1. Joyce VanTassel-Baska College of William and Mary

2. What is metacognition?  The ability to reflect on thinking,  The ability to plan, monitor, and assess one’s own learning, and  The ability to focus on the whole of an experience and understand how it changed you.

3. Why teach metacognition?  To enhance long term learning  To develop self efficacy in learners  To enhance skills necessary for collaborative project work

4. Research base  Gifted learners typically are stronger in metacognition than others (Shore et al., 2000)  Metacognition strengthens learning, especially in math and science (National Research Council, 2002)  Metacognition enhances connected learning needed in research and other project endeavors (Boyce et al. 1997)

5. Models for Teaching Metacognition The Need To Know Board What do we know? What do we need to know? How are we going to find out? What have we learned?

6. Problem Logs Why did the experiment not work? What could I have done differently? How do I assess my skills in scientific investigation? Which ones will require me to practice more?

7. Journaling Reflect on your role as a scientist in the unit Budding Botanists. What skills have you acquired? What beliefs do you hold about science in our world? What do you understand about problem solving in the real world?

8. Questions for reflection  So what?  Why does it matter?  How does the learning fit with yesterday’s?  What new understanding do you have about…?  How can I do better?

9. Independent Learning Models  What is my plan to improve?  How will I know I am making progress?  What outcome do I want to reach?  What is my timeline? Intermediary steps?

10. The Teacher’s Role in Metacognition  Question asker  Coach  Provider of scaffolds for thinking  Assessor of meaningful progress and provider of suggestions for improvement

11. The Role of the Student in Metacognition Self-monitoring performance with an intent to self-assess Recognizing gaps in knowledge and setting up learning agendas to fill them Identifying needed learning resources Identifying skills needed to use resources wisely and well Sorting through information to determine relevancy Identifying biases and limitations

12. The goal is self-directed learning in students and ourselves! Reflecting on one’s thinking allows us to resee problems, to formulate new solutions, and to revise and improve our thinking and our actions.