This page addresses: Why does learning how to learn help learners to learn? What can an instructor do to help learners learn?
13 May, 2012
Meta-cognition
“How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
– Riddle
The riddle above illustrates the kind of challenge instructors face when they seek to induce learners to engage in meta-cognition.
What is meta-cognition, exactly? Some describe it as: “thinking about thinking.” Others describe it as having to do with being conscious of the way you are learning, while you are learning. In an online webinar, Marsha Lovett uses a circular graphic to illustrate the process. Moving around the circular graphic in a clockwise direction, the process is:
- A learner begins by sizing up the task, and forms a plan all the while taking into account their own learning style. At this point objectives are set.
- That done, the next step is to execute the plan, monitoring results.
- Next, the learner evaluates the results, and adjusts the plan accordingly.
This is the part that is analogous to “chucking wood”. The task seems simple enough. All the instructor has to do is to show the learners this tidy diagram, perhaps explain it, and launch them on their way. Evidently, there’s lots of research that shows that learners who engage in this process get better results.
Many of those who have advocated this to their learners have observed that creating a learning strategy in this way often involves (or requires) that learners change their attitudes and beliefs about learning, about themselves, about their ability to learn. For example, learners must initially accept on faith that they can indeed succeed, and positive results tend to reinforce their initial leap of faith, resulting in increased confidence.
Intuitively, this all sounds very positive and desirable, but here’s the problem: can woodchucks chuck wood? There are two aspects to this problem. 1) Can learners actually engage in this process? 2) Can instructors explain / teach how to do it? As Marsha Lovett has pointed out in her webinar, the jury is out on both these issues. According to Lovett:
- Initial experience showed that when abstract learning strategies were taught, learners had a hard time applying them.
- Conversely, when very concrete strategies strategies were taught, learners had great difficulty identifying the underlying principles and applying them to other situations, or applying them to situations that involved learning beyond training.
- Attitudes and beliefs (e.g., “I can’t do Math”) are stubborn, and difficult to change.
Lovett concludes her webinar optimistically by stating that more recent research suggests that since we now have more collective experience with this process, more is understood about how to address each of these three obstacles.
Overcoming the Challenges
As described in page 1 of this blog, learners must have a motivation to learn, or they simply will not succeed. When motivated, they will have the mindset to engage actively in the process, and this is absolutely necessary for meta-cognition to have any effect. A passive learner is simply not going to form a plan based on their understanding of the learning task and based on an understanding of their own learning style. And of course, the instructor can help by setting up a positive learning environment (page 2 of this blog). As well, a number of motivational strategies (page 3) can be brought to bear.
Willing Woodchucks
So let’s assume we have a ‘willing woodchuck’ to work with. What then?
As ‘kasiagonska’ illustrates in the Youtube video ‘Metacognitive Strategies’, there are several steps in the process. Even before a plan can be formed, thought should be given to the situation at hand. kasiagogska categorizes this initial step as ‘Awareness’. As the video indicates, learner activities associated with Awareness include:
- Consciously identify what you already know
- Define the learning goal
- Consider your personal resources
- Determine how your performance will be evaluated
- Consider your motivational level
- Determine your level of anxiety
With that done, kasiagonska sets out the procedure for Planning. As the video indicates, learner activities associated with Awareness include:
- Estimate the time required to complete the learning task
- Plan study time into your schedule and set priorities
- Organize your materials
As this stage, the learner begins to implement the plan. kasiagonska’s video indicates that learners should take the necessary steps to learn by using strategies such as outlining and mnemonics, etc. As ‘Forceflow’ reminds us in his Youtube video on the subject, learners would be wise to take into account their own learning style, whether visual, auditory or kinesthetic. And, instructors can support the process by using classroom techniques tailored to the mix of learners who happen to be in the classroom (page 4) and by using tailored question strategies (page 5), and by coaching on thinking skills (page 7).
At this point, we have woodchucks chucking the wood (i.e. both the learners as well as the instructors), but how well are they chucking the wood? Are they chucking it into the designated the container or are they merely flinging it, willy-nilly, all around the space? kasiagonska’s video indicates that in order to determine this, the learners can:
- Reflect on the learning process, especially by keeping track of what is working for you and what is not working, or not working as well
- Monitoring your own learning by questioning and self-testing
- Providing your own feedback
- Keep your concentration and motivation high
Striking a Key Balance
Problem solved? Not quite. Instructors have a further challenge. As Lovett says in her webinar, it is critical that instead of focusing solely on content, the instructor s well as the learner must focus on the learning process.
Of course, this cannot be an either / or choice (i.e. content vs. learning process). The fact is that instructors are responsible for inducing learners to absorb certain content, and learners must be competent in certain content if they are going to be effective operating in the real world.
Acting largely on faith, an instructor may well decide to build coaching about meta-cognition into her course. While doing so, she will be conscious that the time she devotes to this activity will be time she will not have for conveying content. But is she believes that her role is to incite her learners to engage in active learning (and especially if she adopts a constructivist approach in which she sees herself as a resource for self-directed learners rather than a source for content) she may feel that the time she invests in coaching learners about meta-cognition will be more than compensated for when her self-directed students take responsibility for their own success.
But of course, everyone is different, and some learners will be more inclined than others to adopt this approach. Even a very self-directed learner may be more successful on one occasion than on another. For this reason, it is appropriate that instructors develop their own plan for ‘teaching’ meta-cognition, possibly using a process similar to the one outlined above by kasiagonska. It is probably a technique that must be adapted to each instructor’s individual style and personality. This being the case, it would seem appropriate that each instructor would develop tactics that work for them, in much the same way that a learner would develop learning tactics.
If woodchucks can chuck wood, it’s likely that each one would chuck wood in their own way, if they could.
Please note: A list of resources used while creating this page are listed on page 8 of this blog – Resources – Bibliography.
Instructional Strategies 
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