How we learn

Metacognition

Teaching for Understanding

Explanation & Modeling

Background Knowledge

Author’s Craft

Purpose

SettingOrganizing

Active Learning

Discussion

Writing

1. The responsibilities of the teacher

2. Assisting the learner in understanding the metacognitive process.3. Background Knowledge3. Purpose Setting3. Active Learning

4. Discussion4. Writing

3. Organization3. The Author’s Craft2. Explanation and Modeling

2. Teaching for Understanding

PP-4

1. The responsibilities of the learner2. Metacognition

3. Background Knowledge3. Purpose Setting3. Active Learning4.

Discussion4. Writing3. Organization

3. The Author’s Craft2. Using metacognition to

learn independently

1.Knowing if I understand.

2. Knowing what to do if I don’t.

A marlup was poving his kump. Parmily a narg horped some whev in his kump.

“Why did vump horp whev in my frinkle kump?” the marlup jufd the narg.

“Er’m muvvily trungy,” the narg grupped. “Er horped norpled whev in your kump. Do vump pove your kump frinkle?”

1. What did the narg horp in the marlup’s kump?2. What did the marlup juf the narg?3. How trungy was the narg?

4. What did the narg ask the marlup?

What strategies did you use?

Learners can complete worksheets successfully with

no actual understanding.What is the problem with

that?????

Congratulations!You just passed a

quiz on total nonsense!

Definition of MetacognitionA person is

metacognitive if he knows when he is understanding what he is reading and knows when he is not understanding what he is reading. If he is not understanding, he knows what to do about it by fix-up strategies.

PP-17

1.Sally’s mother asks her if she has any homework. When Sally says she has a test in Social Studies, her mother asks her if she has studied. Sally says, “Sure. I read the chapter over a couple of times. I know this stuff.” When Sally gets her test back, she has done very poorly.

Is Sally metacognitive or non-metacognitive?

2. John has always been a very poor test taker. In science class, the teacher uses lots of activities to help the students learn the material. When test day comes, John did not study at home, and figures he will flunk the test like he always does. However, as he answers the questions, the activities and projects done in class come to mind and he is able to answer the questions. He is surprised when he gets a B on the test, the best grade he has ever gotten on a test.

Is John metacognitive or non-metacognitive?

3.Sean has found that rewriting notes in his own words is a good study strategy for him. The night before the health test, he took the notes the teacher gave them in class and rewrote them. He got an A on the test.

Is Sean metacognitive or non-metacognitive?

4. Jim’s grandfather is a cattle rancher, and Jim spends every summer working on the ranch. When Jim studies cattle ranching in 7th grade, he finds that he already knows much of the information. The night before the test on cattle ranching, Jim studies the dates and history that he didn’t know before but doesn’t spend any time studying the things he already knows. He does a good job on the test.

Is Jim metacognitive or non-metacognitive?

If you don’t know you don’t know, you think you

know. If you don’t know you know, you think you

don’t know.

Knots

R.D. Laing

PP-6b

Background KnowledgeIntegrating new information

with prior knowledge lies at the

heart of metacognition and comprehension.

•Learners need to share background knowledge and experiences.

•Learners need to discover their misconceptions.

•Learners need to make connections between newly learned information and their prior knowledge so they can

understand what they’ve just learned.

PP-7b

•Setting a purpose for reading or listening impacts what one

remembers. (Pickard & Anderson, 1977)

•Reading for a specific purpose positively affects

comprehension. (Narvaez, 2002)

Purpose Setting

Active LearningLearning occurs when learners actively process information

through

Writing

Discussing

Organizing PP-10b

Recitation - I R EI: Teacher Initiates talk by asking a question.R: Student Responds.E: Teacher Evaluates the response.

Instructional ConversationsLearners initiate own inquiries and respond

to one another.

VS.

WritingAn integral part of all

learning.Writing . . . encourages active learning.

clarifies thinking.

forces organization.

provides processing time.

PP-13b

Frequently we may think we understand something when we only recognize it;

we confuse familiarity with

understanding. This becomes obvious when we have to explain it in

writing.

From: Sandra Z. Keith, “Writing for Educational Objectives in a Calculus Course,” Using Writing to Teach Mathematics, edited by Andrew Sterrett, MAA Notes No.16

Effective organization is student owned

and student generated.Learning and memory

depend on transforming information.

Better written texts = More effective learning toolsKnowledge of structure = Improved comprehension

Authors, especially in expository writing, help the reader understand

the main ideas and details.

The harder the material the more we need to elicit and add to our background

knowledge before reading.

How we learn

Metacognition

Teaching for Understanding

Explanation & Modeling

Background Knowledge

Author’s Craft

Purpose

Setting

Organizing

Active Learning

Discussion

Writing

Three-Minute Pause

PP-9 Project CRISSSM 2004

•Meet in groups of 3-5.

•Summarize key points.

•Add own thoughts.

•Ask clarifying questions.