Initial Ideas part of Interactions between Water, Earth’s Surface, and Human Activity
In this preparatory activity, students' initial ideas about the concepts to be covered in the module are collected and shared with the class. No attempt is made to correct any misconceptions at this point. ...

Count the Vowels part of Metacognition:Activities
Students are given a list of words and told to count the vowels and turn the sheet over. They are then asked to list the words. When they fail they discover how the words are arranged and find it easy to remember ...

Reading Reflections part of Metacognition:Activities
Reading reflections are submitted online each day before class and after completing a reading assignment. Three short questions guide the student to reflect more deeply on their understanding.

What Do You Know Now? part of Metacognition:Activities
An opportunity to offer metacognitive teaching arises from the simple question "what do you know now that you didn't before (whatever)"? This simple question can be asked after a reading, a lecture, a lab or other unit of student activity. The thrust is to force the student to consider what they've been exposed to and reflect on what they've learned. Did the activity change their opinion? Did this activity help them identify an analogy?

Challenging Pre-Conceptions part of Metacognition:Activities
Students carry into class pre-conceptions based on stories they've heard, articles they've read and experiences they've had. One of the best opportunities to teach metacognition is at a 'gotcha' moment when they come to realize their pre-conception is amiss.

Peer Instruction part of Metacognition:Activities
Peer instruction may offer some of the richest opportunities for metacognitive teaching. Reciprocal (peer) teaching forces the instructor to use a whole series of metacognitive processes such as determining what ...

Exam #1 part of Metacognition:Activities
The first exam in a class holds an opportunity for metacognitive teaching. At this point the student is open to hearing your message, especially if their outcome is less than they had hoped. This example walks through some strategies for implementing metacognitive teaching wrapped around the first exam.

Reflection After Exam #1 part of Metacognition:Activities
Students did poorly on the first exam, so I borrowed and modified this exercise. It is intended to get them to think about what THEY can do to improve performance on future exams. The original idea came from Marsha ...

Reflection on the process of science & geoscience part of Metacognition:Activities
This is an activity for early in the semester that asks student to reflect on their understanding of the process of science, participate in an activity about the process of science, and then re-reflect on their ...

The Role of Metacognition in Learning part of Metacognition
An awareness of the learning process improves learning, yet students are rarely taught how to develop this awareness. These webpages explore ways to help our students to improve their learning by incorporating metacognition into our geoscience courses: by having them think about their thinking and by helping them to become aware of and monitor their learning strategies.