The Role of Metacognition in Teaching Geoscience
An awareness of the learning process can improve learning dramatically (e.g. How People Learn, NRC 2000). Yet students are rarely taught how to develop this awareness. We can help our students to improve their learning by incorporating metacognition into our courses: by having them think about their thinking and by helping them to become aware of and monitor their learning strategies.
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Hide A Carleton College geology student thinking through deformation history on a trip to Baraboo, Wisconsin. Photo by Tim Vick; used with permission.
Resources for Teaching Metacognition in the Geosciences
- This brief introduction defines metacognition and related terms and describes the results of research on the teaching and learning of metacognition in the context of science courses.
- Teaching metacognition summarizes some of the recent research on teaching and learning metacognitive behaviors and describes some effective, easily incorporated teaching activities.
- We have a collection of teaching activities that focus on or include the teaching of metacognitive skills. If you have a teaching activity that incorporates metacognition, please share it.
- Strategies for teaching metacognition can provide ideas to incorporate metacognitive tactics into your classroom.
- Browse our reference collection on metacognition, which has an emphasis on relating metacognition to learning geoscience.
- Dexter Perkins and Karl Wirth convened two sessions at the 2009 GSA annual meeting on fostering the development of metacognition and self-regulation. Most of the presentations are available here: 2009 GSA session on metacognition.
Workshop on the Role of Metacognition in Teaching Geoscience
A workshop on the role of metacognition in teaching geoscience was held at Carleton College, in Northfield, MN, in November, 2008. The workshop program page contains PowerPoint files, suggested teaching strategies and links to working group pages. You can also find essays about metacognition submitted by workshop participants.
Metacognition Email List
Share insight, ask questions or network with other faculty who are engaged in teaching metacognition in the context of geoscience courses.
- Subscribe to the metacognition email list.
- Read the email list archives.
