Monday, May 4, 2015

Transfer and Teaching Metacognitive Strategies


I recently finished reading Minds Online by Michelle Miller, a professor in the psychological sciences at Northern Arizona University. The book discusses much more than online learning. First the basis for learning is laid out given what we know from research on learning and cognition. Three of the nine chapters in the book are devoted to Attention, Memory and Thinking. In each chapter, the author suggests practical strategies of incorporating the principles discussed into an online learning context. I found that many of the suggestions translate well (with minor modification) into face-to-face classes too. Overall, this is a book I will probably want on my bookshelf. So I’m likely to purchase it after I return my library copy.

One of the things I have been thinking about this semester is how to teach metacognitive strategies to my students. This, I think, is really important for students to get the most out of their own learning. Are there best-practice strategies? Over the years I spend some amount of time in my office hours teaching students how to study effectively, particularly if they are first-year students. (In my first year teaching I was a little shocked by how ineffective strategies employed by the average student.) I have been trying to add a dose of self-reflection strategies to my students’ thinking, but it seems harder for them to “catch”, or I’m not doing a very good job trying to convey how one actually goes about doing this.

In the chapter on Thinking, there is a section on Transfer, i.e., getting students to apply what they have learned to new domains. Prof. Miller writes: “Teaching metacognition does not have to be highly technical or theoretical in nature… [Having faculty] introspect about how they approach material, as disciplinary experts, [is] a way to uncover what they should teach their students about thinking in a discipline… Infusing metacognition into teaching means focusing on the ‘process as well as the product’… and maximize transfer between [old and new problems]”.

Five suggestions are provided by the author. I do some of these things, but perhaps not well. Here’s my self-analysis.

1. Emphasize how knowledge is organized when the original material is being taught. In class, I’m decent at making connections and describing the organizational structure, but I don’t do it as consistently I should. There’s room for improvement.

2. Go for depth rather than breadth. One of the problems teaching General Chemistry is that it is a pre-requisite for subsequent science courses that assume a certain body of knowledge. Therefore I find that I’m often pressed for time just to get “coverage”. I have made some progress, i.e., I’ve cut out a few peripheral things and drilled down a little further in some areas. However what I really need to do is sit down with my colleagues and really revisit our curricular structure and content.

3. Emphasize underlying principals and conceptual structure. The author suggests drawing students’ attention to abstract, general aspects rather than on surface features. In class I’m good at posing questions, listening to students answer, and posing follow-up “why” and “why not” questions. However, sometimes I don’t do this as consistently if I’m trying to cover a certain amount of material, so I’ll need to work more on this.

4. Frequent quizzing. Finally, this is something I do consistently!

5. Tell students why wrong answers are wrong. I get the students to help figure this out for themselves in class and in my office hours. However I’m not sure how much reflection they do when they’re working on a homework assignment outside of class.

My semester is drawing to an end, but I am looking forward to being a better teacher in my classes next semester!

No comments:

Post a Comment