Metacognition

1. Metacognition Garfield Math Coaches September 2007

2. What is metacognition? • Popular definition: “Thinking about thinking” • Dr. Michael E. Martinez, Associate Professor, Department of Education, UC Irvine: “Metacognition is the monitoring and control of thought”

3. What is required to achieve metacognition? • Knowledge base (Declarative, Procedural, Conditional) • “What we already know determines to a great extent what we will pay attention to, perceive, learn, remember, and forget.” • Organization (Helps improve memory) • Automaticity (“aids and is essential to higher-order thought”)

4. Why is automaticity essential? • Higher-order and lower-order thought work together rather than compete because of the limited capacity of…working memory • For example, automated reading and note-taking skills reduce burden on working memory

5. What are the three metacognitive skills? • Planning/Organizing: deciding how much time to spend on a task, how to start, which strategies to use (Organization improves memory) • Monitoring: awareness of “how am I doing?” • Evaluation: making judgments about processes and outcomes of thinking and learning and acting on those judgments

6. How do we help students plan, organize, monitor, and evaluate their learning and thinking processes? • Research proposes: Academic Self-Regulation • Also known as “Self-Regulation”

7. What is Academic Self-Regulation? • “process by which students activate and sustain cognitions, behaviors, and affects that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of academic goals.” • the degree to which “individuals are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process.” (Zimmerman)

8. What are examples of Self-Regulation? • While listening: Does this make sense? Am I getting this? Am I paying attention? • While planning: Do I have everything together? Am I organized? What order will I do this? • While working: Am I working fast enough? How much time is left? Do I need to stop and start over? • While checking: Did I finish everything? Did I check my answers? Do my answers make sense?

9. Why Teach Self-Regulation? • “Research has provided compelling evidence that a strong link exists between students’ academic self-regulation…and their academic achievement” • When students with LD “receive instruction in the use of self-regulatory methods, they achieve success in academic settings”

10. What are the self-regulation methods or strategies that students need to be aware of? • Setting educational goals • Being aware of weaknesses • Practice, note taking, spelling aids, tape recorders, calendars, organizing study time • Organizing and transforming information • Keeping records (e.g., a list of misspelled words) • Self-consequating (rewarding oneself for good work) • Seeking information (textbooks, libraries, Internet) • Seeking social assistance (e.g., peers, teachers) • Rehearsing and using memory aids

11. Effects of Metacognitive Training Embedded in Cooperative Settings on Mathematical Problem Solving • Seventh grade students were randomly assigned to one of three cooperative learning groups: metacognitive, strategic, and control-group • All students received direct instruction before proceeding to work in groups • Students with metacognitive training outperformed the other groups

12. In the metacognitive group, students were first asked to answer three types of questions: • Comprehension (What is given in the problem?) • Comparison (How is this problem similar/different from the other problems?) • Strategy (What strategies are appropriate for solving this problem?)