14th International Conference on Thinking (2009 Malaysia)

Metacognition in Teaching

Selva Ranee Subramaniam, University of Malaya, Malaysia, drselvaranee@hotmail.com Abstract Teaching is often assumed to be simple and one can be of the notion that anyone can teach as it involves dissemination of knowledge. However, this is a serious misconception as exemplary teachers require diverse skills to face the challenges of the uncertainties and unpredictable factors that prevail in authentic classroom situation. Though stipulated objectives may be the same, teachers adopt different teaching approaches in enabling attainment of learning outcomes among students. Teaching lessons may be carefully planned, taking into consideration the constraints and opportunities, nevertheless the implementation may not reciprocate the planning. The variability indicates the different thinking pathways of the teachers. This study explores the psychological component of thinking about the thinking processes, or referred to as metacognition involved in the planning and implementation of the teaching process. The sample involved two experienced teachers from a randomly selected school in the central region of the country. To investigate this, qualitative methods of data collection involving open-ended interviews, observations and document analysis were carried out. The findings of this study revealed that both the teachers planned and implemented strategies that had indicated positive achievement for students. Thinking about the thinking process in teaching revealed that the predominance of specific strategies was based on the different teaching criterion by the respective teachers. Each criterion was based on the analysis of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats, which resulted in customised teaching practices. Though, the teachers had been trained a decade ago, they have shifted away from theoretical teaching frameworks to authentic practitioner research-led teaching. Bearing in mind that the target audience is heterogeneous, the teachers adopted critical and creative teaching pathways, which mirrored critical and creative thinking processes of the teachers in planning and implementation. Metacognitive processes in teaching are significant in enculturing implicit lifelong learning among teachers.

740

1.0 Introduction

There has been much discourse about thinking skills, its implementation in schools, the strengths and weakness of the thinking models adopted and its suitability to a heterogeneous group of students. Since the late 1980s, the secondary school education in Malaysia emphasized on stimulating critical and creative thinking. Students are expected to analyze, synthesize, explain, draw conclusions, and produce innovative and creative ideas. Whatever was documented had to be read between the lines and have kept the teachers and administrators wondering whether they are doing it the right way. At the back of their minds, was the question of what is meant by the sentence “promote the development of thinking abilities” and is it to be implemented explicitly or done in the “touch-and–go” fashion. The only reflection the teachers had about their success was the outcome of the standardized examination results as an indicator of the implementation.

The thinking skills program was officially implemented in schools throughout the country since 1993. In view of fulfilling the principles of the National Philosophy of Education and to meet the demands of the challenges of the Vision 2020, the Ministry of Education drafted a policy in 1994 that a minimum of 60% of the public examinations questions in 2000 will test the creative and analytical thinking skills of the students. The groundwork of preparing the curriculum, guidelines, textbooks and resource materials were prepared and teachers were trained to implement another intervention into the existing curriculum.

The Teacher Education Division made changes to its Five Semester basic Teacher Education Program and the Two Semester Post-Degree Education Programs to accommodate the necessary changes to teach higher-order thinking skills explicitly in 1993. These changes were implemented in the teacher education colleges since June 1994. The Teacher Education Division basically adopted the Boston Model to train teacher educators to teach prospective teachers (Teacher Education Division, 1994). The “Boston Model” or the infusion model advocates integrating teaching critical thinking in all content areas and at all grade levels rather than using a pre-packaged program. This model emphasizes that the same skill be taught, reinforced, and elaborated in many contexts, subject areas, and at other grade levels (Swartz and Parks, 1994).

The Teacher Education Division made modifications to the “Boston Model” before implementing it in the colleges to suit the local needs. The Teacher Education Division adopted a model which has five components in the infusion lessons: introduction to content and process; thinking actively; thinking about thinking; consolidation or enrichment activities; and applying thinking (Teacher Education Division 1994). Extensive literature has focused on steering “thinking about thinking” in the learning process among students and as learning and teaching reciprocate each other, thinking about thinking in the teaching process is significant to justify the basis for varied planning and implementation of lessons. Thinking “what”, “which”, “why”, “how” in teaching is neither a spontaneous nor an automatic process. Teaching does not merely involve the critical and creative thinking processes of the teacher, but incorporates the skill of transfer of these skills to their authentic teaching practice. The skill of adapting, adopting, modifying and consolidating appropriate teaching practices taps upon the

741

metacognitive dimension of the teacher. The “thinking about thinking” in planning lessons, “real time” implementation and post implementation are essential elements for subsequent justification of teaching processes.

2.0 Background In 1995, the Teacher Education Division, Ministry of Education conducted a research to investigate the preparedness of the graduates of the Post-Graduate Pre-Service Teacher Education Program in implementing the various teaching-learning tasks. The research revealed that “79.2% of the graduates studied suggested that the most difficult task to be carried out, among other pedagogical tasks, is infusing thinking skills in content instruction” (Teacher Education Division 1995, p.85). The aspect that was critical in this context is the metacognition component of “what”, “which”, “why”, “how” in teaching to ascertain the appropriate and relevant strategies in infusing thinking skills into content area.

There is no doubt that teachers are equipped with the content knowledge and the pedagogical knowledge as they have been exposed to courses in the Universities or colleges. The question of whether they are equipped with the pedagogical content knowledge is questionable. In the real classroom setting, faced with a heterogenous sample to cope with, teachers are in a dilemma of how to make pedagogical decisions to teach higher-order thinking skills in their classrooms. Teacher observed after graduation (less than 5 years service) are in situation wondering “what is the best practise” with the time constraint of “finishing the syllabus for examination purposes” (Interview data 2004). This should not be an issue as “thinking about thinking” in the teaching process would provide adequate resolutions to address the appropriateness and relevance of teaching.

With the wave of technology influencing the school system, the use of computer-assisted instruction is another intervention to be looked at in facilitating the teaching of thinking skills. One could expect teachers to face difficulties in employing specific techniques in the Science classrooms to promote higher-order thinking skills among students (Interview data 2004). The debate on the use of technology to replace the experiential component of teaching and learning Science requires metacognition in teaching and to what extent do teachers spend time on this critical component. The emphasis of science process skills is actually the forefront of stimulating thinking.

Reflective teaching proposed by Dewey (1933), contrasted “routine action” from “reflective action”, thereby identifying seven key characteristics of reflective practice which are as follows: (i) reflective teaching is an active process with aims and consequences (ii) reflective teaching is applied in a cyclical or spiraling process, in which teachers monitor, evaluate and revise their own practice continuously (iii) reflective teaching require competence in methods of evidence-based classroom enquiry, to support

742

the progressive development of higher standards of teaching (iv) reflective teaching requires attitudes of open-mindedness, responsibility and wholeheartedness (v) reflective teaching is based on teacher judgment, informed by evidence-based enquiry and insights from other research (vi) reflective teaching, professional learning and personal fulfillment are enhanced through collaboration and dialogue with colleagues (vii) reflective teaching enables teachers to creatively mediate externally developed frameworks for teaching and learning. Teaching is conceptualised as an idealistic application of the content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge acquired during teacher training programmes to authentic situations. The “pretty image” of teaching gets disfigured as uncertainties, “ad-hoc” events and challenges “crop up”. The most complicated and cumbersome task to deal with as there are hardly any guidelines to be followed in handling “real-time” classroom crisis. Each situation that prevails is unique and different skills and competencies of experienced teachers, who handle the situation in the most amicable way.

Reflective practice can be done on oneself (Schon, 1987) or collaboratively (Sagor, 1992). McNiff et al. (1996) envisions this type of research as significant in the context of professional development as it allows pooling of resources through collaboration and participation. ‘I’ or the individual teacher studying his or her teaching practices through self-reflection would involve both critical and creative thinking dimensions. This process serves as a driving force for inquiry and for venturing into “new” boundaries. How can change be made possible? Having an open and critical mind to situations, phenomena, occurrences and ignoring the consequences or eventualities, teachers should exhibit the capability of being innovative and creative. The willingness to accept changes and make provisions for “fresh ideas” to be incorporated into the existing practice clearly exhibits that change is taking place, though it may be in a small way, but the long-term effects of professional development are cumulative. Challenging existing knowledge, beliefs and practices are indicators of critical inquiring practitioners. This could be done by attempting to analyse and justify with evidence that change is necessary in the current teaching practice, thus enculturing metacognition. Metacognition is a mirror image of authentic teaching practices and extrapolating metacognition would cause subsequent changes.

3.0 Purpose

The main objective of this study is to explore the metacognitive practices in teaching. The purpose of this study is to: (1) explore the thinking about the thinking processes (2) investigate the criterion for the customised teaching practices.

743

4.0 Design and Methods Classroom Context An inquiry research with a qualitative methodology is used to investigate the metacognitive practices of two experienced teachers in a selected school from the central region of the country. The experienced teachers had more than ten years teaching experience in their field of specialization. The awareness of the teachers to continuously reflect on their teaching practices is critical as this has an impact on their own learning processes and professional development to face futuristic challenges in the work place.

4.1 Procedure

Interviews and Documents The researcher carried out open-ended interviews for a period of ten weeks. As the teachers were busy with tight teaching schedules, interviews were conducted for exemplary teaching segments.Verbal responses from interviews were validated with the inspection of documents. The lesson plans and reflection notes of the pre-service teachers were analysed in this research.

4. 2 Results and Findings

Qualitative Data Interviews were used to probe teachers’ metacognition in teaching. The “thinking about thinking” was ascertained through analysis of documents namely lesson plans and reflection notes. The following is the sequence of the science lessons throughout the ten-week period. The following development of “thinking” in teaching and criterion for the customized teaching practices reveals the consolidated development of thinking of both teachers and the extrapolated metacognition. LESSON 1: Interviewer : What concept do you want students to construct? Respondent 1 : I want them to construct about pressure using their own ideas. Metacognition : The constructivist approach is adopted to ascertain varying conceptions about pressure.This indicates that the teacher emphasizes on student-centered learning. In this manner, the various ideas put forth by the students can become the center for further discussion.

744

LESSON 2: Interviewer : What is the purpose for you to explain pressure on the board? Respondent 1 : The students already know the product of the experiment. Therefore, from here I could relate it to the concept that I want them to construct by themselves and the Bernoulli Principle. Metacognition : Basic knowledge is essential based on the experiential “hands-on”. Concepts acquired is used to develop ideas related to Bernoulli Principle. LESSON 3: Interviewe : Do you feel satisfied after doing the activity you have chosen? Respondent 1 : No. Interviewer : Would you do the same activity? Respondent 1 : Before this, I had demonstrated it and it worked but now the problems occurred happened suddenly. Metacognition : This experiment was repeated but however since it did not work, the teacher doubted whether it should be done. Based on the prior experience conducting this experiment, there was hardly any doubt regarding the appropriateness of the experiment. LESSON 4: Interviewer : They already studied the Bernoulli Principle, is it? Respondent 1 : No. Interviewer : So, do you teach them? Respondent 1 : I want them to learn step by step. Firstly, they will do the simple experiment and observe what has happened, and construct the idea themselves. Then, I will guide them later on. Metacognition : The concept of guided learning through experiential learning is significant.

745

LESSON 5: Interviewer : Why do you show them the video? Respondent 1 : I want to make the class interesting and wake them up. Metacognition : To provide stimulating strategies to facilitate understanding of concepts. LESSON 6: Interviewer : What is the purpose you hold the paper when explaining the concept? Respondent 1 : As they learn about concept of Bernoulli, therefore I want them to relate the paper with the concept. Metacognition : The strategy of demonstrating concepts to facilitate understanding. Interviewer : Is it necessary for you to holding the paper without showing them what happen? Respondent 2: I want to show them that the air moves much more faster when it is blown on top of the paper. Metacognition : The demonstration would enable the students to observe and draw their conclusions. The strategy of using inquiry and observation takes a significant role in demonstrating abstract concepts which are presented in a contextual and simplified manner. LESSON 7: Interviewer : Why you pick this set induction as your beginning of the lesson? Respondent 2 : I wanted them to have the relation with the mass and the idea to relate heat capacity with the mass. So they will observe bigger mass and have lower or higher heat capacity but I didn’t explain to them what heat capacity is. Metacognition : Inquiry learning based on real life situations to develop relationships between heat capacity and mass. Learning in context of the authentic classroom teaching initiates critical self-inquiry and leads to continuous professional self-development. The discovery approach was adopted by the experienced teachers, to infuse high-order thinking in their lessons. The priority of the teaching approaches used indicated the teachers’ “thinking about thinking” to ensure meaningful learning. The demonstration strategy as the appropriate choice of teaching strategies and the rationale for adopting demonstration was to save time and to highlight aspects of the demonstration that required attention. The attempt of the teacher to identify

746

this demonstration as an appropriate strategy signifies the “probing” skill into students’ understanding of the subject. The experimental procedures were made “visual” to the students through the use of the courseware. The technology-aided tool was utilized as a teaching strategy to ensure that students can manage their experiment smoothly. The judgment of appropriate teaching and learning strategies are indicators of the teachers’ professional development to ensure students’ meaningful learning and understanding. The idea of constructing, de-constructing and re-constructing indicates the “self-learning process” of the teacher. The accuracy of content took the center stage in importance. During the entire period, the experienced teachers took into account the teachers’ sensitivity to the students’ needs. They took into consideration the students’ varying cognitive, psychomotor and affective domain in planning and implementing their lessons. The teachers were explored new ideas in technology-driven teaching for increasing the quality of teaching. 5.0 Conclusion The findings of this study revealed evidence of the teachers’ metacognitive practices in strategizing and re-strategizing the pedagogical approaches, thus making learning more accessible to all students. Metacognition should not viewed as a separate entity, but should be considered as part and parcel of enculturing exemplary teaching practices. These are significant for the sustainable professional development of the teachers.

References Dewey, J. (1933). How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective

Thinking to the Educative Process. Chicago: Henry Regnery. McNiff, J., Lomax, P., & Whitehead, J. (1996). You and your action research project.

London: Routledge. Sagor, R. (1992). How to conduct collaborative action research. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Schon, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching

and learning in the professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Teacher Education Division. (1994). Model Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Kemahiran

Berfikir. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Ministry of Education. Teacher Education Division. (1995). Kajian keberkesanan kurikulum Kursus Perguruan

Lepas Ijazah (KPLI) Institut/maktab Perguruan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Ministry of Education.

747

Swartz, R.J. & Parks, S. 1994. Infusing the teaching of critical and creative thinking into elementary instruction: a lesson design handbook. Pacific Grove, CA: Critical Thinking Press and Software.