Making Metacognition Mainstream

1. Making MetacognitionMainstream Leonie Mclvenny ASLA Conference 2011

2. Question What was your favourite toy as a child?

3. Share

4. Now go back and think about what went through your mind when I asked that question What kind of information did your question elicit? • Did you see the toy? • Did you see the word for the toy? • Did you recall a memory of you playing with the toy? • Did the thought elicit and emotion? • Did you focus on a particular time in your life? THOUGHT FEELING IMAGE SCENARIO RELATIONSHIP

5. Metacognition refers to our ability to understand and manipulate our own cognitive processes. It involves thinking about our thinking and purposely making changes in how we think.” (Tan, 2003) What is metacognition?

6. “Metacognition consists of two basic processes occurring simultaneously which are monitoring your progress as you learn, and making changes and adapting your strategies if you perceive you are not doing so well.” • (Winn, W. & Snyder, D., 1998) What is metacognition?

7. Research has shown that one of the key traits good problem-solvers possess is highly developed metacognitive skills. They know how to recognize flaws or gaps in their own thinking, articulate their thought processes, and revise their efforts (Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, & Campione, 1983).

8. Many students fail to think about their thinking. They do not think about how they think, which means they cannot control their information processing. They fail to engage in the “self- planning, self-monitoring, self-regulating, self-questioning, self-reflecting, self-reviewing” that is necessary to critical thinking and learning (Hyde and Bizar, 1989).

9. Novice and expert learners Knowing how to learn and knowing which strategies work best are the valuable skills that differentiate between expert learners and novice learners.

10. Novice Learners • They don’t always stop to evaluate their comprehension of the material. • They generally don’t examine the quality of their work or stop to make revisions as they go along. • They are satisfied with just scratching the surface and don’t attempt to examine a problem in depth. • They don’t make connections or see the relevance of the material in their lives.

11. Expert learners Expert learners are more aware than novices learner. They try to check for errors, why they fail to comprehend, and how they need to redirect their efforts. We've all experienced the phenomenon of reading a page in a textbook and then realizing we haven't comprehended a single thing. An expert learner would re-read the page until the main concept is understood, or flag a difficult passage to ask for clarification from an instructor or peers later.

12. Before they learn metacognitive strategies, children do not use tactics like planning their work or monitoring their own problem solving • Research suggests that metacognitive abilities develop over time and depend upon a knowledge base, (Brown & DeLoache 1978)

13. How can we take students from being novice learners to expert learners? It is obvious that expert learners benefit more than novice learners in the classroom. As teachers, we cannot sit back and watch. We have to use thinking techniques such as self-regulated learning to guide our instructional choices. We need to provide a metacognitively-rich environment in which to develop these skills.

14. Metacognition Becoming an audience for your own performance

15. Visible versus invisible The ability to view our own performance is particularly useful when we learn physical skills. However cognitive work is often invisible and cannot be directly observed.

16. The challenge is helping students learn how to ‘go meta’ in regards to thought processes that are not directly visible in order to improve their cognitive performance. • Teachers must create the classroom equivalent of the mirror in the dance studio wall or the video tape of the golf swing. • How do we help students become thoughtful about their own performance as they are learning to reason about maths and history?

18. What can teachers do? • Teachers can model thinking strategies by reflecting on their own processes as learners. • Teachers need to reflect on their own teaching with their students • Should we move on to the next topic? • Have I explained that clearly enough for everyone? • How could I have represented this information in a different way?

19. Developing a culture of metacognition in the classroom • Learning environments that are knowledge-centred and learner-centred, and that take into account the role of assessment in learning, lay the foundation for a reflective classroom (Bransford et al 2000) • Metacognitive activities that ask students to reflect o what they know, care about, and are able to do not only helps learners develop an awareness of themselves, but also give learner-centred teachers valuable information for their instruction.

20. Strategies for learning Teachers who are developing metacognitive skills in the classroom help students incorporate active reflection in their learning. They model and scaffold the processes of reflection, questioning, evaluating, and other thinking strategies that may not come naturally. (Linda Darling Hammond)

23. What makes good thinking lessons is providing opportunities for learners to talk about their thinking, to jointly construct meaning, to evaluate their thinking and to make connections to contexts both within and outside the curriculum. (McGuiness)

25. Selecting strategies Students decide what strategies are useful for a given task. Strategy selection may depend on understanding their own learning styles and strengths as well as understanding the features of the problem.

26. Strategies to help • Ask students to think about the way they learn best. • Students must learn to become aware of their capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. • How do I study best? • What kinds of tools help me learn?

27. Metacognitive Knowledge • What is your preferred way of learning? • Which Habits of Mind are your strongest habits? • What strategies can I use to help you improve my memory? • What is the best way to learn this information?

28. Metacognitive regulation • Metacognitive regulation – the ability to manage one’s own thinking processes. • When a student has information about her thinking (metacognitive knowledge) she is able to use this information to direct or regulate her learning. (Executive control) • Involves the ability to think strategically and to problem-solve, plan, set goals, organise ideas and evaluate what is known and not known. • It also involves the ability to teach others and to make the thinking process visible.

29. Metacognitive regulation • What is the best source of information for this task. • What will you need to do to achieve the required outcomes? • How are you going to demonstrate your understanding of the content for this topic? • What did you do well and what do you need to improve next time?

30. Evaluating work Students review their work and determine where the strengths and weaknesses are in their work and thinking.

31. Self –assessing Students reflect on their learning and determine how well they have learned something or how their skills have developed.

32. Self-questioning Students use questions to check their own knowledge as they are learning.

33. Using directed or selective thinking Students choose consciously to follow a specific line of thinking or structured approach in order to find an answer.

34. Using discourse Students discuss ideas with each other and their teacher. This process makes thinking more concrete and helps students learn to ask questions, identify gaps in their knowledge, and learn from other’s thoughts and ideas.

35. Critiquing Students provide feedback to other students about their work in a constructive way. This process allows students giving feedback to practice verbalizing their own thinking and students receiving feedback to improve their own thinking process and performance.

36. Revising Students return to their work after receiving feedback. This opportunity allows students to update their thinking and check their use of learning strategies.

39. Learning to LearnAquinas College

42. For further information about metacognition go to: http://makingmetacognitionmainstream.webs.com