metacognition / metacognitive skills

In Memory: Seymour Papert — from media.mit.edu; with thanks to Mr. Joe Byerwalter for this resource

Excerpt:

Seymour Papert, whose ideas and inventions transformed how millions of children around the world create and learn, died Sunday, July 31, 2016 at his home in East Blue Hill, Maine. He was 88.

Papert’s career traversed a trio of influential movements: child development, artificial intelligence, and educational technologies. Based on his insights into children’s thinking and learning, Papert recognized that computers could be used not just to deliver information and instruction, but also to empower children to experiment, explore, and express themselves. The central tenet of his Constructionist theory of learning is that people build knowledge most effectively when they are actively engaged in constructing things in the world. As early as 1968, Papert introduced the idea that computer programming and debugging can provide children a way to think about their own thinking and learn about their own learning.

Also see:

AI and Computer Learning Lion Seymour Papert Dies at 88 — from fortune.com by Barb Darrow
Excerpt:
Seymour Papert, the MIT professor who helped blaze the trail for artificial intelligence and computer-aided education for children at a time when no one saw the potential for using these massive machines for such purposes, died Sunday at the age of 88 in East Blue Hill, Maine.

“In this particular art class they were all carving soap,” he continued, “but what each student carved came from wherever fancy is bred, and the project was not done and dropped but continued for many weeks. It allowed time to think, to dream, to gaze, to get a new idea and try it and drop it or persist, time to talk, to see other people’s work and their reaction to yours — not unlike mathematics as it is for the mathematician, but quite unlike math as it is in junior high school.”

Seymour Papert, 88, Dies; Saw Education’s Future in Computers — from nytimes.com by Glenn Rifkin
Excerpt:
Seymour Papert, a visionary educator and mathematician who well before the advent of the personal computer foresaw children using computers as instruments for learning and enhancing creativity, died on Sunday at his home in Blue Hill, Me. He was 88.

He added, “In the past, education adapted the mind to a very restricted set of available media; in the future, it will adapt media to serve the needs and tastes of each individual mind.”

From DSC:
Though the title of Ashley Coolman’s blog posting out at smartsparrow.com mentions technology in it, the article is largely not about technology at all — but rather about the benefits of active learning. That’s why I’m highlighting it here.

Enabling active learning through technology — from smartsparrow.com by Ashley Coolman

Excerpts:

To many, it seems as though any learning can be considered active. Is a student taking notes not actively engaged in a class, especially when compared to their peers sleeping or playing on their phones in the back of the room?

The problem here is that while the note-taking student may be engaging with the class and professor, they are not engaging with the material. When furiously scribbling notes, students are more focused on getting every word down rather than evaluating, understanding, and analyzing what it is they are writing. They have engaged with the lecture, but not the material being relayed — which is the most important part.

In a study on active learning called “Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom”, the researchers stated:

“Surprisingly, educators’ use of the term “active learning” has relied more on intuitive understanding than a common definition. Consequently, many faculty assert that all learning is inherently active and that students are therefore actively involved while listening to formal presentations in the classroom. Analysis of the research literature (Chickering and Camson 1987), however, suggests that students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.” (Bonwell and Eison 1991)

It is the degree and form by which students are actively engaging that matters. It is “learning by doing” that students really need.

Active learning is any learning activity in which the student INTERACTS or ENGAGES with the material, as opposed to passively taking in the information.

Furthermore, Cornell University found that research suggests learner attention starts to wane every 10–20 minutes during lectures. Incorporating active learning techniques a few times throughout class can encourage more engagement.*

*A side note from DSC:
A tool like Socrative may come in useful here.

The blog posting from Smart Sparrow also linked to this resource:

The problem is that lecture-based learning is not like filling a jug — you just don’t catch it all. Learning from lectures is more like holding out your hands and trying to keep the imparted knowledge from spilling through the cracks in this tidal wave of new information. Ultimately, students will catch some of the water, but most of it will be lost.

A side note from DSC to Calvin College faculty members:
If you doubt the immediately preceding quote, see if you can *fully* recall exactly what last Sunday’s sermon was about — including all examples, details, and wisdom that the preacher was trying to relay.

Ultimately, it’s about impact. What strongly impacts students stays with students — and isn’t that true for all of us?

Ashley lists the following resources re: active learning at the end of her posting:

Connecting the education community with research on learning — from digitalpromise.org

Excerpt:

When designing a program or product, many education leaders and ed-tech developers want to start with the best knowledge available on how students learn. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done.

Although thousands of academic articles are published every year, busy education leaders and product developers often don’t know where to start, or don’t have time to sift through and find studies that are relevant to their work. As pressure mounts for “evidence-based” practices and “research-based” products, many in the education community are frustrated, and want an easier way to find information that will help them deliver stronger programs and products — and results. We need better tools to help make research more accessible for everyday work in education.

The Digital Promise Research Map meets this need by connecting education leaders and product developers with research from thousands of articles in education and the learning sciences, along with easy-to-understand summaries on some of the most relevant findings in key research topics.

Also see:

5 items on listening — an underrated skill

On 02/09/2015, in career development, collaboration, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, metacognition / metacognitive skills, professional development, psychology, relationships, smart classrooms, student-related, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Many K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities have been implementing more collaborative learning spaces. Amongst other things, such spaces encourage communication and collaboration — which involve listening. So here are some resources re: listening — a skill that’s not only underrated, but one that we don’t often try to consciously develop and think about in school. Perhaps in our quest for designing more meta-cognitive approaches to learning, we should consider how each of us and our students are actually listening…or not.

Mackay: The power of listening — from startribune.com by Harvey Mackay

Excerpts:

We are born with two ears, but only one mouth. Some people say that’s because we should spend twice as much time listening. Others claim it’s because listening is twice as difficult as talking.

Whatever the reason, developing good listening skills is critical to success. There is a difference between hearing and listening.
…
These statistics, gathered from sources including the International Listening Association* website, really drive the point home. They also demonstrate how difficult listening can be:

85 percent of our learning is derived from listening.
Listeners are distracted, forgetful and preoccupied 75 percent of the time.
Most listeners recall only 50 percent of what they have heard immediately after hearing someone say it.
People spend 45 percent of their waking time listening.
Most people remember only about 20 percent of what they hear over time.
People listen up to 450 words per minute, but think at about 1,000 to 3,000 words per minute.
There have been at least 35 business studies indicating listening as a top skill needed for success.

From the International Listening Association*
LISTENING AND EDUCATION

Even though most of us spend the majority of our day listening, it is the communication activity that receives the least instruction in school (Coakley & Wolvin, 1997). Listening training is not required at most universities (Wacker & Hawkins, 1995). Students who are required to take a basic communication course spend less than 7% of class and text time on listening (Janusik, 2002; Janusik & Wolvin, 2002). If students aren’t trained in listening, how do we expect them to improve their listening?
Listening is critical to academic success. An entire freshman class of over 400 students was given a listening test at the beginning of their first semester. After their first year of studies, 49% of students scoring low on the listening test were on academic probation, while only 4.42% of those scoring high on the listening test were on academic probation. Conversely, 68.5% of those scoring high on the listening test were considered Honors Students after the first year, while only 4.17% of those scoring low attained the same success (Conaway, 1982).
Students do not have a clear concept of listening as an active process that they can control. Students find it easier to criticize the speaker as opposed to the speaker’s message (Imhof, 1998).
Effective listening is associated with school success, but not with any major personality dimensions (Bommelje, Houston, & Smither, 2003).
Students report greater listening comprehension when they use the metacognitive strategies of asking pre-questions, interest management, and elaboration strategies (Imhof, 2001).
Students self-report less listening competencies after listening training than before. This could be because students realize how much more there is to listening after training (Ford, Wolvin, & Chung, 2000).
Listening and nonverbal communication training significantly influences multicultural sensitivity (Timm & Schroeder, 2000).

* The International Listening Association promotes the study, development,
and teaching of listening and the practice of effective listening skills and
techniques. ILA promotes effective listening by establishing a network of
professionals exchanging information including teaching methods, training
experiences and materials, and pursuing research as listening affects
humanity in business, education, and intercultural/international relations.

10 important skills for active listening — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

Effective Listening — with Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes — from lynda.com

Course description:
Listening is a critical competency, whether you are interviewing for your first job or leading a Fortune 500 company. Surprisingly, relatively few of us have ever had any formal training in how to listen effectively. In this course, communications experts Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes show how to assess your current listening skills, understand the challenges to effective listening (such as distractions!), and develop behaviors that will allow you to become a better listener—and a better colleague, mentor, and friend.

Topics include:

Recalling details
Empathizing
Avoiding distractions and the feeling of being overwhelmed
Clarifying your role
Using attentive nonverbal cues
Paraphrasing what was said
Matching emotions and mirroring

How to stop talking and start listening to your employees — from inc.com by Will Yakowicz
As a leader, you’re bound to be talking a lot, but you can’t forget to give others a chance to speak their mind.

—————————

Addendum on 2/13/15:

Wake-up call: How to really listen — from irishtimes.com by Sarah Green
Insights from the Harvard Business Review into the world of work
Excerpt:

“It can be stated, with practically no qualification,” Ralph Nichols and Leonard Stevens wrote in a 1957 article in Harvard Business Review, “that people in general do not know how to listen. They have ears that hear very well, but seldom have they acquired the necessary aural skills which would allow those ears to be used effectively for what is called listening. ”

In a study of thousands of students and hundreds of business people, they found that most retained only half of what they heard – and this immediately after they had heard it. Six months later, most people only retained 25 per cent.
…

It all starts with actually caring what other people have to say, argues Christine Riordan, provost and professor of management at the University of Kentucky.

Listening with empathy consists of three specific sets of behaviours.

7 items on learning — learning hubs, PBL, motivation and more

On 03/29/2014, in elearning, face-to-face, formal learning, informal learning, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, metacognition / metacognitive skills, online learning, user experience (UX), by Daniel Christian

Engaging ideas for designing learning videos — from Karl Kapp

Excerpt:

Here are some video techniques for creating a learning piece that caught my eye in terms of creativity and delivering a learning message. You may want to consider using some of these techniques for your own instructional design and delivery. It is always a good idea to mix up techniques to keep presentation styles fresh and engaging.

30 of the best apps for group project-based learning — from teachthought.com

Excerpt:

Project-based learning is a matter of identifying needs and opportunities (using an app like flipboard), gathering potential resources (using an app like pinterest), collecting notes and artifacts (with an app like Evernote), concept-mapping potential scale or angles for the project (using an app like simplemind), assigning roles (with an appp like Trello), scheduling deadlines (with apps like Google Calendar), and sharing it all (with apps like OneDrive or Google Drive).

With that in mind, below are 30 of the best apps for getting this kind of work done in the classroom, with an emphasis on group project-based learning apps for both Android and iPad (and even a few for plain old browsers).

11 ways to create learning experiences that work — from dashe.com by Ben Nesvig

Excerpt:

The list of recommendations for creating better learning experiences is by no means a complete list (if I’m missing any, please share them in the comments). Every recommendation might not be right for your specific situation, but as a general rule, they will help you create better learning experiences.

Incorporating Social — from clomedia.com by Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Once companies decide how social learning should take place, it’s important to fully integrate it into an organization’s overall learning strategy.

Excerpt:

Collaboration on social platforms can be enhanced if employees also have the chance to interact in person. Puttaswamy said one of Saba’s global clients gathered hundreds of its employees in one location for an “idea jam.” “Then they followed up with informal interaction. The results were really amazing,” he said. “They shared a number of ideas that were implemented, and the informal content was used to enhance their formal content.”

John Seely Brown on motivating learners (Big Thinkers Series) — from edutopia.org; the video in this pieces was published on Mar 6, 2013
Innovative thinker John Seely Brown, known for his ideas for merging digital culture and education, shares lessons educators can learn from surfers, gamers, and artists on how passion and competitive hunger can drive intrinsic motivation.

Introducing Coursera Learning Hubs: Global Participation, Local Access and Support! (back from 10/31/13)

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

At Coursera, we envision a future where everyone has access to a world-class education. We strive to create and deliver experiences that break down daily barriers that stand in the way of successful learning. Today, in support of our goals, we’re delighted to announce a new initiative- Coursera Learning Hubs – that will offer people around the world physical spaces where they can access the Internet to take a Coursera course, while learning alongside peers in an interactive, facilitated setting. All for free.

From DSC:
This idea of learning hubs — where some of the learning content is beamed in synchronously or asynchronously and where other parts of the learning experience is worked through via a group of people in the same physical location — continues to pick up steam and seems to combine the best of both worlds:

Let's take the best of both worlds -- online learning and face-to-face learning

What’s your learning philosophy? — from facultyfocus.com by Maryellen Weimer

Excerpt:

There are questions to ask before a learning experience, such as: How do you decide what you need to learn? And question to ask after: Was it worth learning? How do you know? If you were to learn it again, would you approach learning it in a different way? Why? In the process of learning this, did you discover anything about yourself as a learner? I agree with Haave. These are not questions most students have ever considered.

Metacognition and learning: Strategies for Instructional Design [Malamed]

On 10/02/2013, in education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, learning theories, metacognition / metacognitive skills, pedagogy, strategy, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Metacognition and learning: Strategies for Instructional Design — from guestlessons.com; guest post by Connie Malamed

Excerpt from Metacognitive Strategies section

Metacognitive strategies facilitate learning how to learn. You can incorporate these, as appropriate, into eLearning courses, social learning experiences, pre- and post-training activities and other formal or informal learning experiences.

Ask questions.
Foster self-reflection.
Encourage self-questioning.
Teach strategies directly.
Promote autonomous learning.
Provide access to mentors.
Solve problems with a team.
Think aloud.
Self-explanation.
Provide opportunities for making errors.

The power of the human mind to see patterns [Christian]

On 01/31/2013, in computer science, Daniel S. Christian, faith, metacognition / metacognitive skills, programming, research, UK, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
My dad sent me this in an email — I’ll include it here as a graphic to insure that I get the layout correct:

ResearchFromCambridgeUniversity-PowerOfMind

Another excerpt from the email:

If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid, too.

Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

From DSC:
What amazed me about this was in the meta cognitive processes of my mind I sensed my mind struggling to make sense of the first couple words…but then, as I moved forward, my mind went back and filled in the gaps and moved forward with understanding what the words were saying. Then it occurred to me how amazing the human mind is — glory to God! Humans can pick up patterns much quicker than computers and algorithms. Not that algorithms can’t be tweaked over time, but humans are key in getting them headed in the right direction in the first place!

P.S. I also saw this type of thing at Jimmy Johns; but that’s even one step further outside the academic realm than even an email from someone’s dad! But thanks Dad if you are reading this! I found it to be an amazing exercise. 🙂

Tagged with: cognition • cognitive psychology / computing • computer science • Daniel S. Christian • faith-wisdom • metacognition • programming • research • UK

A network of remote-controlled, mobile, videoconferencing-based sorts of devices [hooked up to voice translation engines] that students could travel the world with! [Christian]

On 12/13/2012, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, blogs / blogging / vlogging, career development, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, global / globalization, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, learning ecosystem, machine-to-machine communications, metacognition / metacognitive skills, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, participation, passions, personalized/customized learning, professional development, real-world assignments, robotics, student-related, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

“Mom! Check out what I did at school today!”

If you’re a parent, don’t you love to hear the excitement in your son’s or daughter’s voice when they bring home something from school that really peaked their interest? Their passions?

I woke up last night with several ideas and thoughts on how technology could help students become — and stay — engaged, while passing over more control and choice to the students in order for them to pursue their own interests and passions. The idea would enable students to efficiently gain some exposure to a variety of things to see if those things were interesting to them — perhaps opening a way for a future internship or, eventually, a career.

The device I pictured in my mind was the sort of device that I saw a while back out at Double Robotics and/or at Suitable Technologies:

The thoughts centered on implementing a growing network of such remote-controlled, mobile, videoconferencing-based sorts of devices, that were hooked up to voice translation engines. Students could control such devices to pursue things that they wanted to know more about, such as:

Touring the Louvre in Paris
Being backstage at a Broadway musical or checking out a live performance of Macbeth
Watching a filming of a National Geographic Special in the Fiji Islands
Attending an IEEE International Conference in Taiwan
Attending an Educause Conference or a Sloan C event to get further knowledge about how to maximize your time studying online or within a hybrid environment
Touring The Exploratorium in San Francisco
Touring the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago
Being a fly on the wall during a Senate hearing/debate
Seeing how changes are made in the assembly lines at a Ford plant
Or perhaps, when a student wheels their device to a particular area — such as the front row of a conference, the signal automatically switches to the main speaker/event (keynote speakers, panel, etc. via machine-to-machine communications)
Inviting guest speakers into a class: pastors, authors, poets, composers, etc.
Work with local/virtual teams on how to heighten public awareness re: a project that deals with sustainability
Virtually head to another country to immerse themselves in another country’s language — and, vice versa, help them learn the students’ native languages

For accountability — as well as for setting aside intentional time to process the information — students would update their own blogs about what they experienced, heard, and saw. They would need to include at least one image, along with the text they write about their experience. Or perhaps a brief/edited piece of digital video or audio of some of the statements that they heard that really resonated with them, or that they had further questions on. The default setting on such postings would be to be kept private, but if the teacher and the student felt that a posting could/should be made public, a quick setting could be checked to publish it out there for others to see/experience.

Real world. Engaging. Passing over more choice and control to the students so that they can pursue what they are passionate about.

Tagged with: 1:1 • 21st century • A/V • blogging • career development • cognitive psychology / computing • Daniel S. Christian • digital audio • digital learning • digital video • educational technology • emerging technologies • engagement • global • Global learning • ideas • ideas • innovation • iPad • learning ecosystem • machine-to-machine communications • metacognition • Mobile learning • mobile technology • more choice more control • professional development • real-world assignments • robotics • videoconferencing • web-based collaboration

Tagged with: learning and study strategies • metacognition

This article reminds me of this graphic

On 11/02/2012, in active learning, attention, change, learning theories, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, project-based learning, real-world assignments, student-related, by Daniel Christian

The article, “Technology changing how students learn, teachers say,” reminds me of the graphic below. It appears that teachers now have a definite answer to the question I was asking back in June 2010:

If attention can be visualized as a gate...is it getting harder to get through the gate?

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Teachers who were not involved in the surveys echoed their findings in interviews, saying they felt they had to work harder to capture and hold students’ attention.

“I’m an entertainer. I have to do a song and dance to capture their attention,” said Hope Molina-Porter, 37, an English teacher at Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif., who has taught for 14 years. She teaches accelerated students, but has noted a marked decline in the depth and analysis of their written work.

Bottom line:
Like so much in life, we have very little control of most things. Students are changing and we cannot control that situation — nor should we seek to. Why? Because most people I know — including myself — do not like to be controlled. We can and should attempt to pulse check these sorts of changes, plan some experiments around them, and then see and report on what works and what doesn’t work. This all relates to something I saw on earlier today on Twitter from Anya Kamenetz (@anya1anya):

If you declare a no-media classroom, you better be damn fascinating.

Also, a relevant quote:

The biggest problem area for teachers is students’ attention span, with 71% saying saying entertainment media use has hurt students either “a lot” (34%) or “somewhat” (37%) in that area.

— from Children, Teens, and Entertainment Media: The View From The Classroom
A Common Sense Media Research Study – NEW REPORT
November 1, 2012
Download the full report

Tagged with: active learning • attention • change • learning theories • memory • metacognition • project-based learning • real-world assignments • staying relevant • student-related

Tech & Learning Video Vault: Livescribe’s Echo Smartpen

On 08/25/2011, in 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, digital audio, digital learning, higher education, K-12 related, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, mobile learning, mobile technologies, tools, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Tagged with: 24x7x365 • A/V • accessibility • digital audio • digital learning • higher education • K-12 • languages • memory • metacognition • Mobile learning • mobile technology • tools • vendors

Teaching secrets: Teaching students how to learn [George]

On 07/20/2011, in digital textbooks, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), e-readers, higher education, innovation, K-12 related, learning, learning theories, memory, metacognition / metacognitive skills, publishing, strategy, student teaching/teacher education, teachers, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Teaching secrets: Teaching students how to learn — from Edweek.org by Cossondra George

Excerpt:

Awareness of common pitfalls and effective strategies can support your efforts to help students “learn to learn” throughout the school year…

From DSC:
I sure wish instructional designers, subject matter experts, professors and teachers could annotate their “books” to give concrete, practical ideas and strategies that would help students to better study, understand, and remember the relevant materials. My early take on this might be achieved via a multi-layered, digital textbook approach that would hopefully address metacognition and help students learn how to learn:

Tagged with: e-books • e-readers • higher education • innovation • K-12 • learning • learning and study strategies • learning theories • memory • metacognition • new publishing models • publishing • student teaching/teacher education • tablets • teachers • teaching & learning

Metacognition [ardentisptyltd]

On 06/11/2011, in metacognition / metacognitive skills, motivation, student-related, teaching & learning, by Daniel Christian

Metacognition — from ardentisptyltd blog

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

When working with gifted children it is very important to consider metacognition. This is awareness of your own thinking. Metacognition can be taught and the best schools will start to incorporate metacognition from the very earliest levels. They might not call it metacognition but it will encompass self-reflection about learning, about task completion and about motivation. It can be helpful to consider your own learning style and how difficult it is to work out how you think when you first begin. Often children may not be aware of how they think but close questioning might assist.

Some metacognitive strategies to consider are…

From DSC:
When motivation is mentioned…does anyone have any good blog postings about how to help a student become motivated if –when they do their self-check on this — they discover or confirm that their motivation is very low for a particular assignment/topic that they are working on?

Addendum on 6/13/11:
I just saw this over the weekend from Steve Hargadon:

Tuesday, June 14th – Live with Larry Ferlazzo on Helping Students Motivate Themselves

Tagged with: learning and study strategies • metacognition • motivation • student-related • teaching & learning

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7 items on learning — learning hubs, PBL, motivation and more

The power of the human mind to see patterns [Christian]

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