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Metacognition and

Learning Processes

Study the text for the exam!

• How do you study this text?

• Now and usually…

• Which strategies do you apply?

• Why?

• What is your feeling with this type of text?

• Yourself…the text…

• How can you monitor your level of knowledge of the text?

• Do you think to pass the exam?

• Why?

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When you sense that you are

experiencing some difficulty with a topic

you are studying, and you try out

different strategies to learn better, you

are practicing METACOGNITION

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Metacognition

Refers to higher orderthinking which involvesactive awareness and control over the cognitive processesengaged in learning.

John Flavell

WHAT IS METACOGNITION?

• is defined as "cognition about cognition", or "knowingabout knowing”

• it can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving

• is the understanding and awareness of one's own mental or cognitive processes

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Metacognition includes the ability toask and answer some of the following questions

• What do I know about this subject, topic, issue?

• Do I know what I need to know?

• Do I know where I can get some information or knowledge?

• How much time will I need to learn this?

• What are some strategies and tactics that I can use to learnthis?

• Do I understand what I just heard, read, saw?

THE METACOGNITIVE PROCESS

The metacognitive process enhances learning by guiding

students' thinking, and by helping the learner follow a wise

course of action as he or she thinks through a problem, makes

decisions, or attempts to understand a situation or text.

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COMPONENTS OF METACOGNITION

1. Knowledge of self as Student and Learning Strategies

-- To be involved and apply in particular situations

2. Cognitive Monitoring

-- Which includes students ability to select, use, and

monitor learning strategies that complement their

learning styles in a specific situation

Elements of Metacognitive Knowledge

• Person Variables

• Task Variables

• Strategy Variables

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Elements of Metacognitive Knowledge

• Personal variables: What one recognizes about his or her strengths and weaknesses in learning and processing information.

• Task variables: What one knows or can figure out about the nature of a task and the processing demands required to complete the task.

• Strategy variables: The strategies a person has “at the ready” to apply in a flexible way to successfully accomplish a task

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WHAT IS MNEMONIC DEVICES?

is any learning technique that aids information retention.

Mnemonics aim to translate information into a form that the human brain can retain better than its original form

• ROY G. BIV

• = colors of the Rainbow …

• (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.)

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Meta-…

• Meta-attention

• is the awareness of specific strategies so that youcan keep your attention focused on the topic or task at hand.

• Meta-memory

• is your awareness of memory strategies that work best for you.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF COGNITIVE MONITORING

PLANNING

Is a form of decision making. Planning allows us to decide on variousaspects.

MONITORING

Means to have a special duty to be responsible.

EVALUATING

Is developing a sound judgment about the process and outcome of thinking.

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STEPS OF COGNITIVE CONTROL

DIAGNOSIS

Means identifying the problem

SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE STRATEGIES

Use a specific strategy

MONITORING

Keeping tract of what we do and how well we are doing it

EVALUATION

The act of examining or judging the worth of learning and the usability of a strategy

When do we practice Metacognition?

• Knowing the limits of one’s own learning and memorycapacities

• Knowing what learning tasks one can realisticallyaccomplish within a certain amount of time

• Knowing what learning strategies are effective and whichare not

• Planning an approach to a learning task that is likely to be successful

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When do we practice Metacognition?

• Using effective learning strategies to process and learnnew material

• Monitoring one’s own knowledge and comprehension

• Using effective strategies for retrieval of previouslystored information

• Knowledge is said to be metacognitive if it is keenly used in a purposeful manner to ensure that a goal is met.

Teaching Strategies

• Teach students study or learning strategies.

• Have students monitor their own learning and thinking.

Examples:

TQLR – for younger students

PQ4R – for older students

• Have students make predictions about information to be presented next based on what they have read.

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TQLR – for younger

T – TUNE IN

– It is first important for the learner himself to be aware that he is paying attention, and that he is ready to learn.

Q – QUESTION

– the learner is given questions or he thinks of questions about what he will soon learn.

L – LISTEN

– the learner exerts effort to listen.

R – REMEMBER

– the learner uses ways or strategies to remember what was learned.

PQ4R for olderP – PREVIEW

Scan the whole chapter before reading each paragraph

Q – QUESTION

Read the guide question provided, or think of your own questions about the topic.

R – READ

Check out sub headings as you read. Find out the meaning of words that are not clear to you.

R – RECITE

Work on answering the questions you had earlier.

R – REVIEW

Pinpoint topics you may need to go back and read in order to understand better.

R – REFLECT

Think about what you read.

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Teaching Strategies

• Have students relate ideas to existing knowledgestructures

• Have students develop questions

• Help students to know when to ask for help

• Show students how to transfer knowledge, attitudes, values, skills to other situations or tasks

Recommended instructional starategy

• Develop a plan before approaching a

learning task

• Monitor understanding

• Evaluate thinking after completing the task

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9 Questions to Improve Metacognition

Before

• Is this similar to a previous task?

• What do I want to achieve?

• What should I do first?

During

• Am I on the right track?

• What can I do differently?

• Who can I ask for help?

After

• What worked well?

• What could have I

done better?

• Can I apply this to

other situation?

The study focuses on three metacognitive approaches provided during the

different phases of learning technological pedagogical content

knowledge (TPCK) in a Web-based learning environment. The study aims to

investigate in which learning phase the metacognitive training approach is

most effective for the development of the Self Regulated Learning and

TPCK of pre-service teachers.

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Self regulated learning

According to Zimmerman (2000), ‘‘self-regulation refers to self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal goals’’ (p. 14).

The forethought phase includes the planning process (task analysis, goal setting, and strategic planning) and self-motivation beliefs (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, intrinsic interest/value, and goal orientation).

The next phase, action and performance, includes the self-control process (self-instruction, attention focusing, and task strategies) and self-observation (metacognitive monitoring and self-recording).

Finally, the evaluation phase refers to students’ ability to reflect on their learning performance in order to control and adjust their learning accordingly.

IMPROVE MODEL

1. Comprehension questions help students understand the information of the task/problem to be solved (e.g., ‘‘What is the problem/task?’’; ‘‘What is the meaning of. . .?’’).

2. Connection questions prompt students to understand tasks’ deeper-level relational structures by articulating thoughts and explicit explanations (e.g., ‘‘What is the difference/similarity?’’; ‘‘How do you justify your conclusion?’’).

3. Strategy questions encourage students to plan an appropriate strategy and to monitor the effectiveness of their selection (e.g., ‘‘What is the strategy?’’; ‘‘Why?’’).

4. Reflection questions help students evaluate their entire problem-solving processes, encouraging students to consider various perspectives and values regarding their selected solutions and modify them if it is necessary (e.g., ‘‘Does the solution make sense?’’; ‘‘Can the solution be presented otherwise?’’).

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3 METACOGNITIVE APPROACHES

• The M_P approach was directed to the planningphase with the comprehension question prompts,

• the M_A approach was directed to the actionperformance phase with the strategy question prompts,

• the M_E approach was directed to the evaluationphase with the reflection question prompts.

Method

• Participants:144 pre-service teachers at first year, 1/3 in each condition of training

• The three learning approaches (M_P, M_A, M_E) comprised 14 pedagogical workshops lasting 4 hr each week, for 56 hr of total training.

• The M_P group. Participants were prompted with the comprehension questions to focus on the TPCK task before solving it or before designing the activity (the planning phase).

• The M_A group. Participants were prompted with the strategy questions during the action and performance phase.

• The M_E group. Participants were prompted with the reflection questions at the end of the process to evaluate their problem-solving and design of learning activities.

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Assessment instruments

• The 50-item MSLQ questionnaire (Pintrich et al., 1991)

• 16 items related to Cognition (When I read material for the course, I say the words over and over to myself to help me remember)

• 20 items related to Metacognition (During the task process I often ask myself if am I going in the right direction)

• 14 items related to Motivation (I think what we are learning in this pedagogical course is interesting)

• The MAI questionnaire (Schraw & Dennison, 1994).

• 7 items referred to planning (e.g., ‘‘Before I begin to teach a new topic I ask my self what I should teach?’’),

• 7 items referred to monitoring (e.g., ‘‘During my teaching a new topic I ask my self if I do well’’),

• 5 items refer to evaluation (e.g., ‘‘I know if the lesson was good immediately when I finish to teach’’).

MSLQ questionnaire

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Cognition Metacognition Motivation

M_P pre M_P post M_A pre M_A post M_E pre M_E post

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MAI questionnaire

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

5

Planning Monitoring Evaluation

M_P pre M_P post M_A pre M_A post M_E pre M_E post

Summary of results

• The MSLQ self-report measure (the learner perspective) indicated that, at the end of the study, participants in the M_E perceived themselves more engaged in cognition (planning and setting goals), metacognition, and evaluation at various points during the process of skill acquisition.

• MAI self-report measures (the teacher perspective) indicated that, at the end of the study, participants in the three directed approaches reported more confidently on the planning and evaluating phases than on the monitoring phase.

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In conclusion

In order to improve our metacognition it is important to:

1. Increase our metacognitive knowledge (person, task,

strategy), reflecting on ourselves and on tasks, learning new

strategies

2. Train our cognitive control: before, during and after a task

(planning, apply an efficient strategy, analyse results after the

learning process)

If you teach a person what to learn, you are

preparing that person for the past.

If you teach a person how to learn, you are

preparing that person for the future.

-Cyril Houle