Metacognition in an Elementary Classroom
This presentation serves to answer the research question of, “What strategies can be used to teach metacognition in an elementary classroom?” and addresses the research behind why such strategies are important to student learning. The methods used for this study were examination of a study on Educational Research for school learning conducted Wang, Haertal, and Walberg (1993) and more recent studies from 2007 by Pianta, Belsky, Houts, & Morrison, examining “opportunities to learn” in America’s public schools. The findings of this project demonstrated that metacognition is one of the most common characteristics of high achievers and that teachers typically spend 1/10 of the time on explicitly teaching metacognition to upper elementary students than they do content-specific information. In this presentation, 3 strategies were provided to answer the research question of how to promote metacognitive learning in elementary classrooms: Checklists, Think-Alouds, and “Turn-in boxes”. Of these strategies, Checklists teach students goal-setting and expectations, Think Alouds allow students to monitor their own learning while doing activities, and separate “Turn-in boxes” allow students to evaluate their achievement in deciding how well they did in each assignment. Overall, the purpose of this presentation serves to provide practical strategies for elementary teachers to use to develop metacognitive skills early on in students’ educations. The limitations of this study were that the presenters did not have the opportunity to test each of these strategies in their own classrooms.
EDUC 330, Child Development
Brian Kaelin
Banquet Room, Poster #7
10 AM – Noon