EDU110 WK 3 - Metacognition

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

The ZPD is the set of skills or knowledge a student can't do on her own but can do with the help or guidance of someone else. It's the skill level just above where the student currently is ZPD is often depicted as a series of concentric circles. The smallest circle is the set of skills a student can learn on her own, without any help. Next is the ZPD, or skills a student wouldn't be able to do on her own, but can do with a teacher or peer helping her. Beyond that are skills the student can't do yet, even with help. The student's ZPD is reading and writing short words, and the teacher who helps him learn them is the scaffolding.

summarizing

condensing and integrating it deriving abstract representations of it or identifying suitable headings to label it -- doing so seems to facilitate learning and retention of the material many students have diff. adequately summarizing the things they read and hear we realize that developing a good summary is not an easy task at all: Students must discriminate b/w impt. and unimportant information, identify main ideas that may or may not be explicitly stated, and organize critical elements into a cohesive whole - in the classrooms, students must also have some sense of how they are going to be evaluated and tailor their summarizes to the evaluation criteria theorists have offered several suggestions for helping students create good summaries of classroom subject matter (pg. 364)

organization

*internal organization* - finding connections and interrelationships within a body of new info - for long-term memory storage making oneself aware of the inherent organizational structure of new material facilitates learning; so too does imposing an organizational structure on material when a structure doesn't initially exist nevertheless, students often fail to construct appropriate organizational structures for info. presented in lectures and written materials ---- students frequently "organize" various ideas simply as a list of unrelated facts --- furthermore, students are less likely to organize learning material as it becomes more diff. for them techniques for organization: - create an outline of the major topics and ideas - creating a graphic representation of the info. to be learned (maps, flow chart, pie charts, matrix) - another graphic technique for organizing info. is concept mapping --- a way that teachers can depict the overall organizational structure of a lesson or unit --- focus on how concepts relate to one another - students organize material better - also more likely to learn the material meaningfully and relate them to things they already know -- *concept maps can help students encode info. in long-term memory visually as well as verbally* ---- *concept maps are especially helpful to low-achieving students, perhaps b/c they provide a means of helping these students process info. in ways that high-achieving students do more regularly* *student- constructed concept maps*: can provide info. to teachers as well as to students; in particular, such maps may indicate possible misconceptions and "holes" in students' understanding - pg. 361 --- Adelaide is NOT part of Melbourne; it is a diff. city altogether!

development of metacognitive knowledge and skills

*theory theorist* - propose that children develop personal theories not only about their physical and social worlds but also about their internal, psychological world children develop a theory of the mind - which includes complex understandings of their own and others' mental states -- thoughts, beliefs, perspectives, feelings, motives, and so on during the elementary and secondary school years, children and adolescents become better able to reflect on their own thought processes and so are increasingly aware of the nature of thinking and learning - to some extent, adults may foster such development by talking about the mind's activities ---- for instance, by referring to "thinking a lot" or describing someone's mind as "wandering" - children become increasingly realistic about their memory capabilities and limitations (as they grow older and encounter a wide variety of learning tasks, they discover that some things are more difficult to learn than others) - also begin to realize that their memories are not perfect - children become increasingly aware of and use effective learning and memory strategies (older children are more likely than younger children to have a variety of strategies, to apply them broadly and flexibly, and to know when to use each one) /// age 9 or 10 = they begin to use cumulative rehearsal, reciting the entire list at once and continuing to add new items/// - children engage in more comprehension monitoring as they get older (children and adolescents become more aware or when they actually know something) - some learning processes may be used unconsciously and automatically at first but become more conscious and deliberate w/ development (children's learning processes become more intentional --- and therefore more strategic ---- with age)

why students don't always use effective strategies

- students are uninformed or misinformed about effective strategies (too many students approach learning through rote memorization) -- furthermore, many students incorrectly believe that trying to learn info. meaningfully interferes w/ their ability to do well on classroom tests that emphasize rote memorization and knowledge of isolated facts //// a key reason why students have little knowledge about effective learning strategies is that schools rarely teach such strategies/// -- sometimes, even teachers foster misconceptions - students have epistemological beliefs that lead them to underestimate or misinterpret a learning task (students are unlikely to use effective strategies if they believe that the learning task at hand is an easy one or that their success in learning is unrelated to the effort they put forth) --- they will not engage in such processes of meaningful learning, organization, and elaboration if they think that "knowledge" is nothing more than a collection of unrelated facts - students mistakenly believe that they are already using effective strategies (perhaps b/c they are not monitoring their comprehension or perhaps b/c they have defined learning in an overly simplistic manner -- many low achieving students erroneously believe that their current approach to learning and studying is a good one --- in other instances, students may attribute their poor performance to factors outside of themselves -- perhaps to poor instruction or a "picky" test (pg. 382) - students have little relevant prior knowledge on which they can draw (students who use ineffective learning and study strategies tend to know less about the subject matter they are studying, and less about the world in general, than students who use effective strategies) - assigned learning tasks do not lend themselves to sophisticated strategies (teachers may assign tasks for which effective strategies are either counterproductive or impossible) -- ex. when teachers assign simple tasks that involve lower-level skills (e.g. when they insist that facts and definitions be learned verbatim), students are unlikely to engage in such processes as meaningful learning and elaboration /// pg. 383 - students have goals that are inconsistent w/ effective learning: (students are not always interested in learning for understanding; instead, they may be more interested in remembering information only long enough to get a passing grade, or they may want to complete an assigned task in as little time and with little effort as possible) - students think that sophisticated learning strategies require too much effort to make them worthwhile (no matter how effective the strategies may be) /// in many cases, students seem to be unaware of how much a few simple strategies can help them learn and remember classroom material/// ---- in other instances, they may have little experience with a particular strategy; thus, they have learned few (if any) of the strategy's components to automaticity, and so using it does require a great deal of effort - students have low-efficacy about their ability to learn in an academic setting: some students, esp. those w/ a history of academic failure, develop the belief that they are incapable of learning regardless of what they do. -- may believe incorrectly that no strategy is likely to make any appreciable diff. in their school achievement

the intentional learner

Learner (who) is actively & consciously engaged in cognitive & metacognitive activities directed specifically at thinking about & learning something. cognition: (def) - refers to the process of thinking. It is the identification of knowledge, of understanding it and perceiving it. metacognition: (def) - refers to one's awareness of and ability to regulate one's own thinking. Some everyday examples of metacognition include: awareness that you have difficulty remembering people's names in social situations. reminding yourself that you should try to remember the name of a person you just met. truly effective learning involves intentional learning in which a learner is actively and consciously engaged in cognitive and metacognitive activities directed specifically at thinking about and learning something (they make use of the many self-regulatory strategies they have at their disposal to achieve those goals) involves both automatic and controlled processes (overseeing the process is a very conscious, goal-directed individual who brings into play a variety of strategies as nec.) intentional learning may be esp. impt. when learners need to overhaul their current understandings of a topic or issue -- -in other words, when they must undergo *conceptual change* (def.) - is the process whereby concepts and relationships between them change over the course of an individual person's lifetime or over the course of history. bring into play several processes that are critical for revising one's understandings in any sig. fashion: - actively attend to and think about the new info., and so they are more likely to notice discrepancies w/ what they currently believe - they are eager to acquire mastery of the subject matter, and so they exert considerable effort to make sense of it - they bring to the table a variety of learning and self-regulatory strategies ---- elaboration, self-motivation, self-monitoring --- that maximize their chances for revising their beliefs in line w/ what they are hearing or reading - intentional learners MUST have epistemological beliefs consistent w/ the notion of conceptual change; they must believe that knowledge about a topic continues to evolve and improve over time and that learning something well can take time, effort, and perseverance

verbatim

Verbatim is defined as an exact repetition without changing the words. An example of verbatim is when you quote someone exactly without changing anything.

keyword method

a combination of verbal mediation and visual imagery -- - involves 2 steps 1. identifying an English word or phrase (the keyword) that sound similar to the foreign word 2. forming a visual image of the English sound-alike word w/ the English meaning /// pg. 369 /// has been shown to be an effective instructional device in teaching both English and foreign language vocab words also useful in teaching such paired associates as names and faces, states and their capitals, cities an their products, and famous people and their creations the technique can be used w/ more abstract words as well provided they can be adequately represented by a concrete object - Spanish word love - amor (heart [love] w/ a suit of armor - the keyword) identifying keywords when numbers are involved are trickier - learners should use specific consonant sounds as substitutes for diff. digits and then create words using those sounds

effective learning (by social cognitive theorists and cognitivists)

a process of setting goals, choosing learning strategies that are likely to help one achieve those goals, and then evaluating the results of one's efforts *includes control of one's motivation and emotions as well*

Vygotsky scaffolding

a teaching method that helps students learn more by working with a teacher or a more advanced student to achieve their learning goals students learn more when collaborating with others who have a wider range of skills and knowledge than the student currently does. These instructors or peers are the "scaffolding" who help the student expand her learning boundaries and learn more than she would be able to on her own. part of the education concept "zone of proximal development" or ZPD.

mnemonics

are devices that facilitate the learning and recall of many forms of hard to remember material - "memory tricks" 3 general types: - verbal mediation - visual imagery - superimposed meaningful structures

self-regulated learning

as children grow older, most of them being to set standards and goals for their own performance (they then choose behaviors that they think will help them meet such standards and goals, and they evaluate the effects of their actions) includes: (pg. 355) - goal setting (identifying one or more desired end results for a learning activity) - they know what they want to accomplish when they read or study - planning (plan ahead with regard to a learning task and use their time effectively to accomplish their goals) - determine how best to use the time available for a learning task - typically devotes more time to more diff. learning material --- *they may intentionally ignore material they think is so diff. that they can't possibly master it in the time they have* - self-motivation (maintaining motivation to complete a learning task) - high self-efficacy; self-discipline in putting work before pleasure - attention control (maximizing attention on the learning task -- clear minds of distracting thoughts and emotions) - application of learning strategies (wide variety of learning strategies at their disposal) - they use diff. ones depending on the specific goal they want to accomplish --- ex. magazine vs. textbook for a class - self-monitoring (checking periodically to see whether progress is being made toward the goals(s) of a learning activity ----- they change their learning strategies or modify their goals if necessary - appropriate help-seeking (seeking assistance that might facilitate learning) - don't always learn independently -> they know when they need an expert's help to master certain topics or skills - they actively seek it out if nec. - self-evaluation (assessing the final outcome of one's efforts - determine whether what they have learned is sufficient for the goals they have set for themselves) - self-reflection (determining the extent to which one's learning strategies have been successful and efficient - poss. identifying alternatives that may be more effective in future learning situations) when students are self-regulated learners, they set higher academic goals for themselves, learn more efficiently, and achieve at higher levels in the classroom -- few students acquire a high level of self-regulation, perhaps in part b/c traditional instructional practices do little to promote it

overt strategies

behaviors that we can actually see

metacognition knowledge and skills

being aware of what ones own learning and memory capabilities are and of what learning tasks can realistically be accomplished (e.g. not the best thing possible to memorize everything in a 200-pg reading assignment in a single evening) knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not (e.g. realizing that meaningful learning is more likely to lead to long-term retention than rote learning) planning an approach to a learning task that is likely to be successful (e.g. finding a place to study where there will be few distractions) using effective learning strategies (e.g. taking detailed notes when lecture material is likely to be difficult to remember) monitoring one's present knowledge state (e.g. recognizing when info. has been learned and when it has not) knowing effective strategies for retrieval of previously stored info. (e.g. thinking about the context in which a certain piece of info. was probably learned)

epistemological beliefs

beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning (def.) person's beliefs about the nature of human knowledge, like its certainty and how it is conceptualized, and a person's beliefs about the criteria for and the process of knowing. we all have ideas about what "knowledge" and "learning" are --- in many cases, such beliefs are pulled together into cohesive, although not nec. accurate, personal theories about human learning and cognition: pg. 376 - the certainty of knowledge (whether knowledge is a fixed, unchanging, absolute "truth" or a tentative, dynamic entity that will continue to evolve over time) - the simplicity and structure of knowledge: whether knowledge is a collection of discrete and isolated facts or a set of complex and interrelated ideas - the source of knowledge: whether knowledge comes from outside of learners (e.g. teachers) or is derived and constructed by learners themselves - the criteria for determining truth: whether an idea is accepted as true when it is communicated by an expert or when it is logically evaluated based on available evidence - the speed of learning: whether knowledge is acquired quickly if at all - an all or none fashion or is acquired gradually over a period of time (learners partially know something) - the nature of learning ability: whether people's ability to learn is fixed at birth (inherited) or can improve over time w/ practice and use of better strategies whether and in what ways people's various beliefs about knowledge and learning hang together as an integrated belief system is a matter of considerable debate - pg. 376 more and more, theorists are beginning to realize that people's epistemological beliefs are somewhat context- and situation-specific learners' epistemological beliefs may be specific to particular content domains - pg. 377 - many students believe that knowledge in some disciplines is more certain than knowledge in others - many students think that learning mathematics and physics means memorizing procedures and formulas and finding the right answer. (furthermore, there is usually only one "correct" way to solve a problem and one "correct" answer to it) - many students think that when they work on math problems, they will either solve the problems within a few minutes or else not solve them at all (many students think that when an answer to a math problem isn't a whole number, it is probably wrong)

visual imagery

forms the basis for a number of effective mnemonic devices 3 common ones: - method of loci - pegword method - keyword method visual image is a powerful storage mechanism that can be formed quickly and retained for a long time when encouraging students to use mnemonics based on visual imagery, teachers must keep 3 things in mind: 1. many young children cannot generate effective images on their own and so probably need to have pictures provided for them 2. the two items must be incorporated into the same image in an interacting fashion 3. imagery does not preserve details very effectively, therefore, it may not help one remember such specific info. as the exact shape of a heart or the number of dents of a suit of armor

effectiveness of study skills training programs

initially, most programs designed to enhance metacognitive knowledge and skills were at the college level - but eventually found their ways towards lower level classes/ grades (as young as age 4 or 5) collective results of research studies indicate that learners at all levels can be taught more effective learning and study strategies w/ consequent improvements in their memory, classroom performance, and academic achievement - very beneficial for low-achieving students effective study skills programs tend to be multifaceted, teaching a wide variety of learning and study strategies

covert strategies

internal mental processes that we often cannot see ultimately, it is probably the ways in which students process the info. they receive -- the covert strategies---- that determine how effectively they learn and remember the info

the process of metacognition

is consistent w/ social cognitive theorists' notion of *self regulation* =----- it provides the mechanism through which people begin to regulate one aspect of their lives - their own learning

developmental and cultural differences in epistemological beliefs

learners' epistemological beliefs often change over time - pg. 377 - for those that pursue higher education, epistemological beliefs evolve even further in adulthood - increasingly, these individual come to view knowledge and "truth" as tentative, uncertain entities abstract knowledge is almost certainly a prerequisite for more advanced epistemological beliefs; environmental factors also play a role in their development - by early adolescence, children show considerable variability in their epistemological beliefs, apparently at least partly as a result of exposure to others' beliefs about the certainty and origins of knowledge and related issues (cultural differences are also a factor) - pg. 378

promoting effective learning and study strategies

learning tasks become increasingly complex and challenging over time in education = there is a greater need for sophisticated learning and study strategies as the years go by (many theorists suggest that schools should provide explicit instruction in how to study and learn)

meaningful learning and elaboration

meaningful learning: a process of relating new material to knowledge already stored in long-term memory elaboration: process of using prior knowledge to interpret and expand on that new material both processes involve making connections b/w new info. and the things we already know, and both processes clearly facilitate our learning as we study study by Van Rossum and Schenk (1984) - pg. 357 ---- there were no diff's b/w the two groups of students in their performance on multiple choice questions that assessed their knowledge of facts in the passage. However, students who used meaningful learning strategies performed better on multiple choice questions that required drawing inferences and produced better-integrated and qualitatively superior responses on an essay test over the same material study by Rose McCallin - pg. 358

metacognition

people's knowledge of their own learning and cognitive processes, as well as their regulation of those processes to enhance learning and memory (def.) - refers to one's awareness of and ability to regulate one's own thinking. Some everyday examples of metacognition include: - awareness that you have difficulty remembering people's names in social situations - reminding yourself that you should try to remember the name of a person you just met - realizing that you know an answer to a question but simply can't recall it at the moment - realizing that you should review an article you read last week because you have forgotten many of the key points - realizing that there is something wrong with your solution to a problem the more metacognitive sophisticated students are, the better their school learning and achievement are likely to be closely related to "central executive" -- think of it as the "manager" or "coach" of a person's learning - guides information processing and monitors the effectiveness of the various strategies a learner is applying to a particular learning task *a learner's metacognitive knowledge can either help or hinder the learning process*

method of loci

pg. 368 - storing images - landmarks ---- when pontificating at the forum, the orator would take a mental walk along this familiar route; as he passed each landmark, he would readily retrieve the image of that landmark and the object symbolizing the next major point of his speech -- in this manner, he could easily remember all of the main ideas of the oration and their correct order study by Groninger (1971) - people using the method of loci learned the words faster and remembered more of them on a free recall task 5 weeks later. --- it appears that the benefit of the method of loci may lie in the imagery-based retrieval cues it provides

verbal mediation

two words or ideas are associated by a word or phrase (the verbal mediator) that connects them - pg. 367

superimposed meaningful structure

pg. 370 the learner imposes a familiar structure on the body of info. to be learned - that structure can be a sentence, story, rhythm, acronym, or anything else already familiar to the learner ex. mnemonics they impose a structure or organization on the material to be learned -- secondly, they help the learner relate the new material to info. already stored in long-term memory -- third, they provide retrieval cues that help learners find the info. at a later time

note-taking

positively correlated w/ student learning probably serves 2 functions for students 1. facilitates encoding of material: by writing info. and looking at it on paper, students are likely to encode it both verbally and visually (as evidence for the encoding function of note taking, students remember more when they take notes even if they have no opp. to review the notes) --- they also serve as a form of concrete external storage for info. presented in class --- they are more likely to promote learning when they represent an seconding of the info. that is consistent w/ the objectives of the instructional unit - also more likely to be effective when they summarize main ideas and include details that support those ideas

self-efficacy

refers to an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). Self-efficacy reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over one's own motivation, behavior, and social environment.

identifying impt. info.

separate main ideas from trivial ideas -- challenging task b/c the relative importance of diff. ideas is ultimately determined by the teacher, who may have a diff. perspective on the material than students do the various signals that are present in a lecture or textbook (e.g. boldfaced, italicized) can help students discriminate b/w impt. and unimportant info. in some cases, students may overlook or misinterpret such signals

effects of epistemological beliefs

students epistemological beliefs clearly influence how they study and learn some specific effects that diff. beliefs are likely to have: - beliefs regarding the certainty of knowledge (when students believe that knowledge related to a topic is a fixed, certain entity, they are apt to jump to quick and potentially inaccurate conclusions based on the info. they receive) vs. when students view knowledge as something that continues to evolve and doesn't nec. include definitive right and wrong answers /// pg. 378/// - beliefs regarding the simplicity and structure of knowledge: students who believe that knowledge is composed of discrete facts are apt to use rote-learning processes when they study and to hold on to their misconceptions about a topic; they also tend to believe that they "know" the material they are studying if they can recall basic facts and definitions vs. students who believe that knowledge is a complex set of interrelated ideas - meaningful learning (pg. 378) - beliefs regarding the source of knowledge (students who believe that knowledge originates outside of the learner and is passed along directly by authority figures are apt to be fairly passive learners (w/o clarifying confusing ideas) in contrast, students who believe that knowledge is something that one constructs for oneself are apt to be cognitively engaged in learning activities, make interconnections among ideas, read and listen critically - pg. 379 - beliefs regarding the criteria for determining truth (when students believe that something is probably true if it comes from an "expert" of some sort, they are likely to accept info. from authority figures w/o question (but, when they believe that ideas should be judged on their logical and scientific merit --- rather than on their source, they are likely to critically evaluate new info. on the basis of available evidence) - beliefs regarding the speed of learning: quick remote process vs. slow and gradual process --- they are likely to use a wide variety of learning strategies as they study and to persist until they have made sense of the ideas presented - beliefs regarding the nature of learning ability: students' beliefs about the nature of learning ability are correlated w/ their persistence in learning (if they think that learning ability is a fixed commodity, they will quickly give up on challenging tasks. IN CONTRAST, if they think that their ability to learn something is under their control, they will pursue a variety of supportive learning activities and try, try again until they have mastered the subject matter *teachers also appear to have naive beliefs as well* - some teaches seem to believe that knowledge about a particular subject matter is a fixed and well-defined entity, that students need to "absorb" this knowledge in isolated bits and pieces, and that learning is a process of mindless memorization and rehearsal (teachers holding these beliefs will be more likely to focus on lower-level skills in their instructional objectives)

comprehension monitoring

students who learn most effectively typically check themselves periodically to be sure they are understanding and remembering what they hear in class or read in a textbook (asking questions or rereading a passage) - they also taking steps to remediate any comprehension difficulties they may have - for ex. -- by asking questions or rereading a passage -- in other words, good students engage in *comprehension monitoring* many students of all ages don't carefully monitor their comprehension as they sit in class or read a textbook --- = they are often ignorant about what they know and what they don't know, and they think they understand something they actually misunderstood === *illusion of knowing* /// students are especially likely to have an illusion of knowing something when they have little prior knowledge about the subject matter or when the material is especially difficult for them /// illusions of knowing are also more common when students have overly simplistic ideas of what it means to "know" something --- when students think they know classroom material, they are likely to stop studying it - they are likely to be puzzled when they perform poorly on an exam or assignment facilitating students' comprehension monitoring: - draw pictures or diagrams of the material they are studying - useful for topics that involve spatial arrangements or cause-effect relationships - have students formulate questions before a lesson or reading assignment that they then answer as they go along (*self-questioning*) - by asking themselves questions periodically, students are more likely to know when they know something and when they do not people are often inaccurate and overly optimistic judges of how much they will be able to remember about something they have just read

pegword method

technique for learning a list of items and their relative positions method consists of using a well-known or easily learned list of items that then serves as a series of "pegs" on which another list is "hung" through visual imagery - pg. 368 images can be formed quickly and typically need not be practiced to be remembered

reading for learning

the attempt to store the info that has been read into long-term memory so that it can be retrieved later on good readers do the following - pg. 353 (ex. determine what is most impt to learn and remember, and focus their attention and efforts on that material; envision possible examples and applications of the ideas presented; periodically check themselves to make sure they understand and remember what they have read)

Vygotskian perspective

the bridge b/w other regulated learning and self-regulated learning is "co-regulated learning" - in which an adult and one ore more children share responsibility for directing the various aspects of the learning process ex. - the adult and children might agree on the specific goals of a learning endeavor, or the adult might describe the criteria that indicate successful learning and then have children evaluate their own performance in light of those criteria (initially, the adult might provide considerable structure, or scaffolding, for the children's learning efforts; in a true Vygotskian fashion -- *such scaffolding is gradually removed as children become more effectively self-regulating*)

epistemology

the study of knowledge acquisition involves an awareness of certain aspects of reality, and it seeks to discover what is known and how it is known. Considered as a branch of philosophy, epistemology addresses cognitive sciences, cultural studies and the history of science. Moreover, epistemology explains why our minds relate to reality and how these relationships are either valid or invalid. It is needed in order to distinguish between the truth and falsehood as we obtain knowledge from the world around us. encompasses the construction of concepts, the nature of conditions and the validity of the senses. We need epistemology in order to accept reality and live our lives in successful pursuit of truth. One of the major questions that we ask is: where does knowledge come from? Many philosophers have supposed that knowledge comes from reason. Thus, humans have the ability to reason, and, therefore, they have the power to know. Conversely, other philosophers have contended that humans only become knowledgeable when they experience life situations, such as watching a movie or playing an instrument. These philosophers insist that man can only learn when he experiences life through his own senses.

guidelines for promoting effective strategies

theorists and researchers have identified a number of practices that should promote the development of more sophisticated metacognitive knowledge and skills guidelines - pg. 384-385 --- students learn strategies more effectively when the strategies are taught within the context of specific domains and actual academic learning tasks (as students encounter specific academic content, they should simultaneously learn ways to study the content) - students can use sophisticated learning strategies only when they have a knowledge base to which they can relate new material --- teachers must be careful not to present difficult material until students have mastered the prerequisite knowledge and skills essential for a genuine understanding of the material - students should learn a wide variety of strategies, as well as the situations in which each one is appropriate (diff. strategies are useful in diff. situations) - effective strategies should be practiced w/ a variety of tasks and on an ongoing basis (when they learn to apply the same strategy to many diff. tasks over a long period, they are apt to recognize the strategy's value and to generalize its use to new situations) effective strategy instruction is clearly not a one-shot deal - strategy instruction should include covert and well as overt strategies: sophisticated cognitive processes that underlie these behaviors - learning meaningfully, organizing, elaborating, comprehension monitoring, and so on -- are ultimately the most impt. strategies for students to acquire - teachers can model effective strategies by thinking aloud about new material - students can also benefit from reflecting on and describing their current study strategies: regularly encouraging students to think about how they know something or how they went about learning it --- as well as about how they might learn it more effectively --- can sometimes help them bring implicit metacognitive strategies to the surface for careful scrutiny and reflection - teachers should scaffold students' initial attempts at using new strategies, gradually phasing out the scaffolding as students become more proficient (as the learner becomes more skilled at performing the task independently, such support is gradually removed) --- teachers can also scaffold complex classroom tasks through the use of computer tools - word processing programs, spreadsheet, etc. - students can often learn effective strategies by working cooperatively with their classmates (guided peer questioning or reciprocal teaching) - students must understand why new strategies are helpful - students should have epistemological beliefs that are consistent w/ effective strategies (b/c students' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning may be in the form of implicit rather than explicit knowledge, they may be especially resistant to change) - not only do epistemological beliefs affect students' ability to undergo conceptual change, but in fact revising epistemological beliefs involves conceptual change in and of itself (to nudge students towards increasingly sophisticated epistemological understandings, teachers must encourage students to reflect not only about their learning strategies but also about their underlying beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge and learning) *teachers should also create situations in which students find reason to doubt --- and so feel dissatisfied with --- their current beliefs* ---- = Piaget would have called such dissatisfaction disequilibrium; more recently, it has been called *epistemic doubt* - one way to change students' epistemological beliefs is to talk specifically about the nature of knowledge and learning -- for instance, to describe learning as an active, ongoing process of finding interconnections among ideas and eventually constructing one's own understanding of the world - sometimes to realize that successful learning sometimes occurs only through effort and persistence - pg. 387 -students should acquire mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating their own learning - theorists have offered several recommendations for promoting self-monitoring and self-evaluation in students - pg. 388 - students must believe that, w/ sufficient effort and appropriate strategies, they can learn and understand challenging material (strategy instruction must give students a sense of self-efficacy about their ability to learn classroom material) & it must show them that their success in learning is, in fact, related to the specific strategies they use

metacognition

thinking about thinking involves some fairly complex (and often abstract) ideas and processes ---- many of these ideas and processes are not specifically taught in the classroom --- = students typically acquire metacognitive knowledge and skills slowly and only after many challenging learning experiences --- or, they acquire very few

roots of self-regulated learning

to some extent, self-regulated learning probably develops from opp's to engage in ind., self-directed learning activities appropriate for the age group regular exposure to self-regulating models- adults and peers who set high standards for their own performance, effectively keep themselves on task - may play a role *Vygotsky's perspective* - self-regulated learning also has roots in socially regulated learning ///at first, other people might help children learn by setting goals fo a learning activity, keeping children's attention focused on the learning tasks --- over time, children assume increasing responsibility for these processes, that is, they begin to set their OWN learning goals, stay on task w/ little prodding from others, identify potentially effective strategies, and evaluate their own learning/// -- this is the transition from "other-regulated learning", to "self-regulated learning"

effective learning and study strategies

when psychologists use the terms "learning strategy and study strategy", they are talking about the 'intentional' use of one or more cognitive processes to accomplish a particular learning task 1. meaningful learning 2. elaboration 3. organization (all these 3 are long-term memory storage processes) 4. note-taking 5. identifying impt. information 6. summarizing 7. comprehension monitoring 8. mnemonics

teachers must be careful how far they take such strategies

when students are firmly rooted in their learning involves facts that I can only get from an expert beliefs, they may find little of value in -- and so many gain little from --- lessons that emphasize diverse perspectives and offer few solid answers