Metacognition Group 4: Central NM, Delgado, El Paso, Fletcher

Considering our discussion about metacognition in Activity 4, the videos, Self-Regulated Learner website, slides, Tanner's article, and/or other resources, write a response to ONE (1) or more of these questions.

  • What is something you currently do to incorporate metacognition in your courses? Do you have evidence that indicate it's been successful? Any suggestions for others who might want to implement something similar?
  • What are some (new) ways you might apply metacognition in one or more of your courses?
  • What more do you want to know?


« Activity 5 Discussions

Metacognition Group 4: Central NM, Delgado, El Paso, Fletcher  

Melanie Will-Cole (CNM)Post:
I really enjoyed learning about metacognition. From viewing the videos, ppt presentation and reading Kimberley Tanner’s article I realized that I currently use metacognition in my courses, I just did not have a formal name for it. For example, after an exam I ask students to write down how much time they spent studding for the exam and to summarize the methods that they used to study/learn the material. Over the past few years I have analyzed the student responses (temporal & study methods data) and what I discovered was very interesting:
(1).Students who spent large amounts of time studding were not necessarily the ones who achieved the highest exam grade.
(2).There was a positive correlation between specific study methods and high grades.

This particular course was a problem –based geoscience class, and from student response survey it was clear that the students who stated that they studied the material to not only make sure that they understood the technical concept but also that they spent time practicing the concept via reviewing the class homework assignments were the students who were able to apply these concepts to new geoscience problem-based scenarios on the exam. Last semester I spent part of a class period discussing these results and in a class discussion the students reflected on their study strategies and I asked them to note if their study methods were congruent with their learning style. The result was that most students were simply trying to memorize the material, hence they were not able to apply the concepts to the test problems, esp. new problems. To help them to employ study methods that were better suited to their learning style I had them reflect on how they learned new things/concepts. For example I gave them the example problem of “how to change a tire on a car”. It was interesting to note that not a single student stated that they memorized a passage from a book or video. Most of the students stated that they discussed the “how to do this” with a friend(s) (similar to a study group), then examined the situation (visual) and finally just got to business and actively attempted to perform the task (kinesthetic, practice). This was sort of a simple ad hoc demonstration to illustrate to students that they must first understand how they learn, then they must strategize methods of study that positively support their particular learning style. I was pleased to see that most of the students were appreciative of this discussion as it allowed then to think about their study methods and to understand the importance of utilizing study methods that positively support their learning style.

Over the past few years I have tried to apply strategies in my class that improve the student’s metacognition abilities. Select examples that I have used:
(1).When we review homework assignments in class, I have the students reflect on their answers and identify what they did incorrectly and how this should be corrected. This allows my students to recognize what they do not understand so that it can be corrected
(2).During the course of a topic lesson I try to provide the students opportunities to reflect on the coursework and to practice connecting their prior understandings learned in the course with the new concepts that are being presented. This usually turns into an energetic class discussion. Although in some cases I have found that students are reluctant to verbalize their answers during the class discussion as they are fearful of voicing out loud incorrect answers. I try to reinforce to the students that we learn by making mistakes, the important thing is to think about and learn from our mistakes.
(3).At the end of a lesson I ask the students to write down 2 or 3 key concepts/ideas from the lesson and to state what was confusing or not understandable about the lesson content. I review the comments and create a clarification discussion at the beginning of the next lesson. My students really seem to resonate with this strategy.

I am very interested to learn more about other strategies that would be useful to improve students’ metacognition abilities.

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What are some (new) ways you might apply metacognition in one or more of your courses?

I learned a lot about metacognition by watching the video, reading through the SAGE resources and reading the article by Kimberely Tanner. After learning more about the subject, there are definitely a few metacognitive techniques that I would like to employ in my classroom going forward.

First, there were several exercises in self-reflection that I found may be useful for my students. For example, in going through the SAGE resources, I found the use of reading reflections to be an exciting way to really engage my students in the topics their reading about. As an online instructor, I assign a lot of reading from the textbook and I have gotten feedback from students to suggest that they have issues delving into the material through their textbook readings. Incorporating reading reflections may be a useful way to ensure that they are not only reading the material, but also analyzing and critically thinking about what they just read. I believe I can accomplish such self-regulated learning by giving them initial and final prompts that pose "KWLH" questions (what did you already KNOW about the topic, WHAT did you learn from the reading, what would you like to LEARN more about, and what HELPED you to learn the material).

Second, I really liked the concept of the "Muddiest Point" and "Retrospective Postassessments" (e.g. exam wrappers) outlined in Kimberely Tanner's article. The muddiest point activity would be a simple, yet effective, way to allow students to reflect weekly about which concepts they were having the most trouble with so that I could address any confusions they may have at the start of the following week. Such activities should help students think about their thinking and it will give every student an opportunity to address problem areas, including students who typically are not comfortable with speaking up in class.

I look forward to hearing what everyone else thought about metacognition and to learning more about metacognitive strategies.

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1) I heavily use the process of illustration in my courses and encourage my students to use as well as create illustrations while they are studying. I give them tips on how to study with illustrations and during lecture I require them to draw everything that I draw on my tablet which is displayed on the projector screen. I started emphasizing illustrations as an action research project that addressed the issue of student memory retention. All of my research on memory led me into the direction of images and illustrations as the human brain has the innate nature to remember picture better than words or sentences. Therefore, I compared two intro biology courses, one with illustrations and one classical lecture, and the results indicated that students perform better on tests and quizzes when they are required to make their own illustrations. I have written this is an article if anyone would like to see it I would gladly share. Anyone that would like to implement the use of illustrations I would strongly recommend doing this through a tablet and projector rather than a chalkboard as the images are much more clear and easier to jump from one illustration to the next.

2)Reading through the information on metacognition as well as watching the videos has me working towards a question-based study tip guide that makes students more aware of their study habits and guides them into better study habits. This would ideally be passed out at the beginning of the semester and would be reinforced by exam wrappers that remind them about the study habits that they may or may not be changing. I would like to perform my own action research project with this technique and compare how students do with the metacognitive techniques incorporated vs. a control for traditional lecture.

3)I would love to hear about more action research projects or articles that have used different metacognition strategies so I can see how the data turns out when comparing to a traditional classroom.

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Originally Posted by Melanie Will-Cole


For example I gave them the example problem of “how to change a tire on a car”. It was interesting to note that not a single student stated that they memorized a passage from a book or video. Most of the students stated that they discussed the “how to do this” with a friend(s) (similar to a study group), then examined the situation (visual) and finally just got to business and actively attempted to perform the task (kinesthetic, practice). This was sort of a simple ad hoc demonstration to illustrate to students that they must first understand how they learn, then they must strategize methods of study that positively support their particular learning style. I was pleased to see that most of the students were appreciative of this discussion as it allowed then to think about their study methods and to understand the importance of utilizing study methods that positively support their learning style.



I am going to steal this idea. I hope students never get "tired" of it.

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What are some (new) ways you might apply metacognition in one or more of your courses?

I really liked the idea of the notebook. I have read and seen several approaches to this in science classrooms including the idea of an art portafolio which includes the main ideas discussed in the classroom/chapter/topic. I think that whether the information is drawn or written the process of putting it on paper is much more memorable than simply reading about the subject. For most of us in science there is usually a combination of sketches and written descriptions to accompany the explanation of a process or idea in our discipline. However, very rarely are students taught to do this other than copying it from the board. I think that the habit of illustrating a concept itself is metacognitive in nature since it can involve thinking about the best approach to show and understand the information being presented in an organized, concise and visual format. The main struggle I have had with implementing this is that I have not quite decided on how to assess it. As mentioned in the reading, it can be a time consuming effort and I certainly want to go through the work if I am asking for them to take the time to produce it. I also worry about less artistically inclined students feeling like the requirement is unnecessary or unfair to them.

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One thing I do in my classroom to incorporate metacognition is I ask the students to synthesize information and explain illustrations to their neighbors. I will generally put a figure up on the screen, and ask the student to turn to their neighbor, and using terminology, explain what is going on in the diagram. I will them put up a second figure to have the other person do the same back.

I haven't collected hard data on it, but when I started incorporating these methods, I noticed an increase in exam grades, and the students felt more comfortable with the information. One of the most important pieces of advice I was given when I was an undergrad is "there is a big difference between learning and memorizing". At the time, I didn't understand what the professor was telling me, but now that I am in a classroom myself, I get it. This method increases the science literacy and gets them teaching a subject to their peer. This is a really easy thing to implement, it is similar to a think, pair, share exercise!

I would like to incorporate the notebooks into my courses. That is an idea I have been toying around with for a long time, but didn't feel like I knew enough to actually implement it. I recognize that Geology is incredibly visual, and a fantastic way to study is through illustrations & writing. Also, those are great ways go get students to practice valid ways of scientific observation! I also recognize that this may require me to change my exams up as well. I have no issue with taking the time to grade essentially illustration essays, I've just always been nervous to implement it. I am grateful a sample rubric was given to us, that certainly will help guide me in developing this method for next semester!

I would really like to know how to incorporate these ideas for my online students. This is easy in a face to face setting, but I want to be sure my online students are getting the same experience. I'm sure there is a way to incorporate more metacognitive methods, other than just a discussion board, but I would love to see some examples.

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What are some (new) ways you might apply metacognition in one or more of your courses?

Metacognition is a new concept for myself. I have read about it, heard about it but never really sat down to understand the basis of the term. It is interesting. It makes me think of self or personal responsibility. Perhaps I have the term incorrect but YOU are looking at YOU and trying to improve yourself or at least evaluate yourself to better yourself. I enjoyed the video and the powerpoint. I have already taken a few of the slides from the powerpont (Study Cycle) and presented the concept to my students. I think it was an eye opener for them as well as myself.

I have used exam wrappers in the past but after this exercise will do this on a more regular basis.

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Originally Posted by Miguel Vasquez


1) I heavily use the process of illustration in my courses and encourage my students to use as well as create illustrations while they are studying. I give them tips on how to study with illustrations and during lecture I require them to draw everything that I draw on my tablet which is displayed on the projector screen. I started emphasizing illustrations as an action research project that addressed the issue of student memory retention. All of my research on memory led me into the direction of images and illustrations as the human brain has the innate nature to remember picture better than words or sentences. Therefore, I compared two intro biology courses, one with illustrations and one classical lecture, and the results indicated that students perform better on tests and quizzes when they are required to make their own illustrations. I have written this is an article if anyone would like to see it I would gladly share. Anyone that would like to implement the use of illustrations I would strongly recommend doing this through a tablet and projector rather than a chalkboard as the images are much more clear and easier to jump from one illustration to the next.

2)Reading through the information on metacognition as well as watching the videos has me working towards a question-based study tip guide that makes students more aware of their study habits and guides them into better study habits. This would ideally be passed out at the beginning of the semester and would be reinforced by exam wrappers that remind them about the study habits that they may or may not be changing. I would like to perform my own action research project with this technique and compare how students do with the metacognitive techniques incorporated vs. a control for traditional lecture.

3)I would love to hear about more action research projects or articles that have used different metacognition strategies so I can see how the data turns out when comparing to a traditional classroom.



comment from Melanie-Will-Cole
Hi Miguel,
I enjoyed reading your thread, and I really resonated with your ideas on using illustrations to enable student-learning. From your thread I assume you teach bio, correct? I teach in the physical science areas and I have found that having students draw pictures, diagrams and/or create graphical representations really helps them to understand complex concepts. For example in physical science classes drawing force vectors really helps students to understand mechanics. In the geoscience classes, I have students draw the plate boundaries (divergent, convergent and transform) both in plan-view and x-section. As an example, I ask students to draw and analyze the similarities and differences between 2 situations: the subduction of a young oceanic lithospheric plate vs. an old oceanic lithospheric plate subducting under a continental lithospheric plate. Through their illustrations they actually begin to understand the relationship between plate densities and the angle of the subducting plate with respect to the location of the volcanic features created on the overlying plate. From reading your comments I think I will try having my students draw their illustrations on tablets instead of their note-book papers, this might make the exercise not only clearer but also easy to modify. I also have my students come up to the white board in class and draw illustrations (graphs or simply images) that represent a technical concept we are discussing and I will continue to do this. I really feel that the drawings helps students learn, esp. since the majority of my students are visual and/or kinesthetic learners. The act of using and creating such visuals, (namely, illustrations, drawings diagrams and/or graphical representations of concepts) is congruent with their learning style, hence they seem to learn the material easier and faster, and they have fun in the process. Finally, I am fascinated by the evidence-based study you have performed focused on the use of illustrations to improve student learning. I would love to have a copy this can you provide this to me via email (Melanie.willcole@gmail.com)? Thank you for sharing your ideas, I have learned a lot for you!

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Originally Posted by Jacqueline Richard


One thing I do in my classroom to incorporate metacognition is I ask the students to synthesize information and explain illustrations to their neighbors. I will generally put a figure up on the screen, and ask the student to turn to their neighbor, and using terminology, explain what is going on in the diagram. I will them put up a second figure to have the other person do the same back.

I haven't collected hard data on it, but when I started incorporating these methods, I noticed an increase in exam grades, and the students felt more comfortable with the information. One of the most important pieces of advice I was given when I was an undergrad is "there is a big difference between learning and memorizing". At the time, I didn't understand what the professor was telling me, but now that I am in a classroom myself, I get it. This method increases the science literacy and gets them teaching a subject to their peer. This is a really easy thing to implement, it is similar to a think, pair, share exercise!

I would like to incorporate the notebooks into my courses. That is an idea I have been toying around with for a long time, but didn't feel like I knew enough to actually implement it. I recognize that Geology is incredibly visual, and a fantastic way to study is through illustrations & writing. Also, those are great ways go get students to practice valid ways of scientific observation! I also recognize that this may require me to change my exams up as well. I have no issue with taking the time to grade essentially illustration essays, I've just always been nervous to implement it. I am grateful a sample rubric was given to us, that certainly will help guide me in developing this method for next semester!

I would really like to know how to incorporate these ideas for my online students. This is easy in a face to face setting, but I want to be sure my online students are getting the same experience. I'm sure there is a way to incorporate more metacognitive methods, other than just a discussion board, but I would love to see some examples.



comment from Melanie Will-Cole (CNM)
Hi Jacqueline
Thank you for your thoughts on metacognition. I really like your idea of having students synthesize information and explain illustrations to their neighbors, i.e., "pair-share-illustration discussion". I will use this idea by displaying graphs of authentic experimental data and have the students communicate to one-another the concept or parameter relationships that are provided in the graphical illustration and have then relate this to the science concepts we are learning. I think this will help the students to not only understand the concept(s) at hand, but also help them to gain experience and confidence with observational analysis of data. Most importantly, it would also help them to “become better science communicators”. This is critical in STEM! Thank you for your thoughtful comments!

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Hi

As stated in previous threads, I've come to realize that I already incorporate some forms of metacognition concepts in my class activities, including think-pair share methods. I'm also a big proponent of using illustrations to interpret problems in physics classes, similar in spirit to Miguel's post. I always include points on some exam questions (for example, projectile motion and free body diagrams for force problems) to provide a diagram describing the information given in the worded question. I try to emphasize to students that doing this helps them 'see' what's going on. In previous years I have tried other reflection practices, such as a weekly "Reflection Paper" whereby students write up a page discussing, in their own words, what was covered that week. However, I found that many students did not take this too seriously and I am also at fault for not emphasizing the importance of the exercise. Also, in an effort to steer the focus away from rote memorization, I allow students to develop their own equation/formula sheet to bring to exams. My only constraint is no worked examples allowed. Some students take this very seriously and generate a full 2-page sheet by the end of the semester. Then there is the other extreme where students are filling in their sheet in the 5 minutes before the start of the exam. Hopefully, with some reflection (see below) this will become a natural exercise for students to complete prior to entering the exam room.

Over the past few weeks I've also become more and more interested in the exam wrapper exercise and I liked the section on the "Muddiest Point", as discussed in the article by Tanner. Having given the first midterm last week, I have already developed an exam wrapper for the coming week, which I will use in place of a traditional quiz question to encourage students to fully participate. [Thank you to the SAGE resources for providing a wrapper template. This is very helpful.] I think I will also start to introduce a Muddiest Point exercise once a week, for students to reflect on the topics and concepts introduced in class. This should allow me to adapt to student needs as the semester progresses.

Cheers
Leo

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What are some (new) ways you might apply metacognition in one or more of your courses?
Disclaimer: Please excuse any typos or grammar mistakes. I’ve had the flu this week and am not back to 100% yet.

The videos, presentation, and article were all very informative. I’ve never truly put any thought into metacognitive practices into my course. I am a firm believer of “The one who does is the one who learns.” I tell my students all the time that chemistry is not a subject that can not be memorized and must be put into practice. However, I have failed as an instructor to create a classroom environment that encourages self-regulated learning. One thing I will do is employ exam wrappers and think-share-pair. Students always voice their frustrations with understanding the material in lecture and performing well on sample tests, but not having that success translate to the tests. A deeper look into their learning methods will hopefully shed light on the disconnect. I am also looking into Test Enhanced Learning (Roediger and Karpicke) by providing multiple sample tests. This will help students to avoid memorization of study notes by working multiple problems and a better of understanding of what it is that they don’t know.

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What is something you currently do to incorporate metacognition in your courses?

One of the supplemental tools used in my human anatomy courses has a metacognitive component embedded in it, where it asks students to best respond to a question with answer awareness of "I know it", "I think I know it," I'm not sure," and "I have no idea about the correct response" to the question or topic. I'm not sure how helpful it is, as there are so many influences on student success in the course, but once I started EXPLAINING why and how to approach using this tool to the class, rather than just setting them free on the quizzes, I received a lot more positive feedback from students using this as a study tool.

I have tried exit tickets and other types of gauges of understanding in classes. One of the best things was the post-exam self reflection. I'd have students (after exam 1) indicate anonymously their time spent studying, sleep habits, hydration and food consumption the morning of the exam, how far in advance they prepared, and what study methods they used. After about 5 mins of reflection, I had them turn to a neighbor, and without having to reveal their exam performance, discuss study methods they had used that they felt were successful. At the end of another 5-10 min discussion, I asked them to call out what they felt were the best study tools, and I wrote them on the board for everyone to see/use. Then I would talk about the importance of adding the reflection on habits and content for the course to be able to be more self-aware during their preparation periods.

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Diondra,
I hope you recovered from the flu. I agree with your thoughts that the one who does is the one that learns. But I have also found that since I started this project I get as excited about making a student a better learner as I do about teaching them geology. I even agreed last semester to teach a study skills class that worked with students on study techniques, how to read text books, metacognition, stuyding for test, taking notes etc. So as you add some of your ideas you may reach a few of those students who will turn things around with what you show them.

Adrianne Leinbach (Cohort 1)

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Holly-
I find it interesting that you were most interested in one of the easiest ways and one of the most difficult ways to bring metacognition into your courses. I wonder if you have any ideas about how you might assess if these interventions were successful? What would you want to see change?
-Eric

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Originally Posted by Jacqueline Richard


One thing I do in my classroom to incorporate metacognition is I ask the students to synthesize information and explain illustrations to their neighbors. I will generally put a figure up on the screen, and ask the student to turn to their neighbor, and using terminology, explain what is going on in the diagram. I will them put up a second figure to have the other person do the same back.


Jaqueline- This is a great review technique! To make this more metacognitive and really get them to think about your thinking, I would encourage you push them to probe more than explaining it to someone else. For instance, to ask them how confident they are in their explanation or to evaluate their own study habits to determine if they worked enough to help them explain it. With metacognition, we really want them to critically analyze their own thinking and make plans to change what they are doing if it isn't working. What you are doing IS great - practicing recall is a very effective learning strategy! We need them to realize that so that they don't just "go over their notes" or some such thing.

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Originally Posted by Christie Landry


What is something you currently do to incorporate metacognition in your courses?

One of the supplemental tools used in my human anatomy courses has a metacognitive component embedded in it, where it asks students to best respond to a question with answer awareness of "I know it", "I think I know it," I'm not sure," and "I have no idea about the correct response" to the question or topic. I'm not sure how helpful it is, as there are so many influences on student success in the course, but once I started EXPLAINING why and how to approach using this tool to the class, rather than just setting them free on the quizzes, I received a lot more positive feedback from students using this as a study tool.


This is a great technique! Have you looked at how well their self-assessment of their responses matches their knowledge? To me, there is nothing worse than a student who doesn't know how little they know since then they can't do anything about it.

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Hi Melanie,

Sounds like you are already employing "exam wrappers" and using several other strategies to support student metacognition, as you said, even though you didn't know what "metacognition" was! Your examination of student reported data on study time and strategies seems like a great thing to share with your current students to help their learning and be more effective at studying. It also sounds like you do a fantastic job supporting student metacognitive behaviors by helping them reflect on their mistakes and understandings at various points.

It's also great that you brought up "learning styles". Although many of us have been taught that helping students make the most of their preferred learning style is a research-backed strategy, more recent research (2009 and on) definitively finds that "learning styles" are really learning preferences, and while most of us have preferred modes of instruction, molding instruction to our students' preferred modes is now known to NOT be helpful for their learning. A great, succinct summary of these findings with references is at: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/learning-styles-preferences/
However, by helping students practice concepts and applications in multiple ways likely was helpful.

I know learning styles are still being taught, and as stated in the linked summary, the idea sounds like it matches up with metacognition, but I think its important to distinguish the research base for the two.

Keep up the good work, and you've given me some ideas here to apply in my own teaching!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Holly,
It sounds like you've distilled out some great ideas to apply - the Muddiest point and Retrospective Postassessments especially don't take much instructor effort or work but provide mechanisms for students to give feedback and as you said, "help students think about their thinking". I think it's easy to get a little overwhelmed trying to introduce new teaching strategies associated with metacognition, but your ideas are ones that can be easily woven into what you're already doing. Getting feedback from students who don't speak up much in class through these strategies is a great insight!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Miguel,
I'm very interested in your work on illustrations as supporting student metacognition, and think you've hit on something really useful for your field. My understanding of research on how well humans learn from text vs. images has the most conclusive results for effective learning when text and images are combined (sometimes called dual coding theory; decent summary at https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/dual-coding/). I suspect that your work shows this effect really well! I'm also curious if you thought that student-generated illustrations would be as effective as your guided illustrations.

I too have been working on exam wrappers and study strategies with students, and for me, timing seems critical! Students seem most open after the first exam! I'll be curious to find out what you end up applying!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Adriana,

I too really like the idea of the notebook, but haven't yet made it work as well as I want too, although I often return to the "reflection questions" idea in which students first write about what they think and know before instruction and practice, and then return to it later and write about what they learned. I love your idea about including sketches! You're totally right about how mixing sketches and descriptions is what we do as experts, but how do students learn this skill?

Like you, I'm not convinced I have the best ideas on how to assess sketches. I try to get students to practice by either sketching along with me, or by trying to sketch something themselves first and then we collectively discuss elements of the "best" (most informative and correct, not necessarily artistically inspired!) sketches. But this is usually done in class. And I worry about students who feel less confident or perhaps are differently-abled and can't sketch with pencil and paper well. But you've got me thinking about trying again!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Jacqueline,

I agree with Melanie, great application here! I really like you explain the graph/figure think-pair-share strategy, and your insight that memorizing isn't learning!

I'm just starting to shift to blended and online courses, and am also curious about how to incorporate the same kind of experience into a asynchronous experience. Do you think there might be a way to have students write private posts/group discussion posts on this that might capture some of the postives? a whole-class discussion board doesn't seem the way to go.

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Tina,
Metacognition is kind of an odd concept: thinking about your own thinking, and I think it is strongly related to "self-efficacy" which I think has some of the flavor of "personal responsibiity", depending exactly on how you think of that. Perhaps one way to think about it is that learners must do the learning themselves, and as teachers we can support them by helping them reflect on their own learning and thinking and point them in productive directions. I'm curious if that is akin to your thoughts.

Both sharing the study cycle and doing more exam wrappers with students seem like great applications of metacognition. I'm interested in how you saw exam wrappers prior to your new knowledge and why you stopped (I have not always been consistent myself, but am trying to make more time!)

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Leo,

I can relate to your "reflection paper" struggles - I too have not yet found a way that seems to work well for actually assessing them, but am still working on it!

I think you've made great choices in focusing on the muddiest point activity and exam wrappers - I have found both to be really effective ways to get feedback from students on where they are at and helping them reflect on their understanding and study habits. Looking forward to hearing how these work for you in your physics courses.

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

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Hi Diondra,
Oh yuck, the flu! I hope you are recovering well!

I think you're being pretty hard on yourself :) For most of us, learning about metacognition, self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning is a real wake-up call for finding things we haven't been doing well - yet!

Your insight that there is a gap in students' view of their knowledge and their performance on exams is important, and seems like you've identified some areas that you can apply metacognitive strategies to help close that gap. Test-enhance learning, or the testing effect, or deliberate practice, supports the idea that any test-like condition supports later test performance. There are lots of ways to utilize deliberate practice, including low-stakes quizzes regularly in class, clicker questions, or online practice quizzes, so you needn't be limited to providing multiple sample tests. I know some instructors in chemistry and physics (and me in geology) try to give the hardest questions and problems in class, and not on exams, in environments that are low-stakes to students' grades and in which they can work together. Hope your new insight can help you forge new ways to help your students be more metacognitive!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

14251:43530

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Hi Christie,

Originally Posted by Eric Baer


[quote=Christie Landry]
What is something you currently do to incorporate metacognition in your courses?

One of the supplemental tools used in my human anatomy courses has a metacognitive component embedded in it, where it asks students to best respond to a question with answer awareness of "I know it", "I think I know it," I'm not sure," and "I have no idea about the correct response" to the question or topic. I'm not sure how helpful it is, as there are so many influences on student success in the course, but once I started EXPLAINING why and how to approach using this tool to the class, rather than just setting them free on the quizzes, I received a lot more positive feedback from students using this as a study tool.
[/quote]
This is a great technique! Have you looked at how well their self-assessment of their responses matches their knowledge? To me, there is nothing worse than a student who doesn't know how little they know since then they can't do anything about it.



I was going to say almost the say thing before I read Eric's response! One thing I haven't done with my exam wrappers but on reviewing the work on disconnect between students' percieved and actual performance, and how being confronted as a class with this disconnect, I want to add it for next semester!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

14251:43531

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Also, this discussion reminded me of a recent blog post, if you're interested, with a great image!


https://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/2020/02/24/looking-for-loopholes-and-ge...

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Originally Posted by Andrea Bair


Hi Christie,

[quote=Eric Baer]
[quote=Christie Landry]
What is something you currently do to incorporate metacognition in your courses?

One of the supplemental tools used in my human anatomy courses has a metacognitive component embedded in it, where it asks students to best respond to a question with answer awareness of "I know it", "I think I know it," I'm not sure," and "I have no idea about the correct response" to the question or topic. I'm not sure how helpful it is, as there are so many influences on student success in the course, but once I started EXPLAINING why and how to approach using this tool to the class, rather than just setting them free on the quizzes, I received a lot more positive feedback from students using this as a study tool.
[/quote]
This is a great technique! Have you looked at how well their self-assessment of their responses matches their knowledge? To me, there is nothing worse than a student who doesn't know how little they know since then they can't do anything about it.
[/quote]

I was going to say almost the say thing before I read Eric's response! One thing I haven't done with my exam wrappers but on reviewing the work on disconnect between students' percieved and actual performance, and how being confronted as a class with this disconnect, I want to add it for next semester!

Andrea (Peer Leader, Cohort 2 - Michigan)

14251:43532

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