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Teaching Metacognition
The document discusses teaching metacognition to students by helping them self-assess their own learning. It emphasizes that students should be reminded that their ability to learn involves skills that can be continuously improved. Instructors should stress the importance of goal-setting, monitoring, and evaluation strategies. They should also provide opportunities for students to practice monitoring their learning and adapting as necessary. The document provides examples of steps instructors can take to teach metacognition, such as discussing learning goals, gauging understanding, and having students reflect on their progress.
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Teaching Metacognition
- 1. Teaching MetacognitionTeaching Metacognition HelpingStudents Self-AssessHelping Students Self-Assess Their Own LearningTheir Own Learning Jim WentworthJim Wentworth CITES Academic Technology ServicesCITES Academic Technology Services
- 2. Metacognition involves anMetacognitioninvolves an active awareness of theactive awareness of the processes of thinking andprocesses of thinking and reasoning that we engage inreasoning that we engage in when attempting to learn.when attempting to learn.
- 3. Why Teach Metacognition?WhyTeach Metacognition? Not all students enter theNot all students enter the university with theuniversity with the necessary skills to succeednecessary skills to succeed in their chosen discipline.in their chosen discipline.
- 4. Over the pastfour decades there has been a dramaticOver the past four decades there has been a dramatic rise in the number of freshman students that raterise in the number of freshman students that rate their abilitiestheir abilities above average.above average.
- 5. ““Ignorance moreIgnorance more frequentlybegetsfrequently begets confidence thanconfidence than does knowledge”does knowledge”
- 6. Why Teach Metacognition?WhyTeach Metacognition? By teaching metacognitive skills weBy teaching metacognitive skills we can help students to overcome anycan help students to overcome any bad study habits and gaps in theirbad study habits and gaps in their understanding and we canunderstanding and we can encourage them to assumeencourage them to assume responsibility for their own learning.responsibility for their own learning.
- 7. The ideal: Self-RegulatedLearningThe ideal: Self-Regulated Learning Plan & Set Learning Goals Plan & Set Learning Goals Apply Strategies & Monitor Progress Apply Strategies & Monitor Progress Evaluate & Adapt Behavior Evaluate & Adapt Behavior
- 8. Three critical stepsto teachingThree critical steps to teaching metacognition:metacognition: Remind students that their ability to learnRemind students that their ability to learn involves skills that can be continuouslyinvolves skills that can be continuously improved uponimproved upon Stress the importance of goal-setting, monitoringStress the importance of goal-setting, monitoring and evaluation strategiesand evaluation strategies Provide students ample opportunity to practiceProvide students ample opportunity to practice monitoring their learning and adapting as necessarymonitoring their learning and adapting as necessary
- 9. Beliefs Have ConsequencesBeliefsHave Consequences Students enter college with preconceived ideas aboutStudents enter college with preconceived ideas about school and about their own abilities.school and about their own abilities. ““I’ve always been an A student”I’ve always been an A student” ““Being smart is innate”Being smart is innate” ““I just don’t get philosophy”I just don’t get philosophy” ““I could never learn to draw”I could never learn to draw” An important early lesson for these students is thatAn important early lesson for these students is that there ability to learn is not fixed, it can be improved.there ability to learn is not fixed, it can be improved.
- 10. Three critical stepsto teachingThree critical steps to teaching metacognition:metacognition: Remind students that their ability to learn involvesRemind students that their ability to learn involves skills that can be continuously improved uponskills that can be continuously improved upon Stress the importance of goal-setting,Stress the importance of goal-setting, monitoring and evaluation strategiesmonitoring and evaluation strategies Provide students ample opportunityProvide students ample opportunity to practice monitoring their learningto practice monitoring their learning and adapting as necessaryand adapting as necessary
- 11. Teaching Students toPlan, Monitor andTeaching Students to Plan, Monitor and Evaluate Their LearningEvaluate Their Learning
- 12. Discuss assignments' learninggoals and design rationale beforeDiscuss assignments' learning goals and design rationale before students begin each assignmentstudents begin each assignment Invite students to participate in class planning, agenda constructionInvite students to participate in class planning, agenda construction Gauge students’ understanding during class via peer work onGauge students’ understanding during class via peer work on questions that require students to apply concepts you’ve taughtquestions that require students to apply concepts you’ve taught Engage students in applying the grading criteria that you’ll use onEngage students in applying the grading criteria that you’ll use on their worktheir work Explicitly connect "how people learn" data with course activitiesExplicitly connect "how people learn" data with course activities when students struggle at difficult transition pointswhen students struggle at difficult transition points Illinois Initiative on Transparency inIllinois Initiative on Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher EducationLearning and Teaching in Higher Education
- 13. Transparency in Teachingand LearningTransparency in Teaching and Learning Share Bloom’s taxonomy with students and make themShare Bloom’s taxonomy with students and make them aware of the level of thinking skill you are anticipatingaware of the level of thinking skill you are anticipating
- 14. Three critical stepsto teachingThree critical steps to teaching metacognition:metacognition: Remind students that their ability to learn involvesRemind students that their ability to learn involves skills that can be continuously improved uponskills that can be continuously improved upon Stress the importance of goal-setting, monitoringStress the importance of goal-setting, monitoring and evaluation strategiesand evaluation strategies Provide students ample opportunity toProvide students ample opportunity to practice monitoring their learning andpractice monitoring their learning and adapting as necessaryadapting as necessary
- 15. Helping Students toRecognize andHelping Students to Recognize and Document Their Learning GainsDocument Their Learning Gains Provide clearly defined learning outcomes soProvide clearly defined learning outcomes so students understand and internalize these goalsstudents understand and internalize these goals Encourage reflective journal writing to documentEncourage reflective journal writing to document individual progress through the courseindividual progress through the course Require assignment wrappers to documentRequire assignment wrappers to document processes and outcomes of each assignmentprocesses and outcomes of each assignment Have students build concept maps to provideHave students build concept maps to provide visual structure for understanding new contentvisual structure for understanding new content Require students to document their work byRequire students to document their work by creating an ongoing portfoliocreating an ongoing portfolio
- 16. Helping Students CompareTheir Understanding ofHelping Students Compare Their Understanding of Key Concepts to that of Their ClassmatesKey Concepts to that of Their Classmates Provide opportunities for small-group discussionProvide opportunities for small-group discussion Use a student response system to gaugeUse a student response system to gauge understanding and reveal commonly heldunderstanding and reveal commonly held misconceptionsmisconceptions Use peer review or assessment techniques toUse peer review or assessment techniques to expose students to the work of their peersexpose students to the work of their peers Complete in class or online critique or work-in-Complete in class or online critique or work-in- progress reviewsprogress reviews Use threaded discussion prompts that requireUse threaded discussion prompts that require students to explain and analyze key coursestudents to explain and analyze key course concepts in their own wordsconcepts in their own words
- 17. Helping Students UncoverWeaknesses orHelping Students Uncover Weaknesses or Misconceptions in Their Understanding of KeyMisconceptions in Their Understanding of Key ConceptsConcepts Provide low-stakes self-assessment quizzes withProvide low-stakes self-assessment quizzes with formative feedbackformative feedback Use a student response system to gaugeUse a student response system to gauge understanding and reveal commonly heldunderstanding and reveal commonly held misconceptionsmisconceptions Provide opportunities for small-group discussionProvide opportunities for small-group discussion
- 18. Helping Students Reviewand Assess Their ownHelping Students Review and Assess Their own Work Against a Set of Stated ExpectationsWork Against a Set of Stated Expectations Provide clearly defined learning outcomes soProvide clearly defined learning outcomes so students understand and internalize course goalsstudents understand and internalize course goals Use grading rubrics that outline the expectationsUse grading rubrics that outline the expectations of each assignmentof each assignment Use peer assessment techniques that requireUse peer assessment techniques that require students to compare the work of their classmatesstudents to compare the work of their classmates against a checklist or grading rubricagainst a checklist or grading rubric
- 19. Helping Students Reviseand ImproveHelping Students Revise and Improve Upon Their WorkUpon Their Work Use grading rubrics that outline the expectationsUse grading rubrics that outline the expectations of each assignmentof each assignment Assign reiterative projects that allow you toAssign reiterative projects that allow you to review work in its early stages and providereview work in its early stages and provide formative feedbackformative feedback Complete in class or online critique or work-in-Complete in class or online critique or work-in- progress reviewsprogress reviews Evaluate and provide feedback on reflectiveEvaluate and provide feedback on reflective journal or on-going portfoliojournal or on-going portfolio
- 20. Uncovering Common MisconceptionsUncoveringCommon Misconceptions Held by a Majority of Your StudentsHeld by a Majority of Your Students Use Muddiest Point exercise to uncover materialUse Muddiest Point exercise to uncover material that is difficult for students to comprehendthat is difficult for students to comprehend Use self-assessment quizzes and item analysis toUse self-assessment quizzes and item analysis to reveal content that has not been coveredreveal content that has not been covered sufficientlysufficiently Use a student response system to gaugeUse a student response system to gauge understanding of key concepts and revealunderstanding of key concepts and reveal commonly held misconceptionscommonly held misconceptions
- 21. Check Your UnderstandingCheckYour Understanding Next poll here – least effective method of fostering student improvement
- 22. Metacognitive Tools &ActivitiesMetacognitive Tools & Activities Self-Assessment Quizzes Grading Rubrics Assignment Wrappers Formative Feedback Authentic Assessment Classroom Critique Peer Review / Assessment Small Group Discussion Student Response Systems One-Minute Paper Muddiest Point Reiterative Projects Reflective Journal Concept Maps Portfolios Weekly Reports Process Analysis Student-Generated Quiz Questions Background Knowledge Probe Categorizing Grid One Sentence Summary Directed Paraphrasing Application Cards Project Prospectus Pro and Con Grid Analytic Memo Chain Notes Goal Ranking and Matching
- 23. Metacognition Activities Large Lecture Course Small Blended Course Online Course Self-AssessmentQuiz X X X Grading Rubrics X X X Assignment Wrapper X X Reflective Journal X X One Minute Paper X X Muddiest Point X X Classroom Critique X Peer Evaluation / Assessment X X X Small Group Discussion X X X Student Response Systems X X Authentic Assessment X X Reiterative Projects X X
- 24. Metacognitive Tools &ActivitiesMetacognitive Tools & Activities Next poll here – other metacognitive strategies used
- 25. Self-Assessment QuizSelf-Assessment Quiz Use LMS to deliver online quizzesUse LMS to deliver online quizzes Selective response and short answerSelective response and short answer questions can be computer graded toquestions can be computer graded to provide immediate scoring for studentsprovide immediate scoring for students Comprehensive feedback can beComprehensive feedback can be included to redirect student’s thinkingincluded to redirect student’s thinking Item analysis in Compass 2g canItem analysis in Compass 2g can provide data on commonly missedprovide data on commonly missed questions revealing content that mayquestions revealing content that may require further clarificationrequire further clarification
- 26. Online Self-AssessmentOnline Self-Assessment withFeedbackwith Feedback
- 27. Revealing Unknown UnknownsRevealingUnknown Unknowns McGraw Hill’s LearnSmart system attempts to reveal to studentsMcGraw Hill’s LearnSmart system attempts to reveal to students their lack of awareness of unknown content by asking them totheir lack of awareness of unknown content by asking them to evaluate their confidence before responding to each questionevaluate their confidence before responding to each question
- 28. Revealing Unknown UnknownsRevealingUnknown Unknowns ““Ignorance more frequently begetsIgnorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”confidence than does knowledge” - Charles Darwin- Charles Darwin cc The system tracks the responses along with the level of confidence toThe system tracks the responses along with the level of confidence to reveal those questions that students don’t realize they do not know.reveal those questions that students don’t realize they do not know.
- 29. Grading RubricsGrading Rubrics Provide grading rubrics for high-stakesProvide grading rubrics for high-stakes assignments outlining exactassignments outlining exact expectations and grading criteriaexpectations and grading criteria Allow students to help construct theAllow students to help construct the grading rubric to define outcomes thatgrading rubric to define outcomes that are meaningful to themare meaningful to them Be sure students have reviewed theBe sure students have reviewed the grading rubric prior to submitting angrading rubric prior to submitting an assignmentassignment
- 30. Grading RubricsGrading Rubrics OnlineDiscussion Grading RubricOnline Discussion Grading Rubric
- 31. Grading RubricsGrading Rubrics LauraCatalano- University of ColoradoLaura Catalano- University of Colorado
- 32. Ensuring Student ReviewtheEnsuring Student Review the Grading RubricGrading Rubric
- 33. Assignment WrapperAssignment Wrapper Assignmentand exam wrappers are toolsAssignment and exam wrappers are tools developed at Carnegie Mellon to assistdeveloped at Carnegie Mellon to assist students with developing theirstudents with developing their metacognitive skills.metacognitive skills. A wrapper is essentially a secondary taskA wrapper is essentially a secondary task or requirement that accompanies anor requirement that accompanies an assignment or exam and asks students toassignment or exam and asks students to reflect on their learning processes.reflect on their learning processes.
- 34. Assignment WrapperAssignment Wrapper MarshaLovett – Carnegie Mellon UniversityMarsha Lovett – Carnegie Mellon University
- 35. Classroom Response SystemsClassroomResponse Systems Use a classroom response system inUse a classroom response system in combination with discussion & peercombination with discussion & peer instruction to help students gauge theirinstruction to help students gauge their understanding in relation to that of theirunderstanding in relation to that of their classmates.classmates. These systems are also helpful inThese systems are also helpful in uncovering commonly helduncovering commonly held misconceptions or inaccurate information.misconceptions or inaccurate information.
- 36. Student Response SystemsStudentResponse Systems i>clicker, Top Hat Monacle,i>clicker, Top Hat Monacle, LectureTools, Socrative,LectureTools, Socrative, PollEverywhere . . . and manyPollEverywhere . . . and many moremore
- 37. Student Response SystemsStudentResponse Systems Include another poll everywhereInclude another poll everywhere question here.question here. Provide an example of in-class pollingProvide an example of in-class polling using poll everywhereusing poll everywhere Prepare them with an intro to Mazur’sPrepare them with an intro to Mazur’s talks including the idea of peer-talks including the idea of peer- instructioninstruction
- 38. Student Response Systems& Peer InstructionStudent Response Systems & Peer Instruction Eric Mazur – Harvard UniversityEric Mazur – Harvard University
- 39. ““Ignorance moreIgnorance more frequentlybegetsfrequently begets confidence thanconfidence than does knowledge”does knowledge”
- 40. ““Ignorance more frequentlyIgnorancemore frequently begets confidence than doesbegets confidence than does knowledge”knowledge” - Charles Darwin- Charles Darwin
- 41. Questions?Questions? Feel free toe-mail me:Feel free to e-mail me: jwentwor@illinois.edujwentwor@illinois.edu The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindledThe mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled -- PlutarchPlutarch
Editor's Notes
- #2 Opening comments: introduction and brief personal history Currently work for CITES Academic Technology Services supporting the transition to Illinois Compass 2g Moved here from the University of Colorado Boulder where I consulted with faculty on the design and development of online and blended courses I also taught multimedia courses within the visual arts program at the University of Colorado Denver I began developing and teaching several fully online courses more than10 years ago I should also mention that I will be moving to the new un-named teaching and learning unit that is scheduled to open on campus in August of this year
- #3 For the next 50 minutes I’ve going to discuss Metacognition – or thinking about thinking. It is the process of developing an active awareness of one’s own thinking and learning processes that we engage in as we attempt to learn something new. I’ll talk about strategies I’ve used in my own courses and present a number of examples from other faculty including a few well known examples such as Eric Mazur at Harvard and Marsha Lovett at Carnegie Mellon. And during the talk we’ll test out one of these examples using a student-response system - Poll Everywhere. You may want to go ahead and pull up this address on your browser to prepare for the upcoming questions. http://www.polleverywhere.com/fsi2013 - Show browser window??
- #4 Why teach metacognition? We tend to assume that all students come to our courses with roughly the same set of study skills and metacognitive abilities. The truth is that students vary greatly in their approaches to studying and mastering the content in our courses. Some students are naturally more organized in their lives and in their approaches to studying. Others need guidance and the instructor's assistance in building these skills. The good news is that students can learn how to better regulate and improve their own cognitive activities and we can help by requiring and reinforcing these skills.
- #5 Every year the Higher Education Research Institute completes a survey of incoming freshman across the county. Over the past four decades there has been a dramatic rise in the number of freshman students who rate their abilities above average. There are many possible reasons suggested for this trend, such as the self-esteem culture that grew out of the 1970s. Regardless of the reason, I think we can agree that this is not solely the result of our primary education system getting progressively better over the past four decades. For whatever reason, our students have developed an inflated sense of their academic abilities. Which reminds me of a favorite quote – Source = Does confidence really breeds success? William Kremer BBC News Magazine – analysis by Twenge, campbell and gentile.
- #6 So let’s take a minute to try out our first survey question – Who would you attribute this quote to? Please no talking, don’t discuss your answer before responding. You can respond with a text message, via twitter or online at PollEv.com/fsi2013. Open the first poll and show instructions leave open for at least one full minute Wait for the voting to end and then display results OK, we’ve seen the results, but for now I’m not going to reveal the correct response. We’ll revisit this question again near the end of the talk.
- #7 There are numerous advantages to teaching metacognition. We realize that our students may not be able to recognize their own weaknesses, but those weaknesses can be pretty evident to the instructor. It’s in everyone’s best interest to help our students rid themselves of misconceptions and bad habits and start to assume responsibility for their own learning. The earlier we can help them develop their own metacognitive skills, the greater chance they’ll have at excelling in their discipline.
- #8 The ideal is to create a student who is capable of self-regulation. Our standardized testing culture has created students that are focused primarily on grades. They know very well how to calculate the scores they’ve received to earn the grade they believe they deserve, wouldn’t it be nice if we could get them to be more reflective about what they are actually learning in courses? NEED MORE HERE!!!!!! Expert vs novice learners – provide examples of how an expert learning prepares for an exam, focusing thoughts using some structure such as cause > effect Can expert learners be made? Can we teach our students to develop these strengths
- #9 I’ll introduce three critical steps to teaching metacognition – but we’ll really only look at one of these in any depth today, we’ll quickly breeze through the first two. First it’s important to instill in students the fact that their ability to learn is not fixed, it can be continually improved.
- #10 Students enter college with preconceived ideas about their own abilities and about the roles and expectations of both teachers and students. It’s important to instill in them a desire to improve on their learning strategies. By giving them assignments that help them build metacognitive skills, we are enabling them to see past these preconceived ideas and reflect more accurately on their own learning and thinking processes.
- #11 Number two - Effective learning involves planning and goal-setting, monitoring one's progress, and adapting as needed. Since most of us in this room ended up working in academia, we may not be the best test group, but think about your own processes you use when attempting to learn something unfamiliar to you. How do you know if you’ve made progress unless you set goals and evaluate how whether or not you strategies are helping you achieve your goals? NEED MORE HERE!!!!!!!!
- #12 Think about ways you might get your students to respond to the following questions. We’ll look at a number of tools today that may be helpful including things like assignment and exam wrappers that require students to summarize a learning experience and consider how they tackled the assignment. Consider using online discussions to ask these types of questions. Instead of always focusing on content related questions, you could require students to discuss a question like What confusions do I have that I still need to clarify? This would require students to consider their own weaknesses and would also allow other students to help provide guidance in the form of discussion responses.
- #13 On this campus you may be aware of the Transparency in Teaching research project that has been ongoing for some time now. This study uses instructor and student surveys to uncover transparent teaching strategies that are improving learning outcomes. NEED MORE HERE!!!!!!!! Pull info from website to fill in. http://www.teachingandlearning.illinois.edu/components_of_transparency.html
- #14 Most instructors are at least familiar with Bloom’s taxonomy. We need to also make our students aware of the level of thinking skills we want them to engage in. In foundation classes it’s key that students can recall critical concepts and terminology so it’s appropriate to begin at the lower levels of this scale. But we should also require students to apply and analyze the concepts they are learning. In order for them to develop critical thinking skills, we need to require they higher order thinking skills. It’s not good enough to memorize the facts, you have to know when to apply those facts.
- #15 The third critical step is to be sure to provide students ample opportunity to practice monitoring their learning and adapting as necessary to meet their learning goals. The rest of the presentation will focus primarily on this aspect of metacognition and hopefully you’ll leave here today with a few new ideas or possible tools you might want to explore.
- #16 First, let’s go over a few ways we could help students to monitor their learning and come up with plans for improvement. Creating assignments that help students to recognize their learning gains is one way. You should try to include learning goals for each assignment so students know what the expected outcome is, this step alone provides students with something to measure against. If the objective for the assignment is to ……. Then ….. Other ideas include reflective writing, assignment wrappers, which we’ll look at closer in a minute, and then there’s portfolios, concept maps and many other tools that would help students to consider and document what they’ve learned within a particular assignment or lesson. NEED MORE HERE!!!!!!
- #24 Before we dive into a few specific examples let’s consider how these different tools might work in different classroom settings. NEED MORE HERE!!!!!!!
- #27 McGraw Hills adaptive learning tools not only measure overall student knowledge within a domain, but they attempt to measure the students confidence and awareness of their knowledge. This example
- #28 McGraw Hills adaptive learning tools not only measure overall student knowledge within a domain, but they attempt to measure the students confidence and awareness of their knowledge. This example
- #29 McGraw Hills adaptive learning tools not only measure overall student knowledge within a domain, but they attempt to measure the students confidence and awareness of their knowledge. This example
- #33 Using an LMS to accept assignments has the benefit of creating some level of accountability. In this example you can see that students will not be able to access the link to upload their essay assignments until they have indicated that they have reviewed the associated rubric. Using this technique of adaptive release is a useful way to be certain that student take accountability for knowing the criteria used to grade their work.
- #37 Seven things you should know about clickers from Educause
- #39 In this short video we’ll look at the process Eric Mazur uses as part of his large lecture classroom. To set up this short clip I should mention that this has been excerpted from a much longer video that details how professor Mazur came to realize that lecturing alone was not leading to learning within his classes. Students were just learning to apply rules that they did not fully understand so they were able to grasp the concrete physics examples provided in the textbook, but could not apply the same strategies to solve more conceptual problems that did not follow the step-by-step recipe provided within the texts. He also reached the conclusion, that the instructor as the expert on the subject is not necessarily the best person to help the novice learner overcome common hurdles.
- #40 Now let’s try our first survey question again with a bit of discussion and see what happens – Who would you attribute this quote to? You can respond with a text message, via twitter or online at PollEv.com/fsi2013. Open the first poll and display results
- #41 This quote is attributed to Charles Darwin and I think it hints at a very important point, that the less we know, the less we realize the gaps in our knowledge. It’s not until you start to become an expert within a discipline that you can determine what knowledge your peers possess that you may be lacking.