include what helped students learn, cognitive and affective obstacles to learning, and the benefit of exposing students to multiple perspectives, empathy-enhancing activities, and …