Teaching and Assessing Discipline Independent and DisciplineSpecific Metacognitive

Teaching and Assessing Discipline. Independent and Discipline-Specific Metacognitive Strategies Laura Wenk Assistant Professor of Cognition and Education Hampshire College

Goals of this talk o Examples of learning challenges and metacognitive strategies n n o o Discipline-independent examples Discipline-specific examples Teaching example for each Assessment

Discipline-independent examples o o Intention (goal setting) Reading comprehension (Reciprocal Teaching, PQ 4 R) Writing to transform ideas (rather than knowledge telling) e. g. o Building explanation o Building argument o Genre Checking for confirmation bias and pre-mature closure

Discipline-specific examples o Scientific inquiry, including: n Explanatory reasoning in science o o n Empirical confirmation o o n Interpreting evidence to distinguish among knowledge claims Research design The helix of inquiry o n Theories, models, hypotheses Thinking with them Where from & where to? Primary research literature skills o o Reading and understanding Writing about

My courses this semester o CS 122 T: Inquiring Minds: Find out what other students think and do (social research and psychology) n n n o Understand social research Use primary research literature Conduct a study, manage and analyze data, write it up CS 208: How People Learn: Introduction to cognition and education n Write an argument using the literature (and own research data)

Why use primary research literature? o Engages students’ schemas about: n n o Epistemological change n n o What makes for a well-designed study What qualifies as evidence Distinction between data and interpretation How data are interpreted Theory-based explanations are inherently uncertain Results hinge on the details of the research process Preparation for student’s own research

Challenges to using primary literature o o o Students can’t find it/evaluate it Aren’t interested in it (at first) Can’t understand it n o New genre, vocabulary, assumptions, etc. Difficult to draw the larger lessons from it n It’s about more than just understanding this study

Some ideas to meet the challenges o o o Going slowly Breaking primary literature skills into components Metacognitive explicitness n o Rubric Using the project to maintain motivation

Questions assigned with a research article: 1) 2) 3) 4) What question is addressed? Explain the relevant past research and ideas that led to it What hypothesis was investigated? Explain how it is related to the research question you discussed in #1 above. How was the study set up? Explain why it was set up this way. What data were collected? Explain why the authors chose these particular data to collect.

Questions assigned with a research article: 5) 6) 7) 8) What were the results? Explain how well the results do (or do not) support the hypothesis. Explain any alternative explanations for the findings What further research does this study suggest? Explain why it should be conducted.

In-class activity o o Students compare answers in expert groups by question Groups present “best” responses All discuss what makes for strong answers, what is appropriate level of detail Meta-conceptual conversations on the nature of science, design issues, underlying assumptions, interpretation, etc.

Students receive feedback via rubric Question 1 through 8 Articulate and explain conceptual issues (well elaborated) Articulate conceptual issues (no elaboration) Miss important conceptual issues and/or confused about the science

Subsequent assignments o Additional common articles n n o Answer questions Student self-assesses with rubric I assess with rubric We compare assessments Multiple opportunities for modeling and practice with feedback

Study Results - 100 Level Natural Science Classes N=42 pre-post matched pairs

First year students can o o Read primary research Improve understanding of research design Improve understanding of data interpretation Improve in distinction between data and interpretation

My courses this semester o CS 122 T: Inquiring Minds: Find out what other students think and do (social research and psychology) n n n o Understand social research Use primary research literature Conduct a study and write it up CS 208: How People Learn: Introduction to cognition and education n Write an argument using the literature (and own research data)

Expectations for student writing o o Hampshire courses are writing intensive All students complete a senior thesis (Division III) Most course projects and the Div III are on negotiated topics Often requires interdisciplinary arguments

Some challenges to writing an argument o Students don’t know what an argument is n o Why do we have to argue : -) Early college students’ writing tends to be descriptive rather than analytical n n It lacks transitions It lacks explanation of why they are citing someone It ignores complexity The main point is often reached in the concluding paragraph

Some challenges to writing an argument o Students fear redundancy n o o I already wrote what they found Students don’t feel qualified to have an opinion Students’ strategies support descriptive writing

Strategies students tend to use o Reading articles/chapters and outlining them n n o o Independent judgments about importance of each fact or idea Not transformative Reading everything before writing Sitting down to write, going back to things they had read before, and extracting the part they thought was interesting Stringing ideas together in an order suggested by an outline of topics Leaving little time for revision

Some strategies to meet the challenge o Write AS you read (micro-writing) n n n o o o Do a number of these; have an epiphany Write across the shorter pieces (macro-writing) Read out loud (maybe to a friend) n o o About specific ideas as they occur to you Use your own words Include important details (elaboration) Stop when you find you need to explain something/why it was there and write that explanation down Hand in for feedback Keep revising with feedback (peer and professor)

Assignments to support new strategies o Critical response papers (articles I assign) n n n o o Develop a thesis Engage with the article and details of the points made (of interest) Consider questions raised by the reading Portfolio of response papers Periodically engage in: n n n Selection of best piece Assessing its strengths and weaknesses Revising

Assignments to support new strategies o o Receive feedback from me (on portfolio and self-assessment) For final paper n Students must write critical response papers for 5 articles they find and select on their topic

No study yet - but… o o o I’m happier with the writing They know what I mean when I ask for elaboration or transitions, etc. Seem more able to make connections across articles

Assessment - Both examples o o o Formative feedback Explicit criteria (discussed in class/rubric) Timely feedback - adjust Both teacher and self-assessment (helps students internalize criteria) Use same criteria on multiple assignments n n Use the same criteria to judge their projects Success on project requires use of target skills