Impact of Blended Learning Approach on Students’ Metacognition and Academic Achievement in Science: A Meta-analysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Blended learning has become the new standard in education that combines both face-to-face and online- based instructions. As this learning approach emerged as a prominent trend in both K to 12 and higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, its relative usefulness to different learning outcomes must be revisited. The current meta-analysis focuses on studies that answer a gap on the post-test effects of blended learning approach on students’ metacognition and academic achievement in science in comparison to the conventional teaching approach. It includes eligible studies with a total of 25 experiments and 25 effect sizes. The literature is reviewed through different electronic databases to access relevant studies within a ten-year period. The study focused mainly on secondary and tertiary students with 1359 respondents under metacognition and 1082 under academic achievement. The results show that blended learning approach has a small effect size on students’ metacognition (Hedges’ g = 0.25) and a large effect size on academic achievement (Hedges’ g = 0.94). Rosenthal’s fail-safe N also shows large number of unpublished studies with zero mean effect that would be required to make the obtained overall effect statistically nonsignificant. Thus, blended learning approach may help facilitate educational continuity amidst potentially disruptive crises.