Hi Everyone! 

I want to begin by saying that even though my focus is researching metacognition in relation to the secondary stream, I want to stress to my elementary teachers and parents of elementary children that this is still very relevant information for you to learn as well. I’ve come across articles that state that metacognition starts in elementary (Nancy Joseph, 2010, Michael Martinez, 2006). According to Nancy Joseph (2010, p.99), research has indicated that young children are able to use metacognitive strategies such as monitoring and assessing their learning. So even though I may focus on secondary education, this information can be beneficial for all. 

I left off my last blog with one interpretation of what metacognition is, beyond the basic understanding of “thinking about thinking”. After having read quite a few articles, I’ve noticed that while not everyone defines/breaks it up in the same way, they all basically have the same characteristics. So, I’m going to share four interpretations of metacognition. 
In a relatively old article by Jeffrey Landine and John Stewart (1998, p.201) (so far, the only article that I can find that discusses metacognition in relation to urban/rural secondary stream in Canada), they break Metacognition into two parts: Knowledge and Process. Knowledge refers to the various strategies someone would possess and understand when to use those strategies. Process refers to using the strategies and monitoring and regulating oneself, which basically means to make sure you are using the right strategies for the task, and if not, you would change the strategies. 

Michael Martinez (2014, p. 696) breaks metacognition into three; Metamemory and Metacomprehension, Problem Solving, and Critical Thinking. The first step basically means accessing your prior knowledge and assessing whether you’ve understood what you’ve read (like a paragraph, instructions, etc.). The second step is knowing what you should do when you don’t understand and to check that the strategies you are using are working. If the strategies aren’t, then you should have the ability to choose a more efficient strategy. Lastly the third step is evaluating your ideas to make sure they are concrete. 

Nancy Joseph (2010, p. 99) breaks Metacognition into three parts: Plan, Regulate and Assess. From my understanding of Nancy’s interpretation, it means that you would look over what you had to do (an assignment, reading and questions, etc) and plan how you would approach it with various strategies. Then as you use your strategies you would continuously regulate them to make sure they are right for a task and if not, you would change strategies. Finally, at the end you would assess how you did, and whether you could have done something differently in order to have a better result. Nancy Joseph (p. 102-103) provides an example of how to get students thinking metacognitively by asking students to fill out a self-assessment, which prompts them to reflect on their learning:   

These are only three interpretations, but they all have similar characteristics, using metacognitive strategies and checking to see if they work and if not, changing the strategy (monitoring). As I read more articles, I will be examining if there are more overlapping similarities.

I do have a question for all of you: who do you think these definitions are being made for?


Thanks for checking out this blog. I’ll be uploading another vlog very soon about a symposium that I was fortunate enough to attend, so please stay tuned for that! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them with me.

Bye for now,

Kaitlin


Joseph, N. (2009). Metacognition needed: Teaching middle and high school students to develop strategic learning skills. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 54(2), 99-103. doi:10.1080/10459880903217770

Landine, J., & Stewart, J. (1998). Relationship between Metacognition, Motivation, Locus of Control, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Achievement. Canadian Journal of Counselling, 32(3), 200-12.

Martinez, M. E. (2006). What is metacognition?. Phi delta kappan, 87(9), 696-699.

Entry #1 

Hi readers!  

I’d like to begin by introducing myself, my name is Kaitlin Owens and I am from Halifax Nova Scotia. I have a double major in French and History from Acadia University. I’ve recently finished my first year of my Bachelor of Education degree at St. Francis-Xavier and am going into my second and final year.  

I decided to enter the teaching profession because I had many moments during my schooling of self-doubt, and I didn’t want that for others. I want to give my students the tools they require in order to have confidence in their abilities. One of the main goals in teaching is creating lifelong learners but how is this possible when there are students who doubt their own abilities? No amount of saying “you’re smart” is going to help unless they truly believe it themselves. You might be asking yourself how can we convince students that they are smart and capable of learning? I don’t think there is a simple answer to that question, but I think it is something that we should always be thinking of and striving to accomplish.  

This brings me to the reason of this blog. This summer I have the honour of working as Dr. Jennifer Mitton-Kükner research assistant and I’ll be exploring metacognition in relation to classroom teaching in rural areas, focusing on junior high and high school. For those of you who are unaware Metacognition is described as “thinking about thinking.” That’s the simple version of it, but I think it’s too broad and to truly understand the concept, you need to explore it further. According to Hüseyin Öz (2005) "metacognitive process enhances learning by guiding students’ thinking, and by helping them follow a wise course of action as they think through a problem, make decisions, or attempt to understand a situation or text” (p. 151). Anderson (as cited in Hüseyin Öz, 2005, p. 150-151) believes there are 5 steps in the metacognition process: 

Step 1: “Preparing and planning for learning” (Öz, 2005)- An individual will form a mindset of the task, determine learning goals, think if they’ve encountered a similar task in the past and the use of self-questioning (What background knowledge will help with the task, the order of steps within a task, etc) (Öz, 2005). 

Step 2: “Selecting and using learning strategies” (Öz, 2005) - This one is fairly straightforward, an individual will select strategies that they believe will help complete a task. Some examples of such strategies are selecting and using relevant clues/information, memory techniques, etc.  

Step 3: “Monitoring strategy use” (Öz, 2005) - An individual will evaluate whether or not the strategy they have chosen is helping them to complete a task. If the strategy is not, they will change to a strategy better suited for the task.  

Step 4: “Orchestrating various strategies” (Öz, 2005) - This strategy is connected to step 3. Through this step an individual will realize that a task requires more than one strategy at a time. Hüseyin Öz (2005) gives the example of becoming stuck on a word. In order to understand the meaning of a word, an individual may use relevant clues and word analysis (p. 150).  

Step 5: “Evaluating strategy use and learning” (Öz, 2005) - The final step in completing a task is reflecting. An individual will reflect on whether they completed the task effectively “One asks him/herself how well s/he did, what alternatives would have changed the outcome, and whether the knowledge is transferable” (Öz, 2005, p. 151).  

I think I’ll leave it there for now. I hope you have a basic understanding of what metacognition is. Throughout part of the summer I will be reading peer-reviewed sources to learn their interpretation of metacognition and whether metacognition can help students in their learning process. I will be creating weekly blogs to let you all know what I’ve read and learned. Let me know what you think, if you need clarification or if you have any questions.  

Until next time, 

Kaitlin Owens 

Oz H. Metacognition in foreign/second language learning and teaching. Hacettepe University Journal of Education. 2005;29:147-156.