Module Response: Metacognition & Self-Regulation

Metacognition, the process of thinking about thinking, sounds like something impractical that belongs solely in the realm of theory at first, but it’s actually very relevant to the means of teaching and learning. Students who have trouble solving problems in a cumulative assessment probably lacked the mastery of various skills that were introduced and thus a conscious learning process must take place in order to be better prepared. According to the “Metacognition” article written by Halter, there are two types of learners – novice and expert. A novice learner goes through the motions of learning and leave retention of the information to chance. On the other hand, an expert learner takes the time to think about the process of learning, evaluate what works and what doesn’t, and make appropriate adjustments to behavior based on reflection. The difference between these two methods of learning can be seen in the result – although the ways of an expert learner might seem time consuming at first, but after metacognition becomes an automatic approach to learning anything new, it will prove to be more efficient

Similar to metacognition, self-regulation requires students to be actively aware of their learning and be intrinsically driven to reach specific goals. According to Woolfolk and Schunk, having a reachable and challenging goal will increase self-control because students will strive to narrow the gap between their current understanding of a topic and the stated goal. Having a clear goal causes learners to identify factors that contribute to reaching that goal, which is directly related to being aware of his/her thinking (metacognition)! Not only do learners seek knowledge about themselves, they analyze other aspects of reaching their goal such as the subject of study, the tasks at hand and how to maximize the time allotted for these tasks, etc.

There are many strategies that educators can use to help students develop metacognition and self-regulation so that they not only become more efficient when learning new information, they will be able to apply their knowledge appropriately. For example, when students learn to conjugate a verb in different tenses (either in English or in a foreign language), the teacher usually focus on one verb tense at a time – starting with repeated practice of different verbs in the present tense then moving on to the past tense, etc. By the end of the unit on conjugation, many students will confuse the usage of different tenses on a cumulative test although they’ve mastered the assessment at the end of each section within the unit. One way to improve this scenario is for teachers to steer clear of merely teaching a behavior – for example: “students, for past tense, just add ‘-ed’ at the end of every verb”. Instead, after teaching the past tense, teachers should ask students to record how they’ve associated the verb tense with the new information about conjugation. If the students keep an organized record of how they individually learned new material, they will soon see a pattern of their strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge becomes a guide to how the student should face new information, which allows monitoring, reflection and adjustment of behavior and approach. Knowing what works and what doesn’t gives students ownership of their learning and teach them how to cope with future unfamiliar circumstances.

Technology can prove to be extremely useful in gathering students analysis of their own learning process, creating an organized archive of past experiences and most importantly, helping students make sense of their thinking patterns. For example, at the end of the unit on conjugating verbs in the past tense, students can fill out an online survey (e.g. surveymonkey) created by the teacher. While questions about the content will evaluate WHAT the students have learned, the metacognition survey will require students to think about HOW they were able to master the information. The survey will facilitate students’ consideration of their goals, their level of motivation, their time management and what worked vs. what didn’t. After filling out a survey, students would be asked to make any conclusions they’ve reached after being “forced” (by the survey) to consider all the different factors that contribute to learning. I truly believe that students might come up with shockingly revealing insight about their own learning that will benefit them for the rest of their academic career and beyond!

Lastly, I was also very impressed with the description of “academic controversy” in the article written by David & Roger Johnson. It reminded me of a mock debate in my Social Studies classes, in which students become extremely motivated and want to be more than prepared to defend their point of view against the attacks of others. So many times, students are not given the chance to have a point of view because they’re simply told what to think. For example, while teaching the debate for the independence of the 13 American colonies – instead of putting up a “pros vs. cons” chart on the blackboard and giving students notes about the two sides of the debate, why not let the students take a side and really debate the issue? Knowing that there will be opponents next day in class, students will be self-regulated and a lot more motivated to research and refine their arguments. Technology can definitely facilitate this process because sometimes in a classroom of 30 students under the time pressure of a 42-minutes period simply isn’t enough to hear everyone’s point of view. So teachers can set up a forum online, such as a blogmeister or a quicktopic, in which students can continue to comment on each other’s arguments outside the classroom.