Metacognition:

Essential Knowledge and Skills for

Expert Learning

Karl WirthMacalester College

InTeGrate Webinar

17 November 2015

• What do you MOST wish your students understood about their own thinking and learning?

Reflective Prompt

The Goal of Higher Education is…

“to help college students become Intentional

Learners who can adapt to new environments,

integrate knowledge from different sources, and

continue learning throughout their lives.”

Greater Expectations(2002 AAC&U Report)

Intentional Learners

Greater Expectations(2002 AAC&U Report)

Becoming an intentional learner means: developing self-awareness about the reason for study, the learning process itself, and how education is used.

Intentional learners are integrative thinkers who see connections in seemingly disparate information to inform their decisions.

Intentional Learners are Self-Directing

Savin-Baden and Major (2004)

Self-directing learners are highly

motivated, independent, and strive toward

self-direction and autonomy. They take

the initiative to diagnose their learning

needs, formulate learning goals, identify

resources for learning, select and

implement learning strategies, and

evaluate learning outcomes.

Learning for the 21st Century

Knowledge

Competencies

Character

Met

acog

nitio

n

Trilling and Fadel (2009)

• creativity & innovation• critical thinking• communication• collaboration

• relevant and engaging• applicable• integrative• to support higher thinking

• adaptability• persistence• integrity• ethics

Workshop Goals• Define the terms metacognition, self-regulated learning,

and motivation.

• Describe why self-regulated learning is critical for student success.

• Give examples of activities that target specific elements of metacognition and self-regulated learning in students

• Analyze metacognitive activities in small groups and consider how to implement one for your InTeGrate module or course.

How can we make this happen?

Metacognition Involves Reflection

• What kind of problem is this?

• What is the best strategy for solving it?

• How will I know if I solved it correctly?

• How could I do it better next time?

• What additional information do I need?

• What use is this new information?

• How can I use my new understanding to

solve different kinds of problems?

Pedagogical Challenge

• Metacognition is a “self-imposed internal conversation”

• Shown to improve transfer (Bransford et al. 2000)

• Easily assumed that students are doing it, or can develop on own; both assumptions are wrong

• Challenge is to keep students in constant contact with their metacognition

• Instruction must be explicit (Pintrich, 2002)

Geologic Time

Personal Resources• Prior Knowledge• Available Strategies

Task Requirements• Type of Learning Task• Appropriate Strategies

Expert Learners - Knowledge

Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996)

Metacognitive Knowledge(declarative, procedural, conditional)

PersonalResources

Prior KnowledgeAvailable Strategies

TaskRequirements

Type of LearningAppropriate Strategies

Expert Learners – Self-Regulation

Evaluate Monitor

Plan

Metacognitive Control(self-regulation)

Metacognitive Knowledge(declarative, procedural, conditional)

PersonalResources

Prior KnowledgeAvailable Strategies

TaskRequirements

Type of LearningAppropriate Strategies

Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996)

Schoenfeld (1987)

Solving a ProblemElapsed Time (mins)

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Read

Analyze

Explore

Plan

Implement

Verify

Experts

Elapsed Time(mins)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Read

Analyze

Explore

Plan

Implement

Verify

Novices

Expert Learners - Affect

Evaluate Monitor

Plan

Metacognitive Control(self-regulation)

Metacognitive Knowledge(declarative, procedural, conditional)

PersonalResources

Prior KnowledgeAvailable Strategies

TaskRequirements

Type of LearningAppropriate Strategies

GoalsBeliefs

AttitudesMotivation

Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996)

Affect – Beliefs About Intelligence• “fixed” versus “growth”

theories of intelligence

• Affects motivation to learn and persistence

• Students taught study skills and brain plasticity outperform control groups

Dweck’s “Fixed” vs “Growth” Mindsets

• avoid challenges

• give up easily

• see effort as fruitless

• ignore feedback

• be threatened by success of others

• embrace challenges

• persist in face of setbacks

• see effort as path to mastery

• Iearn from criticism

• find lessons and inspiration in success of others

REGULATION

Metacognitive: awareness and regulation of learning strategies

Effort: ability to persist with learning in face of challenges/difficulties

EXPECTANCY

Self-Efficacy: self-appraisal in ability to master tasks

Control of Learning: belief that efforts will result in learning/performance gains

VALUE

Intrinsic Goal Orientation: a student’s perception that tasks will help achieve a personal goal

Task Value: how a student views the importance/value of a task

Incoming Motivation & PerformanceValue

Expectancy

Regulation

GARNET ProjectStudents in the lowest quartile of performance generally have the lowest incoming value, expectancy, and self-regulation; opposite those in highest quartile

Expert Learners - Reflection

Evaluate Monitor

Plan

Reflection

Metacognitive Control(self-regulation)

Metacognitive Knowledge(declarative, procedural, conditional)

PersonalResources

Prior KnowledgeAvailable Strategies

TaskRequirements

Type of LearningAppropriate Strategies

GoalsBeliefs

AttitudesMotivation

Reflection Reflection

Reflection

Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996)

Metacurriculum for Metacognition

Activity Knowledge or Skills

Knowledge Surveys Goal-setting, Monitor. & Eval.

Reading Reflections Reflection & Monitoring

Learning Reflections Refl., Monitoring & Evaluation

Critical Thinking Strategies for Thinking

Exam Wrappers Evaluation & Goal-setting

How I Earned an “A” Goal-setting & Monitoring

Knowledge Surveys:

Goal-Setting, Monitoring, and Self-Assessment

Example Knowledge Survey ItemsItems Level

I can write a definition of a mineral? Remember

I can describe the cooling of a basaltic magma using Bowen’s Reaction Series. Understand

I can calculate the relief of a region. Apply

I can compare the generation of melts along convergent and divergent plate boundaries. Analyze

I can evaluate three potential sites for a landfill. Evaluate

I can construct a model of the origin of a suite of rocks from a layered intrusion. Create

1) I don't know the answer2) I know some of answer3) I know the answer

Goal-Setting Self-Assessment

Knowledge Surveys:

• Introduced by Nuhfer (1993, 1996)

• Content & skill objectives of course

• Span levels of thinking (Bloom levels)

• Students indicate knowledge/ability

Survey Items

KS Results - Individuals

Knowledge Survey & Exam Results

Results (by item) of pre-course (orange) and pre-exam I (blue) knowledge surveys. Full scale = “I can provide an answer.”

Mineralogy Knowledge Survey

“Map” of Learning for Dynamic EarthPre-Course Survey

Stu

dent

s

Survey Items

Pre-Course Survey

Pre-Exam I Survey

Pre-Exam II Survey

Pre-Exam III Survey

“Map” of Learning for Dynamic Earth

Average responses to knowledge survey questions before (2000-2003 courses) and after (2005) an intervention. Interventions were made to the units on crystallography and x-ray mineralogy.

Assessing Interventions

Utility of Knowledge SurveysCourse Design

Clarification of course objectives and structureImproved organization and preparation

StudentsFull disclosure of course objectives and expectationsStudy guideFormative assessment toolDevelopment of self-assessment skills

InstructorsAssessment of learning gainsCourse assessmentAssessment of instructional practices

ProgramsProgram ObjectivesStudent Learning

Learning Reflections:

Supporting Learning withReflection-in-Action

Reflecting on Learning• What are the three most important things

you have learned so far? How do they contribute insights in other areas?

• Describe the learning strategies that you are using. How might they be adaptedfor more effective learning?

• How does learning in this course relate to other courses? Other aspects of your life?

Critical Thinking:

Tools and Dispositions for Reflection

Reading Reflections:

Reflection and Monitoring

Reading and Reflecting

Reading Reflections:• Completed after each reading assignment

• Short responses to a few questions

• Submitted online before class

• Credit awarded for “reflective” submissions

• What is the main point of this reading?• What did you find surprising? Why?• What did you find confusing? Why?

Exam Scores in Micro-Economics

Effect Size = 0.71 (Large)

Course Grades in Intro Geology

Wrappers:

A Structured Reflection-on-Action

Exam “Wrapper”

Achacoso (2004)Lovett (2008)

1. Exam Re-do

2. Reflection

• Self Evaluation

• Preparation Strategies

• Performance Analysis

• Planning

Exam Preparation

Exam “Wrapper” Results

Study Strategies

Analysis of Errors

Learning Reflection:

Goal-Setting

Planning and Goal-Setting

The Art of Possibility (Zander and Zander, 2000)

Journal Activity:Write a letter describing what you accomplished in this course. The letter should be dated for the end of the semester and written in the past tense. Tell me what you did, how you did it, and how your thinking and understanding changed.

Begin your letter with:I earned an “A” in this course because…

Knowledge

Skill

Character

If Lifelong Learning is Our Goal…

why do so many of our courses look like this?

Knowledge

Skill Character

Metacognition

…. we should be doing something like this

Considering:

• Ertmer & Newby’s (1996) model of expert learnering, and

• the examples metacognitive activities

How might you implement a metacognitive activity to improve student learning in an InTeGrate module or a course?

Reflective Prompt

Reflection and closing thoughts…?

Reflection & LearningDimension Description

Habitual ActionMinimal thought and engagement; memorization is emphasized; correlated with surface learning; tasks treated as unrelated activities; an attitudinal state of non-reflectiveness

Understanding

Focuses on comprehension without relation to one’s personal experience or other learning situations; book learning that is understanding-oriented; learning stays within boundaries of preexisting perspectives

Reflection

Learning is related to personal experience and other knowledge; involves challenging assumptions, seeking alternatives, identifying areas of improvement; active engagement; characteristic of deep approaches to learning

Critical or Intensive Reflection

Highest level of reflective learning; learners are aware of why they think, perceive, or act as they do; as a result, learner likely alters or changes firmly held personal beliefs and ways of thinking

Modified from Mezirow (1991) and Kember et al. (2000)