Veronica van Montfrans, Ph.D.

Post-Doctoral Associate
Engineering Education Department
Virginia Tech
 

Metacognitive social justice: a mindset for a tomorrow's higher education classrooms

ABSTRACT

Higher education is charged through a variety of social and institutional initiatives to create social justice agents of change. STEM fields, in particular, are being entrusted to appended their already intense and packed curriculum to include these proposals. Most strategies consist of adding social justice content or encouraging engagement in social justice behavior, with little attention devoted to the cognitive process that mediates the two. Defining and understanding this cognitive component is critical for curricular integration of social justice. This component is called metacognitive social justice, a mindset grounded in the metacognitive activities of empathy, curiosity, and reflection. These activities focus specifically on understanding who has access to resources and who is impacted by society. Metacognitive social justice is currently identified through four attributes: (a) self- awareness through consciousness-raising, (b) value in the narratives of others, (c) awareness of unseen forces, and (d) questioning the historical origins of ideas and intents. Developing this mindset in conjunction learning curricular content is essential to developing future citizens who view themselves pieces of an interdependent social world.

Host: Joe Le Doux, Ph.D.