Structures to Scaffold Success ◆ 69Checklists
Checklists are important because they help students to monitor their work.
They help students to engage in “thinking about thinking” and their work
(Livingston, 1997). Checklists allow students to reflect on their work,
evaluate what they have done and then change anything if necessary.
These skills are necessary and must be intentionally scaffolded in the
learning process. Checklists and rubrics allow students to self-assess and
then self-correct if needed throughout the learning process. The research
shows that metacognitive skills can be taught to students to improve their
learning (Nietfeld & Shraw, 2002; Thiede, Anderson & Therriault, 2003).
A checklist provides a metacognitive scaffold (see Figures 4.17 and 4.18).
The hope is that students use them enough so that they are internalized
and students can eventually begin to do this process on their own without
the scaffold.
In this example of a checklist, we see a column for self-checking, peer
checking and teacher checking (see Figure 4.16). The self-check has some
rows that the other two do not have because only the actual problem
solver would know these two.
Figure 4.16 Word Problem Checklist
Self Peer TeacherDid I read the problem twice?Did I make a picture in my head?Did I write a set-up equation?Did I make a plan?Did I model my thinkingDid I write my solution equation?Does my answer make sense?(Newton Education Solutions, 2016)