Tuesday Teaching Tip

Topic: Metacognition (Or, Thinking about Thinking)

“A ‘metacognitive’ approach to instruction can help students learn

to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and
monitoring their progress towards them.”

Teaching and Learning Implications:

• Challenge students to share their thought processes,

particularly as they problem-solve. Think-aloud paired problem
solving works well in many disciplines such as math and reading.

• Ask students to submit an assessment paper answering

questions such as, “What challenged you the most about this
assignment?” “What did you learn that surprised you?” “What
would you do differently if you had two more weeks?” or “What
would you change, if you could?”

• As you lecture, stop and ask questions such as, “How fully and
consistently were you concentrating on the lecture during these
few minutes?” Did you get distracted at any point? If so, how did
you bring your attention back into focus?” “What were you doing
to record the information you were receiving? How successful
were you?” “What were you doing to make connections between
this “new” information and what you already know?” or “What
did you expect to come next in the lecture and why?”

• Help students learn to think in your discipline. Students should

learn to approach a physics problem differently than they would
approach the analysis/interpretation of a poem in a literature
class.

Reference:
Bransford, J. D., A. Brown, and R. R. Cocking (Eds.). 1999. How
People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, D.
C.: National Academy Press. Available online at
www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/notice.html
Contributed by: Distributed by:
Barbara J. Millis, Director Nancy Givens
The TEAM Center Faculty Center for Excellence in
University of Texas at San Teaching
Antonio WKU
San Antonio, TX Bowling Green, KY
www.utsa.edu/directory/ (270) 745-6508
www.wku.edu/teaching/