Predictors of college retention/success.

In a recent investigation completed with Randy Isaacson and Tara Beziat, it was found that high school GPA and SAT scores did not predict retention as well as GPA in the first semester. It was also found that first semester GPA was a good predictor of retention and student progression. Now, this is not surprising. What is important, is that individual differences in students’ knowledge monitoring accuracy was correlated with student GPA. Further, knowledge monitoring accuracy increased following a semester of simple training.

This article is accessible from the following links:

http://nrmera.org/researcher.html

http://nrmera.org/PDF/Researcher/Researcherv26n1Beziat_et%20al.pdf

The effects of distraction on metacognition and metacognition on distraction

Beaman CP, Hanczakowski M and Jones DM (2014) The effects of distraction on metacognition and metacognition on distraction: evidence from recognition memory. Front. Psychol. 5:439. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00439

http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00439/abstract (open source full text)

According to the authors (p. 11), “The results documented in our study with free-report tests also reveal that effects of distraction do not end with impairing memory processes. Auditory distraction has important consequences for how accurate people are in monitoring their memory processes, as revealed by impaired resolution of confidence judgments under distraction. Even more importantly, auditory distraction modifies metacognitive control and thus shapes performance when the “don’t know”option is available in a memory test. Participants seem to be aware that auditory distraction is harmful for memory as they become much less confident in their correct responses when distraction is present (see also Ellermeier and Zimmer, 1997; Beaman, 2005b).

Metacognition distinguishes Good from Great Learners

In the thought-provoking blog post, Why Good Students Do “Bad” in College: Impactful Insights by Leonard Geddes, he discusses why a large percent of good students in college do not live up to their potential. In this post, he makes the statement that “metacognition is where good students and great learners differ most. In fact, research shows that students who are not metacognitively aware will struggle in college (Caverly D.C., 2009).” He goes on to share a couple great resources to help students develop their metacognitive abilities.

Are Current Metacognition Measures Missing the Target?

by Chris Was, Kent State University

Clearly, there is some agreement as to what metacognition is, or how to define it. In layman’s terms we often hear metacognition described as “thinking about thinking.” It is often defined as knowledge of and control of one’s cognitive processes.

There is also agreement that metacognition is necessary for one to successfully learn from instruction. Models such as Nelson and Naren’s (1990) model and that presented by Tobias and Everson (2009) stress the importance of knowledge of one’s state of knowledge as a key to learning.

In laboratory settings we have a number of “measures” of metacognition. Judgments of knowing, judgments of learning, feelings of knowing, etc. are all research paradigms used to understand individuals’ ability to assess and monitor their knowledge. These measures are demonstrated to predict differences in study strategies, learning outcomes and host of other performance measures. However, individuals in a laboratory do not have the same pressures, needs, motivations, and desires as a student preparing for an exam.

How do we measure differences in students’ ability to monitor their knowledge so that we can help those who need to improve their metacognition? Not in the lab, but in the classroom. Although much of the research I have conducted with colleagues in metacognition has included attempts to both measure and increase metacognition in the college classroom (e.g., Isaacson & Was, 2010, Was, Beziat, & Isaacson, 2014), I am not convinced that we have always successfully measured these differences.

Simple measures of metacognitive knowledge monitoring administered at the beginning of a semester long course account for significant amounts of variance in end of the semester cumulative final exams (e.g,, Hartwig, Was, Dunlosky & Isaacson, 2013). However, the amount of the variance for which metacognitive knowledge monitoring in the models accounts is typically less than 15% and often much less. If knowledge monitoring is key to learning why then is it the case that it accounts for so little variance in measures of academic performance? Are the measures of knowledge monitoring inaccurate? Do scores on a final exam depend upon the life circumstances of the student during the semester? The answer to both questions is likely yes. But even more important, it could be that students are aware that their metacognitive monitoring is inaccurate and they therefore use other criteria to predict their academic performance.

The debate over whether the unskilled are unaware continues (cf. Krueger & Dunning, 2009; Miller & Geraci, 2011). Krueger and Dunning have provided evidence that poor academic performers carry a double burden. First, they are unskilled. Put differently, they lack the knowledge or skill to perform well. Second, they are unaware. That is, they do not know they lack the knowledge or skill and therefore have a tendency to be overconfident when predicting future performance.

There is however, a good deal of evidence that low-performing students are aware that when they are asked to predict how they will perform on an examination their predictions are overconfident. When asked to predict how well they will do on a test, the lowest performing students often predict scores well above how they eventually perform, but when asked how confident they are about their predictions these low performing students often report little confidence in their predictions.

So why does a poor performing student predict that they will perform well on an exam, when they are not confident in that prediction? Interestingly, my colleagues and I have (as have others) collected data that demonstrates that many students scoring near or above the class average under-predict their scores, and are just as uncertain as to what their actual scores will be.

An area we are beginning to explore is the relationship between ego-protection mechanisms and metacognition. As I stated earlier, students in a course, be it k-12, post-secondary or even adult education, are dealing with demands of the course, their goals in the course and the instructors goals, their attributes of success and failure in the course, and a multitude of other personal issues that may influence their performance predictions. The following is an anecdotal example from a student of mine. After several exams (in one of my undergraduate courses I administer 12 exams a semester plus a final exam) which students were required to predict their test scores, I asked a student why she consistently predicted her score to be 5 – 10 points lower then the grade she would receive. “Because when I do better than I predict, I feel good about my grade,” was her response.

My argument is that to examine metacognition of our students or to try to improve the metacognition of our students in isolation, without attempting to understand the other factors (e.g., motivation) that impact students’ perceptions of their knowledge and future performance, we are not likely to be successful in our attempts.

Isaacson, R., & Was, C. A. (2010). Believing you’re correct vs. knowing you’re correct: A significant difference? The Researcher, 23(1), 1-12.

Krueger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1121-1134.

Miller, T. M., & Geraci, L. (2011). Unskilled but aware: reinterpreting overconfidence in low-performing students. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory, and Cognition, doi:10.1037/a0021802

Nelson, T. O., & Narens, L. (1990). Metamemory: A theoretical framework and some new findings. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 26, pp. 125–173). New York: Academic Press.

Tobias, S., & Everson, H. (2009). The importance of knowing what you know: A knowledge monitoring framework for studying metacognition in education. In D. J. Hacker, J. Dunlosky, & A. C. Graesser (Eds.), Handbook of Metacognition in Education. (pp. 107-128). New York, NY: Routledge.
Beziat, T. R. L., Was, C. A., & Isaacson, R. M. (2014). Knowledge monitoring accuracy and college success of underprepared students. The Researcher, 26(1), 8-13.

What do we mean when we say “Improve with metacognition”? (Part Two)

by John Draeger (SUNY Buffalo State) and Lauren Scharff (U.S. Air Force Academy*)

The nature and many benefits of metacognition might seem obvious to those of us working in the field. But because our casual conversations had revealed some “fuzziness” in how the term was interpreted, we asked a convenience sample at our institutions (30 faculty and 11 students) what they believe the term ‘metacognition’ means and why it might be important. As summarized in Part I of this two-part exploration, most respondents offered “thinking about thinking” as a rough shorthand for the meaning of metacognitive processes. Beyond that general response, many faculty offered refinements that we grouped into the categories of awareness, intentionality and understanding. While that conversation is ongoing, this week’s post will focus on responses to the second question in our “survey”, “why might it be important for students and instructors to know about metacognition and perhaps incorporate it in their classes?”

When considering the benefits, the majority of our respondents affirmed importance of metacognition in academic settings. In particular, metacognition was reported to be beneficial because it “improves student learning” and “improves teaching.” As in our last post, where we argued that, while defining ‘metacognition’ as “thinking about thinking” can be a helpful way to get the conversation started but is too simplistic, the goal in this post also is to move toward more useful refinements.

Refinements to “improved student learning” can be grouped into two categories:

(1) Metacognition improves student learning by increasing efficiency and prompting students to take ownership of their own learning

“As a student, if you can understand how you think and learn, then you can more easily choose the method that will work for you.”
Metacognition can “help [students] create strategies to enhance their study of new concepts to increase their retention of the concepts.”
“I can study faster and more efficiently …”

“Metacognition forces students to take positive control of their own development. Much like the first step to getting your finances in order is to see where your money is going, metacognitive questions help a learner assess whether s/he has actually increased his/her level of understanding or knowledge.”
“…they [learners] become more independent in their learning…”

(2) Metacognition increases the depth of learning engagement with material and supports critical thinking

“By reflecting on our understanding we’re more likely to improve that understanding and make connections between bodies of knowledge.”
“…figuring out why the wrong answers (and the reasoning behind them) are wrong. This is often more important than getting the right answer. It is by repairing errors in our thinking that we learn surprising things we didn’t know we were ignorant about…”
“[Metacognition is] an important step in the critical thinking process. If I am not aware of how I am thinking about something, the context, the role and the perspective, then it is difficult to think critically”
“The issue is being able to use critical-thinking skills to sift through the mass of information to develop appropriate conclusions, theses, etc. Metacognition enables us to analyze how we’re doing this and thus, do it better.”
“If we can get students to think about thinking, their own and others, it will help them to be better thinkers. It might also encourage them to be more slow, careful and deliberate in their thinking / writing / speaking.”

Refinements to “improves teaching” can be grouped into two categories:

(1) The more instructors understand about their students’ learning processes and are aware of their state of learning, the more then they can adapt to the needs of their students.

“I also have to be able to teach in different ways for people who learn differently than me, and have an idea how they learn”
“…helps us [instructors] structure our teaching to best support student learning”
“It’s important as instructors because if we understand how our cadets [students] think, we can tweak our teaching methods appropriately. “
“Because the more aware that students and teachers are about how each other thinks and learns, the more effective classroom learning techniques can be.”

(2) The more instructors communicate about metacognition, the better they can help students become better learners.

“…if professors and students communicate about metacognition it can allow the instructors to use every resource available to them to better convey information to the students.”
“…It’s one thing to be aware of how you learn something or think through complex issues. However, even better is to have the ability to identify which processes are most effective for you. Metacognition becomes important when it informs us about how to improve, how to be more efficient, and how to “sift the wheat from the chaff,” so to speak… This self-awareness is not always obvious to a student and thus is most likely enhanced when facilitated by faculty members…”

In conclusion, both teaching and learning are dynamic processes that interact with each other. Thus, we must continue to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances of our current students’ state of learning and help them do so also. Because instructors are not ever-present in students’ lives, our ultimate goal as instructors should be to help develop independent learners.

Metacognition can play a crucial role in both teaching and learning because it prompts us to be “tuned into” these dynamic processes and because it reminds us to be on the lookout for ways to improve and promote deep, life-long learning. These goals are especially important given recently reported shortcomings in higher-education (e.g. Arum & Roksa, 2011). Students need to know how to think critically and communicate well. The term ‘metacognition’ can be understood in a variety of ways and there are many benefits to metacognition. However, they boil down to supporting deep learning goals (beyond mere memorization) and critical thinking at a time when students in higher-education need it most.

References:

Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

* Disclaimer: The views expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U. S. Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U. S. Govt.

What do we mean when we say “Improve with metacognition”? (Part One)

by Lauren Scharff (U.S. Air Force Academy*) and John Draeger (SUNY Buffalo State)

This website is being built to help instructors, students, and researchers improve with metacognition. We and many others are convinced that the use of metacognition has many benefits. Yet, in conversations between ourselves and others, we realize that, while the term ‘metacognition’ is used widely and its usage is growing, it is potentially used differently by students, instructors, and researchers within and across institutions. To get a sense of how the term is being used, we gave an informal survey to a convenience sample of faculty and students at our institutions. A self-selecting group of volunteers (30 faculty and 11 students) provided quick thoughts on what they believe is meant by the term ‘metacognition’ and why they believe metacognition is important. This post will focus on some perceptions of metacognition and next week’s post will focus on some of its perceived benefits.

When asked “what is metacognition?,” the majority of student and faculty respondents answered “thinking about thinking.” While this response captures the essence of the topic, it is also fairly cliché and too vague to be useful by itself. It signals, for example, an intentional and conscious effort (thinking) about a process (thinking). It is unsatisfying in itself because it does not say enough about what is meant by thinking. Thus, it would be difficult for someone to use if wanting to implement metacognitive practices.

For the majority of the faculty, the response of ‘thinking about thinking’ was the opening shorthand for further elaboration. Refinements to “thinking about thinking” often fell into three broad categories. In particular, metacognition might involve:

(1) an awareness of how problems are set up, how ideas are worked through and which learning strategies seem most effective.

“…an awareness of one’s own thinking and decision-making processes.”

“…being aware of how you most effectively learn something or think through complex issues.”

“…recognizing how he/she learns.”

(2) some level of intentionality or purposeful choosing of a learning strategy. Even if it turns out not to work well, students are exhibiting metacognition when they make a conscious decision about how to approach a learning task (e.g., how to study, solve a problem, make a decision).

“…ability to regulate (or choose) the best cognitive process for solving a problem or engaging a task.”

“…taking time to figure out how we best learn, remember, and use information.”

(3) Understanding or developing an understanding of processes related to thinking and learning

“Metacognition is the process of understanding our own thinking, including capabilities, limitations, biases.”

“…an understanding of how we learn and incorporate new knowledge.”

“…getting a student to think about why they hold a certain point of view, how did they come to hold that point of view.”

For students, ‘thinking about thinking’ was all that most could say about metacognition, with more than half of the students responding that they had no idea at all. Only one student gave a more elaborate answer:

“It is being aware of the thought process that goes on inside one’s own mind, and being able to understand how one thinks and makes decisions”

As instructors who might try to or who are currently incorporating metacognitive practices into our courses, we should remember that the vast majority of our students are likely to have either no concept of metacognition or only a superficial understanding of it. Thus, we must be as explicit as we can about what we mean by the term and what precisely we are aiming for when we teach metacognition. By going beyond the simple definition of “thinking about thinking,” we will be able to better develop specific behaviors related to effective learning.

However, rather than choosing to focus on just one of the three categories of refinements as if they were interchangeable, we believe that each of the refinement categories offers distinct contributions to our ability to understand and develop metacognition. Awareness is not the same as understanding; without understanding, one may choose less appropriate learning strategies. On the other hand, one can technically understand aspects of learning without being aware of one’s own learning processes, which is also likely to lead to less effective choice of strategies. Finally, a student’s intentional choice does not guarantee learning effectiveness, but using learning techniques out of convenience or ignorance of alternate strategies is even less likely to consistently lead to success.

In sum, while ‘metacognition’ encompasses a relatively complex set of processes, the quick shorthand offered by many of our participants, “thinking about thinking,” gets us going in a useful direction. If we also consider the various refinements offered, then ‘thinking about thinking’ might be approximated as “intentional awareness to achieve understanding about a process, such as learning, in order to enhance the development of that process.”

Next week we will explore reasons why it might be important for faculty and students to learn about and begin to incorporate and practice metacognition within academic settings.