I am fascinated by the field of metacognition. I am fascinated by this notion of ‘learning how to learn’ because I don’t think I really understood learning until I became a teacher. I know I didn’t understand the learning process and I know I didn’t truly know how to reflect and monitor my learning all through my elementary, secondary and undergraduate years. But once I got it, once I started truly thinking about how I was thinking and making adjustments and learning what worked – the lights came on!
Some other definitions of metacognition: thinking about thinking, thinking about learning, the process of thinking about how you learn and the ongoing monitoring of the processes you are using and the reflection of what is working and what isn’t
I have collected, what I feel are, the best resources on this topic including videos, short web page summaries, journal and research articles.
TedX: Dr. Derek Cabrera: How Thinking Works
16 minute video
Dr. Derek Cabrera is an internationally recognized expert in metacognition (thinking about thinking), epistemology (the study of knowledge), human and organizational learning, and education. He completed his PhD and post doctoral studies at Cornell University and served as faculty at Cornell and researcher at the Santa Fe Institute. He leads the Cabrera Research Lab, is the author of five books, numerous journal articles, and a US patent. Derek discovered DSRP Theory and in this talk he explains its benefits and the imperative for making it part of every students’ life
- Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUqRTWCdXt4
Metacognition Overview
4 screens of a website
Nancy Chick, Centre for Teaching, Assistant Director, Vanderbilt University
Outstanding article covering the following two parts, summarizing research in the field of metacognition and how you can put the research into practice in your own classroom.
- Thinking About One’s Thinking: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/pedagogical/metacognition/
- Putting Metacognition into Practice: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/pedagogical/metacognition/#practice
Teaching Metacognition
1 hour video of a conference presentation
Marsha C Lovett, Associate Research Professor
The top name that comes up when talking about how to teach metacognitive strategies to students. Marsha presented at the Educause Learning Initiative back in 2008 and the following items are related to her presentation. The best is to watch the video (first link) and follow along with your own copy of the presentation of the slides.
- Video of Presentation with PowerPoint Slides (1 hour) http://hosted4.mediasite.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=bfa453a3c59b417890afb389ca9b58531d
- PDF of Presentation (45 slides)
http://net.educause.edu/upload/presentations/eli081/fs03/metacognition-eli.pdf- Summary Webpage from Carleton University (1 screen webpage)
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/metacognition/teaching_metacognition.html 5
Teaching Metacognition to Improve Student Learning
1 page web page
Mary Ellen Weimer, Faculty Focus Article
Metacognition: Exploring Metacognitive Habits of Mind
website with various videos
Dr. Barrie Bennett, Associate Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/U Toronto)
- Work done with the Greater Essex County District School Board – teachers of grade 7/8 discussing how they use metacognition in the classroom. Many short videos for ease in viewing.
- Website: http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/literacy2/adolescent/metacognition.html
Metacognition and Student Learning
2 screen website article
James M. Lang
- January 17, 2012 Chronicle of Higher Education Article: http://chronicle.com/article/MetacognitionStudent/130327/
Transparency in Teaching: Faculty Share Data and Improve Students’ Learning
journal article
Mary-Ann Winkelmes
Superb work done on being more open with students about learning and the significant data that results from student learning when this is done
Liberal Education, Spring 2013, Vol. 99, No. 2
- Article: http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-sp13/winkelmes.cfm
- Summary of Research: Thriving in the Academe: Reflections on Helping Students Learn: http://www.teachingandlearning.illinois.edu/pdf/1301Advocate_PDF%281%29.pdf
- Research Website: http://www.unlv.edu/provost/teachingandlearning
Promoting Student Metacognition
8 page research article
Kimberly D. Tanner
- CBE – Life Sciences Education, Vol. 11, 113-120, Summer 2012
- PDF: http://www.lifescied.org/content/11/2/113.full.pdf
Seven Principles of Learning
page web page summary of a terrific book on how learning works
Carnegie Melon University, Various Researchers
- Website – Principles of Learning: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/principles/learning.html
- From the book “How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching”
How to Get the Most out of Studying
5 part video series, each about 7 minutes long
Stephen Chew, Psychology Professor, Samford University
Geared for students but highly informative for faculty. Please share with your students. Highly viewed set of videos that get positive results from many in field (full of research, valuable tips and easy to follow)
- Part 1: Beliefs That Make you Fail….or Succeed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH95h36NChI- Part 2: What Students Should Know About How People Learn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O7y7XEC66M- Part 3: Cognitive Principles for Optimizing Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xeHh5DnCIw- Part 4: Putting the Principles For Optimizing Learning into Practice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9GrOxhYZdQ- Part 5: I Blew The Exam….Now What?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVRiMkdRsU