The role of self-reflection in a internship

REU Orientation

May 29, 2009

Exp

ert N

ovice

Is content

knowledge enough?

Exp

ert N

ovice

(DeGroot, 1965)

Metacognition(Executive Control)

Monitoring your progress &

Making changes and adapting your strategies to ensure maximum

effectiveness

Winn & Snyder, 1998

Novice Learners

• Don’t evaluate their comprehension

• Don’t examine the quality of their work

• Don’t make revisions as they go

• Don’t make robust connections with the content

• Only scratch the surface of content

Ertmer & Newby, 1996

Expert Learners

• Organize knowledge• Identify relevant & ignore irrelevant• Self-regulate & Self-evaluate• Strategies self-improvement.

– Practices– Experiments

• Respond to context and apply knowledge at crucial times

• Remain flexible to adapt to changing needs

(Cleary and Zimmerman, 2000; Wineburg, 1998; Zimmerman & Risemberg, 1997; Ericsson and Charness, 1994; Glaser, 1992)

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Strategies for success this summer

Awareness

Planning

Monitoring

Reflection

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A relevant example….

Why practice this?

• Confidence

• Independence

• Ownership

Applying metacognitive strategies

• Awareness: Defining what you want to get out of the summer on your blog.

• Awareness: Clearly defining your summer project in your own words (w/ host input)

• Planning: Clearly define goals for the first, second and final thirds of the summer (w/ host input)

• Monitor & Reflect: Schedule time to check on your progress towards your goals and reflect on the effectiveness of the strategies you have been using to achieve them.

Timeline for grad school Applicaton

• Schedule and take GRE – general should be enough– Study the format – material is adaptive– Suggest September-October

• Paper search– Identify topics that interest you– Formulate key questions– Become familiar with researchers

• NSF / other fellowships– Deadline varies – usually around early December

• Grad school application– Similar deadlines as NSF– Apply to a researcher – be familiar with their work

Documenting your internship• Blog!

– GOALS– Personal issues– Scientific issues– Woes and concerns– Joys and triumphs– For friends, family, and the helpful guy in Berkeley

• Write weekly summary papers– More optional, but I found them helpful– Post online if you have a website

Weekly summaries

• Mini scientific papers

• Posted on my website

• Made making poster/paper really easy at the end

• Also kept me on task and aware of my work and its significance

Blog• Prolific blogger (31 posts)• http://

2006irisporritt.blogspot.com/

• Topic examples:– Programming– Baking– Drinking (water et al...)– Vancouver– Tremors

Highlights

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