Category: Resources

Advancing Task Involvement, Intrinsic Motivation and Metacognitive Regulation in Physical Education Classes: The Self-Check Style of Teaching Makes a Difference

In a metacognitive field study, Papaioannou, Theodosiou, Pashali, and Digeelidis (2012) found that having 6th grade students use metacognitive techniques (self-check) significantly improved several mastery oriented variables over that of a practice technique in a physical education course. For more information about the article, please see the reference below.

Papaioannou, A., Theodosiou, A., Pashali, M., & Digelidis, N. (2012). Advancing task involvement, intrinsic motivation and metacognitive regulation in physical education classes: the self-check style of teaching makes a difference. Advances in Physical Education, 2(03), 110-118.


A review of research on metacognition in science education: current and future directions

In an extremely comprehensive meta-analytic review, Zohare and Barsilai (2013) analyzed 178 studies of metacognition in science education (mainly K-12). They identified several key trends and made suggestions for future research. One of their findings was that the use of metacognitive cues was the most common metacognitive intervention for learning science content.  For more information, please see the reference below.

Zohar, A., & Barzilai, S. (2013). A review of research on metacognition in science education: Current and future directions. Studies in Science Education, 49(2), 121-169. doi:10.1080/03057267.2013.847261


“Clickers” and metacognition: A quasi-experimental comparative study about metacognitive self-regulation and use of electronic feedback devices

In this quasi-experimental study by Brady, Seli, and Rosenthal (2013), the authors demonstrated that through the use of “clickers” they could increase metacognition and exam performance. For more information please see the reference below.

Brady, M., Seli, H., & Rosenthal, J. (2013). “Clickers” and metacognition: A quasi-experimental comparative study about metacognitive self-regulation and use of electronic feedback devices. Computers & Education, 65, 56-63. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2013.02.001


How do students really study (and does it matter)?

In this article by Regan Gurung (2005), he investigated specific study techniques and how they correlated with academic performance (exam scores). Not surprisingly, Gurung found that effective study techniques (i.e., elaboration) were positively correlated with performance, while ineffective study techniques (i.e., listening to music) were negatively correlated withe academic performance. For the full article, see reference and hyperlink below.

Gurung, R. A. (2005). How do students really study (and does it matter)?. Education, 39, 323-340.


The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire

The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was developed by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, and McKeachie (1993). This measure has been cited in over 1600 articles and is a very well established measure of not only metacognition, but motivation. The MSLQ is split into two main scales. The Motivation Scale is comprised of the Intrinsic Goal Orientation, Extrinsic Goal Orientation, Task Value, Control of Learning Beliefs, Self-Efficacy for Learning and Performance, and Test Anxiety sub-scales. the Learning Strategies Scale is comprised of the Rehearsal, Elaboration, Organization, Critical Thinking, Metacognitive Self-Regulation, Time and Study Environment, Effort Regulation, Peer Learning, and Help Seeking sub-scales. For more information on the MSLQ please refer to the reference and hyperlink below.

Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A., García, T., & McKeachie, W. J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53(3), 801-813.


The Need for Cognition Scale

A classic personality measure of metacognition was developed by John Cacioppo and Richard Petty (1982) entitled, The Need for Cognition Scale (NCS). This is a widely used 18-item Likert scale that assesses “the tendency for an individual to engage in and enjoy thinking” (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982, p. 116). The NCS has been cited in over 3000 articles and has well established psychometric properties. For more information please read the original article by Cacioppo and Petty (1982).

Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42(1), 116.

 


The Memory Self-Efficacy Questionnaire

Berry and colleagues (1989) developed the Memory Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (MSEQ). This metacognitive measure is a cross between a self-report and actual measure of metacognition. It requires respondents to rate their confidence of remembering grocery lists, phone numbers, pictures, locations, words, and digit span. Essentially, in the MSEQ, respondents are given up to 10 pictures (or grocery items), then they are asked how confident they are in remembering 2 items, then 4 items, then 6 items, then 8 items, then all 10 items. It has been found to be both reliable and valid in many populations. For more information check out the original article by Berry et al. (1989).

Berry, J. M., West, R. L., & Dennehey, D. M. (1989). Reliability and validity of the Memory Self-Efficacy Questionnaire. Developmental Psychology, 25(5), 701.


Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI): The 5 Perspectives

There are a lot of free surveys/inventories “out there” for all sorts of things, most often related to some aspect of personality. If you use them in a reflective manner, they can help you better understand yourself – your . The TPI (also free) offers a chance for you to reflect on your teaching perspectives (one aspect of metacognitive instruction). The TPI suggests 5 perspectives: Transmission, Apprenticeship, Developmental, Nurturing, and Social Reform.

http://www.teachingperspectives.com/tpi/


The Teaching Learning Group at CSUN

Two years ago, eight faculty at California State University, Northridge, began studying how people learn as a grassroots effort to increase student success by focusing on what instructors do in the classroom. Our website shares our efforts, Five Gears for Activating Learning, as well as supporting resources and projects developed to date (e.g., documents, videos, and a yearlong Faculty Learning Community in progress). Although all five gears interact when people learn and develop expertise, our fifth gear, the Developing Mastery gear, focuses on assisting students in developing their metacognitive skills.

http://www.csun.edu/cielo/teaching-learning-group.html


The Six Hour D… And How to Avoid It

This great essay by Russ Dewey (1997) evolved from a handout he used to give his students. He shares some common examples of poor study strategies and explains why they are unlikely to lead to deep learning (even if they are used for 6 hours…). He then shares a simple metacognitive self-testing strategy that could be tailored for courses across the disciplines.

http://www.psywww.com/discuss/chap00/6hourd.htm


Making Thinking Visible

Ritchhart, R., Church, M., and Morrison, K. (2011). Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement, understanding, and independence for all learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

In Making Thinking Visible, the authors propose that we must make our students’ thinking visible in order to create places of intellectual stimulation.   To do this, the authors suggest first determining which modes of thinking are necessary for our disciplines or courses.  Then, through a series of research-based thinking routines, we can scaffold and support the development of individuals who can think, plan, create, question, and engage independently as learners.  If you are looking for both inspiration and pragmatic strategies, this book offers ideas that can be applicable to all educational settings and audiences.


Using metacognitive writing assignments to improve course performance

Mynlieff, Manogaran, St. Maurice, and Eddinger discuss the use of metacognitive writing exercises in large biology classes. Students were asked to explicitly consider why they made mistakes on exams and discuss why another answer would have been more appropriate. Students completing these assignments showed marked improvement in subsequent course assessments.

Mynlieff, M., Manogaran, A. L., Maurice, M. S., & Eddinger, T. J. (2014). Writing Assignments with a Metacognitive Component Enhance Learning in a Large Introductory Biology Course. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 13(2), 311-321.

 


Assessing Metacognitive Awareness

Constructed by Rayne Sperling and Gregory Schraw (1994), the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) is a well established and useful assessment of metacogntion. The MAI has been used in hundreds of studies, ranging from basic to applied research. It is a 52-item inventory with two broad categories (i.e., knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition), with several sub-categories.

Schraw, G., & Dennison, R. S. (1994). Assessing metacognitive awareness.Contemporary educational psychology, 19(4), 460-475.

 


The Effects of Metacognition and Concrete Encoding Strategies on Depth of Understanding in Educational Psychology

Suzanne Schellenberg, Meiko Negishi, and Paul Eggen (2011) from the University of North Florida describe a useful method to increase the metacognition of their students. They found that when educational psychology students were taught specific encoding strategies they academically outperformed a control group in learning course material.

Schellenberg, S., Negishi, M., & Eggen, P. (2011). The Effects of Metacognition and Concrete Encoding Strategies on Depth of Understanding in Educational Psychology. Teaching Educational Psychology, 7(2), 17-24.


Changing Epistemological Beliefs in Pre-service Teacher Education Students

Joanne Brownlee, Nola Purdie, and Gillian Boulton-Lewis (2010) describe an interesting method to increase student’s epistemological beliefs using reflective journal assignments. Brownlee and colleagues found that when students engaged in these reflective practices, they had significantly improved their epistemological beliefs over that of students who did not complete these activities.

Brownlee, J., Purdie, N., & Boulton-Lewis, G. (2001). Changing epistemological beliefs in pre-service teacher education students. Teaching in higher Education,6(2), 247-268.


Promoting Student Metacognition

by Kimberly D. Tanner

This article starts out with two student scenarios with which many faculty will easily resonate (one student with poor and one with good learning skills), and which help make the case for the need to incorporate metacognitive development in college courses. Kimberly then shares some activities and a very comprehensive list of questions that instructors might ask students to answer regarding the planning, monitoring and evaluating of their own learning. While Kimberly makes a point of teaching metacognition within the disciplines, these questions are all generic enough to be used in any discipline. Of note in this article, there is a section that discusses metacognitive instruction, and includes a series of questions that faculty should ask of themselves as they plan, monitor and evaluate their teaching.

CBE—Life Sciences Education; Vol. 11, 113–120, Summer 2012

https://www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10.1187/cbe.12-03-0033


Teaching Metacognition to Improve Student Learning

By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD; published in Teaching Professor Blog October 31, 2012

This blog post offers suggestions for manageable approaches to getting students started in metacognitive types of reflection. Her suggestions are modifications of some shared by Kimberly Tanner in her article on “Promoting Student Metacognition”. Maryellen also astutely points out that, “When you start asking questions about learning, I wouldn’t expect students to greet the activity with lots of enthusiasm. Many of them believe learning is a function of natural ability and not something they can do much about. Others just haven’t paid attention to how they learn.”

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/teaching-metacognition-to-improve-student-learning/


Promoting general metacognitive awareness

This informative article by Gregory Schraw begins with a distinction between knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition (lots of great references included), continues with a a discussion of generalization and a summary of some additional research that examines the relationship between metacognition and expertise (cognitive abilities), and finishes with several strategies that instructors can use to develop both metacognitive awareness and regulation.

http://wiki.biologyscholars.org/@api/deki/files/87/=schraw1998-meta.pdf 


Webinar Slides: From ‘Student’ to ‘Informed Consumer’ of Learning

by Ed Nuhfer and Karl Wirth

http://www.calstate.edu/itl/documents/ITLFeb72014EN_KW_final.pdf

This very informative and useful set of webinar slides (supported by the CSU Institute for Teaching and Learning) starts with a discussion of metadisciplines, pointing out that “A realization that arises from becoming educated: every metadiscipline offers a valuable way of knowing.” Following that, the presenters discuss three types of learning (knowing, skills and reasoning), and assert that “Ideally, a curricula should help students become mindful of how to distinguish the three and how to learn all three effectively.” They present data showing that most courses in reality emphasize knowledge, followed by skills, and have very little emphasis on developing reasoning. They then propose that metacognition is a means by which to help develop reasoning, and share some specific metacognitive tools and some data that indicate the usefulness of incorporating these tools into our courses.