Learning from Writing in College Biology Norris A. Armstrong & Carolyn S. Wallace & Shu-Mei Chang Published online: 17 November 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007 Abstract This study used both quantitative and qualitative analyses to examine the influence of written arguments on learning in a college level introductory biology class and the types of metacognition employed by students while writing. Comparison of a treatment and control group indicates that the writing assignments used had minimal impact on overall content learning as measured by conventional exams. Subsequent interviews and think-aloud protocols with a subset of students indicated that writing arguments had the potential to foster learning through forward and backward search strategies. However, few of the students took advantage of this opportunity to use metacognitive skills. This study suggests that preparing written arguments is not sufficient, by itself, to have a reliable effect on student learning and is consistent with the view that students must be explicitly taught when and how to use different metacognitive strategies. Keywords Argument . Biology . College . Learning . Metacognition . Science . Writing . Writing-to-learn Introduction The question of whether and how writing contributes to content learning in the sciences has been investigated since the mid-1970’ s. More recently, writing-to-learn research has been supported by psychological theories proposing mechanisms through which writing might promote learning. Klein (1999), reviewing the literature, proposed four mechanisms for learning through writing. These included: (a) that writers learn spontaneously as they produce text (spontaneous utterance); (b) that writers learn when they reread what they have already composed and then generate additional knowledge (forward search); (c) that writers learn when they set goals for writing and then generate knowledge to achieve those goals (backward search); and (d) that writers learn when they apply content knowledge to compose Res Sci Educ (2008) 38:483–499 DOI 10.1007/s11165-007-9062-9 DO9062; No of Pages N. A. Armstrong (*) : C. S. Wallace : S.-M. Chang Genetics, University of Georgia, Rm 403 Biological Sciences Bldg, Athens, GA 30602, USA e-mail: narmstro@uga.edu