FACILITATING LEARNING Module 1: Metacognition Learning Outcomes: a. Explain metacognition in your own. The most important goal ..

1. Facilitating Learning
1
.

2. 2

3. Learning
3
• Learning is a complex process involving the
development of conceptual understanding
• Individual learners must actively construct their
own learning (constructivism)
• New learning is based on prior knowledge
• Active learning is more lasting than passive
learning
• Thinking about thinking is important
– Metacognition
• The level at which learning occurs is important
for effective transfer
– Bloom’s Taxonomy

4. Metacognition
4
The term “metacognition” was coined by
John Flavell
- simply put, is “thinking about thinking” or
“learning how to learn”
- It refers to higher order thinking which
involves active awareness and control
over the cognitive processes engaged in
learning.

5. Metacognition
5
The ability to:
• think about thinking
• be consciously aware of oneself as a
problem solver
• monitor and control one’s mental
processing
• accurately assess what one
understands and does not understand

6. Rote Learning
6
• Involves verbatim memorization
(which is easily forgotten)
• Cannot be manipulated or applied to
novel situations
(e.g. memorizing metabolic pathways with
no understanding of the chemistry
involved)

7. Meaningful Learning
7
• Learning that is tied and related to
previous knowledge and integrated
with previous learning
(which is not easily forgotten, and can be
easily reconstructed)
• Can be manipulated, applied to novel
situations, and used in problem solving
tasks
(e.g. using knowledge of organic chemistry
reactions to aid in learning the pathways)

8. Metacognitive knowledge
8
• knowledge refers to acquired knowledge
about cognitive processes, knowledge that
can be used to control cognitive processes
• Flavell further divides metacognitive
knowledge into three categories:
knowledge of person variables, task
variables and strategy variables.

9. Basic Terms
9
• Person Variables – This includes how one
views himself as a learner and thinker.
• Task Variables – Knowledge to task variables
includes knowledge about the nature of the task
as well as the type of processing demands that it
will place upon the individual.
• Strategy Variables – Knowledge of strategy
variables involves awareness of the strategy you
are using to learn a topic and evaluating whether
this strategy is effective.

10. Basic Terms
10
• Meta-attention is awareness of specific
strategies so that you can keep your attention
focused on the topic or task at head.
• Metamemory is your awareness of memory
strategies that work best for you.

11. Differences Between Novice and Expert Learne
Aspect of Learning Novice Learners Expert Learners
Knowledge in different subject
areas
Have limited knowledge in the
different subject areas
Have deeper knowledge in different subject
areas because
they look for interrelationships in the things
they learn
Problem solving Satisfied at just scratching the
surface; hurriedly gives a
solution to the problem
First try to understand the
problem, look for boundaries, and create a
mental picture of the problem
Learning/thinking Strategies Employ rigid strategies that may
not be appropriate to the task at
hand
Design new strategies that would
be appropriate to the task at and
Selectivity in Processing Attempt to process all
information they receive
Select important information to
process; able to breakdown information
to manageable chunks
Production of output Do not examine the quality of
Their work
Check their errors and redirect
their efforts to maintain quali1ty2 output