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Using metacognition effectively

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Metacognition

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WordSearch!

Work as a pair with your talk buddyLook carefully at the words you have been given

• Which words do you think belong together?• Why do you think these words belong together?• How are you deciding which words are linked?• What do you think the linked words mean?• How do you know this?

What principles are you promoting?

Why develop thinking skills and assessment for learning in the

classroom?

ACCAC

Making connections

Monitoring and evaluatinglearning

Knowledge and understanding

of thinking processand principles

Knowledge and understandingof strategiesand methods

Making senseof the task

Metacognition

What do I have to do?How do I know?

Where have I used this before?How do I know?

What could I use here?Why did I use it before?

How did I get here?What do I need next?

What worked well?How will it next help?

SMT pack 2009

Why develop thinking skills and assessment for learning in the

classroom?

ACCAC

Sometimes Always Never

Categorise the questions which follow on the next slide accordingto how likely they are to encourage and develop metacognition!

Remember, you will be asked to justify any decisions made…

You may wish to consider improvements to questions to helpthem move category!

What is photosynthesis?

Where have you used diamond rankingbefore?How will you carry out your

internet search?

Why will you carry out an internet search?

Is the source biased? How do you know?

What did you find difficultabout the activity?

Can you tell me about yourstory?

Why do you like this book?

What do you like aboutthe picture you have drawn?

How is this similar to your earlierdesign?

Should this improveyour answer?

Where did you get thatidea from?

When will you do this again?

What do you think aboutthis poem?

Is there another way todo this?

Managing metacognition

•It is NOT a plenary – it should happen at all stages of learning!

•It needs to be modelled initially – otherwise learners will be Confused and answers will be very low level and/or irrelevant

•It needs to have a purpose

•Initially, it needs to be collaborative

•It is most effective when it is used to deconstruct the processesused. Reflecting on the extent to which success criteria is fulfilledcan be metacognitive but more often it concentrates on theoutcome produced not the process

•It will take time and practice!

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Metacognition – the practicalities

(Lauren Resnick, 1987)• It is non-algorithmic(the path of action is not fully specified in advance)•It tends to be complex(the total path is not mentally “visible” from any single vantage point)•It often yields multiple solutions(each with costs and benefits rather than unique solutions)•It involves nuanced judgement and interpretation•It involves the application of multiple criteria whichsometimes conflict with each other•It often involves uncertainty(not everything that bears on the task is known)•It involves self-regulation of the thinking process(we don’t recognise higher order thinking in an individual when someone “calls the play” at every step)• It involves imposing meaning(finding order in apparent disorder)•It is effortful(there is considerable mental work involved in the kinds of elaborationsand judgements required)

Popular tools and strategies for managing metacognition

Primary

• Language of thinking and learning• Mr Frog reflection• Metacognitive caterpillar• Reflection triangle• PMI diagram• Reflection mobiles

Secondary

• Language of thinking and learning• Reflection triangle• PMI diagram• Scaffolding questions• Metacognitive caterpillar (modified!)

Success criteria

Learning journey (process) How I learn

What is this like?

What is this like?Reflection

Clouds(core) Where

have I used this?

Where have I used this?

How have I used this?

How have I used this?

What happens next?

What happens next?

What is this like?

What is this like?

Where have I used this?

Where have I used this?

How have I used this?

How have I used this?

What happens next?

What happens next?

Where have Iseen this before?

What strategies/toolsdid I use then?

Where have I used thisidea before?

How is this similar to…?

How is this differentfrom…?

Where have I usedthis idea before?

Where have I usedthis strategy/toolbefore?

What happenedthen?

Why did I use thatidea/tool/strategy?

How did I use thestrategy/idea/tool?

How useful was it?

What happened?

What might happen if..?

How will I know if..?

How usefulwas this?

How does thishelp me?

What might happen if..?

How will Iknow if..?

What improvementscan I make?

Scaffolded Reflection

I understood betterwhen…….

The thing that reallyhelped me today was……

To improve I could…..

I could use this strategy when…..

The next time I could…. After talking to….

The thing I foundmost difficult was….

One idea/thing Istill don’t understand is….

One thing we didToday that made me realise…. After reading, I….

Reflection mobiles - examples

What do I know about this?

How do I know this?

What else couldI find out?

How shall I dothis?

Why should Ido this?

What did I do first?

Why did Imake this decision?

How did myoriginal ideas change?

What are there alternativeways of looking at this?

What improvements can I make?SMT pack 2009

Language of Learning

Askingquestions

Reading/Researching

Writing/Recording

Listening

Thinking/Work on own

Work ingroup

Shareideas

Discuss

ObserveSMT pack 2009

Language of Thinking

Compare and Contrast

Sequence

Classify

Predict

Evaluate

Imagine

Model

Look for patterns

Make decisions

Giveopinions

Make links

Ask questions

Review

SMT pack 2009