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Another visual for creating strong generalisations.

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Another visual for creating strong generalisations.

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The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement | MindShift | KQED News

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The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement | MindShift | KQED News

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To illustrate the value of metacognition and how it actually plays a role in learning, we can consider an example from mathematics, where it has been shown that metacognition plays a central role in learning and achievement. Specifically, when novice students were compared to seasoned mathematicians, the students selected a seemingly useful strategy and continued to apply it without checking to see if the strategy of choice was actually working well. Thus, a significant amount of time was wasted in fruitless pursuits. The more experienced mathematicians on the other hand, exercised metacognition, monitoring their approach all along the way to see if it was actually leading to a solution or merely to a dead end.Being aware of how one is engaging with the process of learning influences how the student interprets the task at hand, and what strategies are selected and employed in service of achieving learning goals. It can help optimize the problem-solving experience at a very high level, and is thus applicable across a large range of contexts. These metacognitive strategies are powerful tools for any discipline, inter-discipline or for learning in general.

Of course, with such an abstract learning goal, it is important for educators to be precise with how they teach it. Traditional methods for improving students' learning strategies often focus on prescribed procedures (note-taking, self-testing, scheduling, etc.) and typically result in initial motivation and some short-term improvement, but ultimately a reversion to old habits happens. While these tactics may work in the short term (e.g., to cram for an exam), once the context changes, successful transfer of these methods is less likely to occur. More strategic methods that focus on metacognition for deeper learning- such as developing a growth mindset (discussed later), setting and monitoring one's learning goals, and growing one's capacity to persist despite difficulties-have been shown to result in more permanent learning gains.

It is important to note that since metacognition involves higher-level thinking overseeing lower-level thoughts, there is actually a range of mental processes that fall under its definition. Effects of metacognitive training vary based on what kind of lower-level thoughts are being overseen, and how they are being overseen. Research has identified three levels of reporting on metacognitive processes:

1. Verbalization of knowledge that is already in a verbal state (such as recalling what happened in a story).

2. Verbalization of nonverbal knowledge (such as recalling how one solved a Rubik's Cube).

3. Verbalization of explanations of verbal or nonverbal knowledge (such as explaining how one makes use of the rhetorical structures of a story as one reads).

Only this third level of metacognitive process has been linked to improved results in problem solving.

Metacognition can be developed in students in the context of their current goals and can enhance their learning of competenciesas well as transfer of learning, no matter their starting achievement level. In fact, it may be most useful for lower-achieving students, as the higher-achieving students are already employing strategies that have proven successful for them. For learning disabled and low - achieving students, metacognitive training has been shown to improve behavior more effectively than traditional attention-control training.

Students who have higher levels of self-efficacy (more confidence in their ability to achieve their goals) are more likely to engage in metacognition and, in turn, are more likely to perform at higher levels. This strongly indicates a positive feedback loop for high-achieving students-they are more successful by using metacognitive strategies, which increases their confidence and in turn leads them to continue to increase their performance. Metacognition is an integral part of this virtuous learning cycle, and one that is amenable to further improvement through instruction.

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The Role of Metacognition in Learning and Achievement

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To illustrate the value of metacognition and how it actually plays a role in learning, we can consider an example from mathematics, where it has been shown that metacognition plays a central role in learning and achievement.

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Generalisation smashing by Nicholas Verrill – UWCSEA Concept Based Learning

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Generalisation smashing by Nicholas Verrill – UWCSEA Concept Based Learning

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'Generalisations are always dangerous', reads this witty mobile phone case. I would modify this to state that, 'inaccurate generalisations are always dangerous.' With a wonderful concept rich curriculum at UWCSEA East we spend a great deal of our time encouraging students to construct and understand generalisations. A generalisation can be defined as an idea or conclusion having general application, and this general concept is reached by abstracting common properties of instances. The process could be termed inductive reasoning. The conceptual understandings we have in all of our units at UWCSEA East are generalisations, which hold true across time and place. They are accurate, valid general concepts constructed by highly educated members of our staff team used to guide units. These are the type of generalisations we want.

Taking students on a journey towards understanding pre-constructed generalisations is different from them building their own accurate ones. Ultimately, we want our students to be able to do this if they are to be lifelong learners. Herein lay the problem for me. Too many History, Global Perspectives and TOK students I have come across make inaccurate generalisations. Whether speaking, or writing, these generalisations rear their warped, distorted and ugly faces all too often in students' work. In the place of sophistication, nuance and accuracy, you get clumsy, inaccurate, half-truths. Faulty generalisations are often the product of one, or perhaps both, of the following errors of reasoning. Either the common properties of instances are not accurately reflected in the generalisation constructed, or all available evidence is not considered in making the generalisation. The former is a product of misinterpretation, the later of poor research, or evidential handling skills.

The dangers of this should be clear. Inaccurate generalisations obscure, mutate and distort the truth. They can change reality. They do this at the expense of truth, and in an era of fake news this is an incredibly harmful practice. Perhaps more damaging still, it is regularly an oppressed, marginalised group, or opinion, that is done an injustice by a generalisation. Oftentimes, generalisations are not true because there are examples of ideas or situations wherein the generalisation does not apply. However, they mascarade as the truth very effectively as their brash, sweeping claims can be all too persuasive to the unlearned eye. They can offer comforting certainty in an uncertain world. They often sound clever, but are not. We must teach our students to spot examples of individuals, or situations, which are the exception, not the rule. They must be able to smash inaccurate generalisations.

Take these examples of inaccurate generalisations, all of which I have heard students (and many adults) use:

Women love shopping

Politicians are liars

Catholics think abortion and homosexuality are immoral

The weather in the UK is awful

Democracies work better than dictatorships

Bankers are greedy

Fidel Castro improved the lives of Cubans

Immigration is a bad thing

Islam is a violent religion

Religion teaches positive moral messages

Teenagers are lazy

I present this list to students and set them the following two tasks, which you might want to do yourself now:

1. Can you find the ways in which these generalisations are not accurate?

2. Re-write each generalisation so it is accurate.

Most students are able to correct these statements to more accurately reflect reality. The more specific ones about Fidel Castro, or Catholicism, may require a bit more research for them to do if they have not studied that particular topic, but that is no bad thing. It is exactly the practice we want to be encouraging when students are faced with general claims. Do not just accept them as the unequivocal truth, but rather question their veracity. A healthy scepticism and respect for the truth are traits to be lauded. Beyond carrying out research when unsure, there is another general (oh the irony...) rule for smashing poor generalisations: use qualifying language. Often phrases such as, 'can', 'may', 'when', 'a few', 'a minority', 'some', 'many', 'a majority', 'or most', can really help to improve the accuracy of writing. So the list above may become something like this:

Some women love shopping

Some politicians are liars

Many Catholics think abortion and homosexuality are immoral, many don't

The weather in the UK can be awful

Democracies may work better than dictatorships when the circumstances are conducive to them doing so

Some bankers are greedy

Fidel Castro improved the lives of many Cubans

Immigration can be a bad thing for some people

Islam is a violent religion for a minority of Muslims

Religion may teach positive moral messages

Teenagers can be lazy

The benefits of such an exercise are legion. It encourages analysis, nuance and sophistication in student thinking. It demands that they see subtle shades of grey as well as black and white. It encourages research and promotes a respect for the evidence behind general claims. But perhaps most of all, it encourages them to question and to seek the truth. In summary, it defends reality. Get smashing.

Nicholas Verrill, Head of History at UWCSEA East Campus

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Generalisation smashing by Nicholas Verrill

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'Generalisations are always dangerous', reads this witty mobile phone case. I would modify this to state that, 'inaccurate generalisations are always dangerous.' With a wonderful concept rich curriculum at UWCSEA East we spend a great deal of our time encouraging students to construct and understand generalisations. A generalisation can be defined as an idea...