ACTIVITIES FOR METACOGNITION

ACTIVITIES FOR METACOGNITION

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Metacognition, or thinking about one’s thinking, is key to facilitating lasting learning experiences and developing lifelong learners. Linda Darling-Hammond and her colleagues (2003) identify two types of metacognition: reflection, or “thinking about what we know,” and self-regulation, or “managing how we go about learning.”

Metacognitive activities can guide students as they:

  • Identify what they already know
  • Articulate what they learned
  • Communicate their knowledge, skills, and abilities to a specific audience, such as a hiring committee
  • Set goals and monitor their progress
  • Evaluate and revise their own work
  • Identify and implement effective learning strategies
  • Transfer learning from one context to another

Activities that promote metacognition should:

  • Facilitate equal participation
  • Ensure students do most of the talking
  • Take place before, during, and after an experience
  • Happen in different group configurations (individuals, pairs, small group, large group)

These activities were developed for DePaul’s 2014 Chicago Quarter Best Practices Conference. Download a print-friendly PDF version of the handout.

GETTING STARTED AND FACILITATING DISCUSSION

Jumpstart Journal

What is it? Routine writing activity that takes place at the start of each class meeting or discussion.

Good for: Incorporating reflection into every class; giving students time to collect their thoughts; facilitating equal participation; preparing for or debriefing after an experience; articulating goals; making connections to course readings.

How to: Ask students to bring a journal or notebook with them to every class. At the start of each class or discussion, pose a question and give them five minutes to write down their response. You might ask: “What are your goals for today’s activity?” or “How did today’s readings change or expand the way you think about X?” The students’ prepared responses can be used to “jumpstart” a discussion or the next activity.

Think-Pair-Share

Ball Pass

Fish Bowl

DIGGING DEEPER AND MAKING CONNECTIONS

What? So what? Now what?

What is it? A method for sequencing reflective thinking that moves from description to analysis to action. It can take the form of an in-class writing assignment, discussion, or creative project (e.g. storyboard, comic, poster).

Good for: Debriefing after an experience; articulating goals; developing strategies for achieving goals.

How to: Begin by asking students to describe an experience, such as an excursion, a class discussion, or personal life event: What happened? What did you do? Next, ask them to analyze the experience: Why does it matter to you? To DePaul students? To Chicago residents? How is it significant within the context of this class? Finally, ask students to take action: What have you learned? What will you do differently?

Force Field Analysis

Photo Captions

Generative Knowledge Interviewing (GKI)

WRAPPING UP AND TAKING ACTION

Index Card Takeaways

What is it? A quick end-of-class activity that asks participants to reflect on what they learned that day and to plan how they will act on that learning.

Good for: Debriefing after an experience; articulating goals; developing strategies for achieving goals.

How to: Provide each student with an index card. On one side, have them identify a key idea or concept they learned that day. On the reverse side, ask them to identify a next step (e.g. how they plan to implement what they learned in a project or future course).

Letters to Future Students

Figurative Transformation

FURTHER READING

Flavell, John H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive?dev.... American Psychologist, 34(10), 906–911.

Darling-Hammond, Linda, Austin, K., Cheung, M., & Martin, D. (2003). Thinking about thinking: Metacognition. The learning classroom: Theory into practice. Stanford University School of Education.

Tanner, Kimberly D. (2012). Promoting student metacognition. CBE–Life Sciences Education, 11(2), 113–120.

* Yancey, Kathleen. (1998). Reflection in the writing classroom. Logan, UT: Utah State UP.

* This book is available for loan through the TLA library.

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