Chapter 1, page 13
Teacher: The author does tricky things with description. Did anyone
else think that? Andy?
Andy: He describes things, but doesn’t say what they are. It’s like
a puzzle you have to figure out. Nicole, remember when he
described Beanpole’s glasses? You had to figure out what
they were and label them.
Andy also displays
metacognitive knowledge of
strategies.Nicole: That’s what the teacher reminded me. I needed to think
about whether the author had done this before and try to
access my background knowledge.
Teacher: Nicole, that’s just what you did. And what did you realize
the author was describing?
Nicole: A grenade!
Teacher: That’s it. Nicole, you used a bunch of good strategies here.
What did you do?
The teacher asks for a
summary of strategies used.
Nicole: Well, first I knew I was missing important information.
Then I asked you for clarification.
Teacher: Did I help you?
Nicole: No, you helped me think of what I already knew so I could
help myself.
Nicole wraps up her summary
of her own strategies.
Teacher: Good! Nicole used lots of strategies here.... She was
active instead of passive. She took charge of her learning.
She did this by using the strategies of summarizing and
picturing to monitor her understanding. Did anyone else use
similar strategies to take charge of understanding these
tricky passages? That’s exactly what we all need to do to
be independent learners.
The teacher summarizes the
strategies that Nicole used.
She also emphasizes the
importance of students
regulating their own learning
by applying their knowledge
of effective strategies.In this example, the teacher asks students to talk explicitly about the strategies they are using themselves
as well as the strategies that others are using. The teacher is working toward the goal of helping students
become self-regulated learners by encouraging them to think and talk about their goals and the strategies
they can use to achieve their goals.
We will address self-regulated learning and metacognition in most of the chapters in this book.
Chapter 7 discusses effective strategies that self-regulated learners and thinkers use. All of the chapters on
designing learning environments address how to promote metacognition and self-regulated learning.
Chapter 13 focuses especially on creating learning environments that promote self-regulated learning.
Transfer. The fourth area of research that has transformed educators’ thinking about learning
goals is research on transfer. Transfer is the ability of students to take ideas that are learned in one
situation and use those ideas in another situation. Here are several examples of transfer.
Ɣ A geometry student learns how to calculate the area of a triangle. The student uses that information
two weeks later to solve a problem that requires adding the areas of three triangles.
Ɣ A fourth grade student learns to construct outlines in reading class. The student applies this to outline
her history textbook to prepare for a test the following year.
Ɣ A fifth grader is learning about supporting ideas with evidence in social studies class. At dinner with
his family the next week, the topic of conversation is nuclear power, which his parents think should be
banned. He asks his parents what evidence they have to support their claim.
Ɣ A high school student is learning about cell organelles in biology class. The student uses this
knowledge to interpret a Newsweek magazine report on a study that uses mitochondrial DNA to
estimate how closely related different organisms are.