Metacognition Thinking about Thinking. Metacognition What is metacognition? What are the different types of metacognitive knowledge? How does one utilize

Metacognition Thinking about Thinking

Metacognition What is metacognition? What are the different types of metacognitive knowledge? How does one utilize metacognition? What factors affect metacognitive development? What are some metacognitive learning strategies? How do epistemological beliefs affect metacognition? Why do students fail to use effective metacognition? How can an instructor promote metacognitive development?

Metacognition What is it? A Definition any knowledge or cognitive activity that takes as its object, or regulates, any aspect of the cognitive enterprise cognition about cognition (Flavell, 1985, p. 104). Or, more simply Thinking about thinking.

Metacognitive Knowledge What are the different types of mc knowledge? Three Kinds 1. Person/Declarative: Understanding ones own capabilities and limitations (knowing what ones knows and knows how to do) 2. Task/Procedural: How one perceives the difficulty of an assignment (its content, length, and type) 3. Strategy/Conditional: Knowing when and why to use these skills, etc. to ensure the task is completed successfully

Types of Knowledge Knowing Cognitive Knowledge Metacognitive Knowledge thatDeclarativePerson howProceduralTask whenConditionalStrategy

Metacognitive Regulation How does one utilize metacognition? Goal setting: Desired learning outcomes Planning: Utilizing the time available Self-motivation: Maintaining motivation Attention control: Maximizing attention

Metacognitive Regulation, contd How does one utilize metacognition? Application of learning strategies: Strategize cognitive processing Self-monitoring: Continuous assessment of progress Appropriate help-seeking: Seeking the necessary assistance Self-evaluation: Assessment of the final outcome Self-reflection: Considering strategies used; possible alternatives

Metacognitive Regulation What are essential skills associated with mc? Three skills Planning Monitoring Evaluating Engagement in an Activity (Time) BeforeDuringAfter

Factors of Metacognition What factors affect metacognition? Belief about the nature of the task Motivation Prior knowledge of the topic Prior successes with metacognition

Learning & Study Strategies What are some metacognitive learning strategies? Meaningful Learning: Relating new material to known material Elaboration: Using prior knowledge to interpret & expand new material Internal Organization: Finding connections and interrelationships within a body of new information (E.g.: Outline, Matrix, Concept Map) Note Taking: Encoding/Storage

Learning & Study Strategies, contd What are some metacognitive learning strategies? Studying: Intentional Learning (Zone of Proximal Learning) Identifying Important Information: Skimming out the unnecessary Summarizing: Putting the information into your own words Comprehension Monitoring: Assessing the validity of knowledge Mnemonics: Memory tricks of varying sorts

Sample Concept Map (XMind)

Epistemology How does epistemology affect metacognition? Certainty of Knowledge: Static versus dynamic Simplicity and Structure of Knowledge: Isolated versus interrelated Source of Knowledge: Objective versus constructive Criteria for Determining Truth: Expertise versus evaluated Speed of Learning: Quickly versus gradually Nature of Learning Ability: Inherited versus developed

Absence of Metacognition Why do students fail to utilize effective metacognition? Uninformed/Misinformed Contradictory Epistemological Beliefs Mistakenly Believe they are Using Metacognition Little Relevant Prior Knowledge Learning Tasks do not Promote Metacognition Goals Inconsistent with Effective Learning Metacognition Requires too much effort Low Self-Efficacy in Academia

Theory into Practice What are the educational implications of what youve read about metacognition? How would use these ideas in your classroom?

Implications for Teaching Get students attention! Present information in clear, organized manner Focus on meaning, not rote memorization (i.e., help students connect new information with existing knowledge) Provide time for rehearsal/practice of new skill Multiple representations supplement verbal learning with images, pictures, tables, figures or other visual Teach conditional knowledge (when and why to use new knowledge or skills).

Promoting Metacognition How can instructors promote metacognition? Teach strategies within authentic contexts Fortify necessary prerequisite knowledge Teach a variety of strategies (and respective contexts) Effective strategies need to be practiced (varying tasks) Instruction should include overt and covert strategies Model effective strategies out loud

Promoting Metacognition, contd How can instructors promote metacognition? Have students reflect on and describe their strategies Utilize scaffolding Utilize cooperative group-work Explain/demonstrate why strategies are useful Provide sophisticated epistemological concepts Provide methods for monitoring self learning Students must feel that they can learn, with sufficient effort/strategies

Intermission

Transfer of Learning Novel Applications of Skills & Knowledge

Transfer of Learning What is Transfer? The influence of prior knowledge, skills, strategies, or principles on new learning

A Question of Transfer? Its getting a lot warmer these days, and I love it.. Why do the seasons change? Why it is getting warmer?

The Problem of Inert Knowledge Alfred North Whitehead (1929) "[T]heoretical ideas should always find important applications within the pupil s curriculum. This is not an easy doctrine to apply, but a very hard one. It contains within itself the problem of keeping knowledge alive, of preventing it from becoming inert, which is the central problem of all education. Other Quotes of Note: Education with inert ideas is not only useless, it is above all things harmful. Knowledge keeps no better than fish. We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

TypesTheories Factors Affecting Learning

TypesTheories Factors Affecting Learning Pos vs Neg Vert vs Lat Low vs High Road Specific vs General

Factors Affecting Learning TheoriesTypes Formal Discipline Identical Elements Similarity of S-Rs Info. Proc. & Retrieval Situated Learning Metacog

Factors Affecting Learning TheoriesTypes

What is Transfer? The influence of prior knowledge, skills, strategies, or principles on new learning o Positive Transfer Previous learning facilitates learning on new tasks. o Negative Transfer Previous learning hinders learning on new tasks. o Zero Transfer Previous learning has no effect on a new task.

Specific Versus General Transfer Doctrine of Formal Discipline o A general view of transfer in which the study of subjects such as Latin and geometry could improve individuals logical thinking, and their improved mental functioning would then transfer to other disciplines. Theory of Identical Elements o A specific view of transfer that contends that transfer will occur between two learning tasks if the new skill or behavior contains elements that are identical to a skill or behavior from the original task

Low-Road versus High Road Transfer Low-Road Transfer Spontaneous, automatic transfer of highly practiced skills, with little need for reflective thinking o Automaticity Occurs when a person performs a skill very fast, very accurately, and with little attention or other cognitive load. High-Road Transfer An individual purposely and consciously applies general knowledge, a strategy, or a principle learned from one situation to a different situation. Mindful abstraction Process of retrieving meaningful information that has been actively learned and applying it to a new learning context

High-Road Transfer Problem-Solving Transfer Recalling a general strategy or principle learned from solving one type of problem and applying it to solve another problem Analogical Transfer Creating or using an existing analogy to help us understand a new concept Forward-Reaching Transfer Learning a principle or strategy so well that an individual selects it quickly and easily when it is needed in future situations Backward-Reaching Transfer Deliberately looking for strategies or principles learned in the past to solve a current problem or task

Skills for Successful High Road Transfer 1. Recognition of analogies in memory 2. Abstraction of the general principle or strategy 3. Mapping Making appropriate connections between the original problem and a new problem

Transfer and Learning Contexts Near Transfer Applying prior knowledge to new situations that are very similar, but not identical to, the learning context Far Transfer Applying prior knowledge to a context that is very different from the learning context

Teaching that Facilitates Transfer Develop automaticity of skills. Promote meaningful learning. Teach metacognitive strategies. Motivate students to value learning. Develop thorough understandings.

Teaching that Facilitates Transfer, contd Strive for situation similarity. Principles over facts. Varied examples and ample practice. Keep a small timeframe. Expectations of transfer.

Automaticity of Skills To be effective, practice needs to: o be reflective rather than rote o occur in a variety of contexts o involve overlearning students engage in continued practice after they have demonstrated mastery (For low-achieving students, automaticity constraints can be removed to facilitate learning)

Promote Meaningful Learning Meaningful Learning o Students possess deep-level knowledge o Connected to similar contexts, prior knowledge, and real-life experiences Specific Strategies o Take inventory of students prior knowledge before beginning a new lesson or topic. o Require students to construct relationships between new information and their prior knowledge. o Provide students with questions to answer while reading their textbooks.

Promote Meaningful Learning Specific Strategies, Continued o Use manipulatives. o Teach by analogy. o Use worked-out examples for practice at problem-solving. o Use multiple examples or similar concepts in multiple contexts.

Teach Metacognitive Strategies Teaching what transfer is leads to greater transfer on novel problems. Instruction and practice with metacognitive strategies can facilitate transfer.

Motivate Students to Value Learning o Encourage students to form mastery goals. o Capitalize on students natural interests when teaching new topics. o Use techniques to create situational interest. But, beware seductive details. o Encourage students to acquire critical dispositionsattitudes and valuesabout thinking and learning.

Think-Pair-Share: Teaching for Transfer How might you promote positive transfer of learning among your students? How might you prevent negative transfer of learning among your students?

Intermission

Intelligence Accumulation of Knowledge & Capability

45 Intelligence- History Been studied for over 2000 years Platos Model of origin & Aristotles models of logic- first attempts at scholarship of knowledge & where it comes from Study of intelligence as a scientific enterprise evolved in late 19 th Century

46 Intelligence- Sir Francis Galton 1865- Sir Galton studied hereditary talent among eminent men & their families Concluded that hereditary influence is clearly marked in mental aptitudes as in general intellectual power His findings set the stage for Spearmans empirical work on intelligence

47 Intelligence: Spearman Brown 1904: carried out first comprehensive empirical study on intelligence Collected data from elementary & high school students as well as adults on several tasks Measures included:sensory & perceptual sensitivity and discrimination tasks, scores on standard exams in classics, language, & mathematics (for high school students)& teacher ratings All measures were positively correlated, & led to the 2 Factor theory

48 Intelligence: Spearmans 2 Factor Theory Postulates the existence of general intelligence, or g, underlying all types of mental processing and specific variance, or s, associated with each specific test or problem G is of primary importance in explaining individual differences across the wide array of human abilities

49 Intelligence: Thurstones (1938) Theory of Primary Abilities Through factor analysis of performance on paper and pencil tests, Thurston identified eight primary abilities: verbal comprehension, verbal fluency, number, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and memory Theorized that these primary mental abilities represented core domains of human intellectual competency This theory has been an important building block for other modern theories emphasizing the modular nature of intelligence, e.g. Gardners (1983) theory of multiple intelligences

50 Intelligence: Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences Intelligence: ability to solve problems, or to create products that are valued within one or more cultures. Intelligence is plural, not singular Individuals differ in their profiles of intelligences or abilities Intellectual assessment should not be limited to paper & pencil tests but include other assessments e.g. student portfolios

51 Intelligence: Gardner Eight intelligences, with varied abilities for each person: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalist (& ~existential) Criticisms: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalist Not considered scientific constructs because they cannot be reliably and validly measured

52 Multiple Intelligence Implications Introduce material in multiple ways: Narrative Hands-on Logical-quantitative Existential-Inquiry But beware overgeneralization of Learning Styles

53 Intelligence: Robert Sternberg Intelligence: ability to achieve ones goals in life, given ones sociocultural context (b) by capitalizing on ones strength and compensating for ones weakness (c) in order to adapt to, shape and select environments and (d) through a combination of analytic, creative and practical abilities

54 Intelligence: Sternbergs Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (1977, 1985,1995) Theory subsumes both Spearmans g and underlying information processing components His triarchic theory postulates intelligence as having 3 factors: Analytical (componential), Creative (experiential) & Practical (contextual)

55 Triarchic Model:

56 Intelligence: Sternbergs Triarchic Theory Analytic Intelligence Similar to the standard psychometric definition of intelligence e.g. Academic problem solving, analogies, puzzles, etc Involves mental processes (meta-components, executive and knowledge acquisition components) that lead to more or less intelligent behavior Meta components: control, monitor and evaluate cognitive processing Performance components: enable us to encode stimuli, hold information in short-term memory, make calculations, perform mental calculations, etc Knowledge acquisition components: processes used in gaining and storing new knowledge - i.e. capacity for learning

57 Intelligence: SternbergsTriarchic TheoryCreative Intelligence Involves insights, synthesis and the ability to react to novel situations and stimuli Characterized by automaticity of learned tasks Novel tasks or situations are good measures of intellectual ability because they assess an individual's ability to apply existing knowledge to new problems

58 Intelligence: SternbergsTriarchic TheoryPractical Intelligence Involves the ability to grasp, understand and deal with everyday tasks Contextual aspect of intelligence, i.e. reflects how the individual relates to the external world about him or her People with this type of intelligence can adapt to, or shape their environment. It might also be called Street-smarts

59 Triarchic Theory Implications Cover fewer topics, in greater depth Balance instruction on logical, creative, and practical aspects to enhance strengths, and overcome weaknesses Be sensitive to how information is encoded and retrieved in different learners Zone of Relative Novelty (challenge is just-right) Encourage Automaticity (for efficient interaction) Strengths should be focused (at least some of the time)

60 Caveat: The Problem with G Tests Interpretation of standardized tests as a reflection of G: Nurtures a view of intelligence as fixed and stable which has negative implications for achievement Leads to negative stereotypes about intellectual ability of minorities (Me, here, now) These negative stereotypes depress achievement of these groups further (Stereotype Threat)

61 Implicit theories of intelligence (Dweck, 1999) Two Frameworks Entity view of intelligence Incremental (malleable) view of intelligence

62 Implicit theories of intelligence Entity/ Fixed intelligence view: Intelligence/ability is a fixed or stable trait It is unevenly distributed among individuals You-either-have-it-or-you-dont and It cant be improved or increased much

63 Students with entity view of intelligence: Tend to avoid situations with potential negative feedback e.g. challenging tasks (if they are not confident about their intelligence) Perceive high effort or need to study as indicative of low intelligence => exert less effort when doing difficult tasks Failure often results in a Why bother? Im just not smart enough to do any better attitude Withdraw effort when academics becomes difficult, to preserve sense of ability (high effort leading to failure means Im dumb, which I cant changethe entity view)

64 Incremental View: (intelligence is malleable) Belief is that intelligence/ability is like a muscle it is expandable and it can be increased through effort and figuring out successful learning strategies

65 Students with intelligence is malleable view: Are more resilient in the face of academic difficulty or failure Work harder because they believe that improvement comes with hard work Failure usually encourages more practice and study See mistakes as being a part of learning

66 Research: Relationship between implicit theories of intelligence and academic achievement Incremental views of intelligence can be cultivated Incremental view can reverse trajectory of academic achievement (positively) Entity view works against academic achievement

67 Research: Blackwell, Trzeniewski & Dweck (2007) 373 students (85% minorities) in public NY schools involved in 5 year longitudinal study Incremental theory of intelligence at beginning of junior high school predicted higher math grades earned at the end of the second year Performance of students with incremental (as opposed to) entity view of intelligence increased with time

68 Research: Blackwell, et al (2007) Intervention conducted with different students. Incremental intelligence theory taught to students before assessing effects on achievement Subjects in experimental condition endorsed incremental view of intelligence more after intervention Their declining grade trajectory was reversed following the intervention Grade trajectory for those in control who endorsed entity view of intelligence continued to decline

69 Research Henderson and Dweck (1990)studied students entering 7 th grade Measured their theories of intelligence and confidence in their intelligence at beginning Examined 6 th grade grades Compared to similar 7 th grade markers

70 Research Entity view students: many 6 th grade high achievers became low achievers in 7 th grade Most of high achiever entity declines were those high confidence in their intelligence Incremental view students: Marked improvement in class standing for most kids. Largest effect sizes were for incremental view students with low confidence in their intelligence but a high belief that ability could be developed

71 Research Conclusion: a belief in fixed intelligence seems to set students up for self-doubt and drops in achievement confidence falters in face of difficulties A belief in fixed intelligence raises students concerns about how smart they are, it creates anxiety about challenges, and it makes failures into a measure of their fixed intelligence This can in turn yield helpless behavior (learned helplessness)

72 Implications A belief in malleable intelligence helps create a desire for challenge and learning Setbacks in this framework become an expected part of long-term learning and mastery and are therefore not really failures

73 Intelligence Theory: Teaching Implications Reward and praise effort, not intelligence Try to help students develop an incremental view about intelligence relative to performance

74 Intelligence: Who is Who isnt? Intelligence testing is more than 100 years old 1905: The Binet Test, was the first test to be developed Developed to measure of childrens readiness for school, i.e. determine whether they are mentally delayed and unlikely to benefit from schooling 1916: The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was developed, and standardized by Terman for use in the United States 1949, 1955: The Weschsler and numerous other intelligence tests like the SAT have since followed suit

IQ Score Distribution

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh ows/sats/where/timeline.html76 Scoring of Intelligence Norm Referenced: Compared to others Criterion Referenced: Compared to benchmark capabilities Some cautions for interpretation: Finite sample Time-dependent Often language-based Culture-sensitive Normal

77 The Flynn Effect IQ increases by ~3 points/decade Why? Some ideas: Better nutrition Increased schooling Greater parental education Fewer childhood illnesses Improved parent-child interactions Compare with SES

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sh ows/sats/where/timeline.html78 Intelligence: SAT History World War 1: Robert Yerkes persuaded the U.S. Army to let him test all recruits for intelligence. This test--the Army Alpha--was the first mass administered IQ test Brigham adapted the Army Alpha for use as a college admissions test. First in 1926 1933: Harvard uses SAT to select students for scholarships 1938: Member schools of the college board adopt Harvards practice 1942: College board tests abolished, SAT becomes test for all applicants 1948: under ETS, SAT became basic college admissions test in the US

79 SAT Trends African Americans score lower than Whites on vocabulary, reading and math tests, as well as on tests such as the SAT This gap appears before kindergarten and persists into adulthood The average black student scores below 70 to 80 percent of the white students of the same age Similar issues arise when Mexican American and Latino students, as well as Native American students, when compared to white students

80 SAT Trends Fall of 1999, African Americans' average scores on the SAT I Verbal were 93 points below white students' average scores Blacks scored, on average, 106 points less than whites on the SAT I Math

81 What does this mean? Are these differences in achievement due to Genetics Chitling Test OR are they culturally biased?

Documents

Metacognition Thinking about Thinking. Metacognition What is metacognition? What are the different types of metacognitive knowledge? How does one utilize