Written by Elizabeth Yost Hammer, Garth Neufeld, Jeanne Turner
Purpose
The purpose of this tool is to help instructors increase and incorporate metacognition into current assignments. Metacognition is the ability to plan, monitor and evaluate one’s learning process, which is an important skill for student success.
National Standards for High School Psychology
Domain: Applicable to all domains.
Time Required
Not applicable, as this is a teacher tool purposed to promote greater student metacognition by enhancing current assignments.
Task
To revise existing lessons in order to explicitly promote metacognition.
Assessment
This tool is for instructor use, not student assessment. Teachers can assess and improve the metacognitive quality of existing assignments.
Metacognitive Assignment Revision Tool
Many good assignments are only a few thoughtful adjustments away from becoming great assignments that provide students with metacognitive opportunities. This tool is designed to help you embed metacognition into an existing content-based assessment.
Directions
Choose any assignment you currently use in your course. Then, use the following questions to consider the metacognitive quality of your assignment. The rubric below will help you determine what your assignment already does well in terms of metacognition and how it could be improved.
Metacognitive considerations for a given assignment:
Planning: Does the assignment require learners to ask, What am I supposed to learn? What prior knowledge will help me with this task? What should I do first? What information will I need? How much time will I need to complete this? In what direction do I want my thinking to take me? How does this assignment fit into the unit?
Monitoring: Does the assignment require learners to ask, How am I doing? Am I on the right track? How should I proceed? What information is important to remember? Should I move in a different direction? Should I adjust my pace because of the difficulty? What can I do if I do not understand?
Evaluation: Does the assignment require learners to ask, How well did I do? What did I learn? Did I get the results I expected? What could I have done differently? Can I apply this way of thinking to other problems or situations? Is there anything I don’t understand—any gaps in my knowledge? Do I need to go back through the task to fill in any gaps in understanding? How might I apply this line of thinking to other problems?
Adapted from: Tanner (2012)
Consider the way that your assignment offers students metacognitive opportunity:
| The assignment requires students to: | Not at All | Somewhat | Explicitly |
| Plan
|
|||
| Monitor
|
|||
| Evaluate
|
You have identified the metacognitive strengths and weaknesses of the assignment. Now, attempt to improve the level of metacognition in the assignment in relevant areas.
| Plan
|
|
| Monitor
|
|
| Evaluate
|
Note: With regards to Monitoring, building in teacher and/or peer feedback (i.e, check-in, rubric, etc.) is recommended
Before and After Examples
Exemplar 1: Metacognition Assignment Revision: “In the Field”
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to apply the material covered in this course to the “real world,” and to explore how this material might relate to your life. I will provide writing prompts and ask you to respond. This formal paper should be 2-3 pages in length, double-spaced, 12-pt. font, and will be submitted via Turnitin on Blackboard. It should follow standard essay format (that is, an opening paragraph with a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs with evidence, and a conclusion).
This “In the Field” Paper relates the Learning Chapter. Before you begin this assignment, consider what you need to know in order to do well at it. Read the instructions below carefully and then start to notice advertisements around you in the “real word.” Begin to critically analyze these ads. (For the purpose of this paper, these can be television commercials, magazine ads, or billboards. No online ads please. I’m forcing you to take an online break!)
Choose one ad that, to you, best exemplifies the use of classical conditioning. Explain how the ad uses classical conditioning effectively to (try to) influence your behavior or emotions. Clearly identify the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR. Is the ad successful in your opinion? Please take a picture of the ad (if possible) and include it in your paper.
Remember, this paper should be a formal essay with an opening paragraph and thesis statement, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Be sure to incorporate specific key terms from the chapter.
Consider the way that your assignment offers students metacognitive opportunity:
| The assignment requires students to: | Not at All | Somewhat | Explicitly |
| Plan
|
X | ||
| Monitor
|
X | ||
| Evaluate
|
X |
You have identified the metacognitive strengths and weaknesses of the assignment. Now, attempt to improve the level of metacognition in the assignment in relevant areas.
| Plan
|
Metacognition is vague in assignment instructions. Expand the prompt to include more explicit reflection on aspects of planning. |
| Monitor
|
Add a mid-assignment check-in to consider progress, pace, and accuracy of the work |
| Evaluate
|
Add a reflective prompt to the end of this assessment |
Exemplar 1: “In the Field” - Revised (revisions are marked in bold text below)
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to apply the material covered in this course to the “real world,” and to explore how this material might relate to your life. I will provide writing prompts and ask you to respond. This formal paper should be 2-3 pages in length, double-spaced, 12-pt. font, and will be submitted via Turnitin on Blackboard. It should follow standard essay format (that is, an opening paragraph with a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs with evidence, and a conclusion).
This “In the Field” Paper relates the Learning Chapter. Before you begin this assignment, consider what you will need to know about classical conditioning.1 Read the application carefully and then start to notice advertisements around you in the “real word.” Begin to critically analyze these ads. (For the purpose of this paper, these can be television commercials, magazine ads, or billboards. No online ads please. I’m forcing you to take an online break!)
Choose one ad that, to you, best exemplifies the use of classical conditioning. When you have chosen the ad, show it to me and explain why you think it will work for this assignment.2 Explain how the ad uses classical conditioning effectively to (try to) influence your behavior or emotions. Clearly identify the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR. Is the ad successful in your opinion? Please take a picture of the ad (if possible) and include it in your paper.
Remember, this paper should be a formal essay with an opening paragraph and thesis statement, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Be sure to incorporate specific key terms from the chapter.
After you have completed the assignment, please answer these questions and turn them in with your assignment:
-
How do you think you did on this assignment? Give a reason for your answer.
-
What was challenging about this assignment? What did you do to overcome this challenge?
-
What lessons did you learn from doing this assignment that you can apply to future assignments?” (For example, “Start sooner because papers take longer to write than you think.”)3
Exemplar 2: Metacognition Assignment Revision: “Experiments”
Directions
1. Choose one of the following hypotheses. (You will not actually “DO” this experiment.)
a. “When exposed to low-stress environments, people are happier."
b. “If people are told that a man is interesting, they will attempt to talk with him in a social setting more frequently."
c. "If people have their beliefs challenged, they will be more hostile."
d. "When a psychologist tells people that they have done 'very well' on a particular assignment, they tend to believe they have done better than how they have actually performed."
2. Identify the independent variable and its conditions. Conditions are the groups you are comparing. The independent variable represents the "cause" half of the hypothesis. (You may have more than one experimental or control condition. Most will have only one of each.)
a. Independent variable:
b. Experimental condition:
c. Control condition:
3. Identify the dependent variable. The dependent variable is what you are comparing your groups on. This variable represents the "effect" half of the hypothesis. (You may have more than one dependent variable. Most will have only one.)
a. Dependent variable:
4. Describe the experiment. In a well constructed paragraph or two, describe how you would conduct this experiment. Include operational definitions, the number of participants, the location of the experiment (and justification for this choice), and explain how you would use random assignment and why it is important. Finally, discuss how you can be confident that the results came from your independent variable.
Consider the way that your assignment offers students metacognitive opportunity:
| The assignment requires students to: | Not at All | Somewhat | Explicitly |
| Plan
|
X | ||
| Monitor
|
X | ||
| Evaluate
|
X |
You have identified the metacognitive strengths and weaknesses of the assignment. Now, attempt to improve the level of metacognition in the assignment in relevant areas.
| Plan
|
A prompt should include metacognitive guidance on how to frame and prepare for this assignment. |
| Monitor
|
The step-by-step instructions guide students to consider the accuracy of their understanding of experiments, but could be more explicit. A few simple adjustments could more obviously help students monitor whether they are ‘on the right track’. |
| Evaluate
|
Add a direct, evaluative question related to the students’ learning process. |
Exemplar 2: “Experiments” - Revised (revisions are marked in bold text below)
You’ve already learned about a number of experiments from your textbook and in class. Before you begin this assignment, take 5 minutes to review one of them and ask yourself ‘how well do I understand experiments?’1
Directions
1. Choose one of the following hypotheses. (You will not actually “DO” this experiment.)
a. “When exposed to low-stress environments, people are happier."
b. “If people are told that a man is interesting, they will attempt to talk with him in a social setting more frequently."
c. "If people have their beliefs challenged, they will be more hostile."
d. "When a psychologist tells people that they have done 'very well' on a particular assignment, they tend to believe they have done better than how they have actually performed."
2. Identify the independent variable and its conditions. Conditions are the groups you are comparing. The independent variable represents the "cause" half of the hypothesis. (You may have more than one experimental or control condition. Most will have only one of each.)
a. Independent variable:
b. Experimental condition:
c. Control condition:
In Part 2, I was confused by __________________, so I __________________.2
3. Identify the dependent variable. The dependent variable is what you are comparing your groups on. This variable represents the "effect" half of the hypothesis. (You may have more than one dependent variable. Most will have only one.)
a. Dependent variable:
Are you confident about your answer? Why or why not?2
4.Describe the experiment. In a well constructed paragraph or two, describe how you would conduct this experiment. Include operational definitions, the number of participants, the location of the experiment (and justification for this choice), and explain how you would use random assignment and why it’s important. Finally, discuss how you can be confident that the results came from your independent variable.
Let’s say that you hear a news report about how squeezing a stress ball helps students focus in class. In 4 to 5 sentences, explain how would this assignment help you consider this claim?3
1This provides an opportunity to practice Planning.
2This provides an opportunity to practice Monitoring.
3This provides an opportunity to practice Evaluation.
Reference
Tanner, K. D. (2012). Promoting Student Metacognition. Cell Biology Education, 11(2), 113-120.
This resource was developed by a Working Group on Skills that Promote Well-Being and Flourishing from the APA Summit on High School Psychology Education (July 2017).