Metacognition

Consider a lesson plan you might use. Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain? 

For this post, I am going to use an example of a math lesson plan on word problems for 3rd grade. Using the Dr. Seuss book "I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today!", I will build upon my students' prior knowledge of subtraction by introducing them to word problems. This story involves subtraction by the main character reducing the number of tigers through various excuses. The main character of the story goes from 30 tigers to 29 to 22, etc. However, the entire story can be seen as one giant word problem: "If the cat, the main character of the story, started with 30 tigers and ended with 1, how many tigers were sent away?".

To start off the lesson, I will introduce the concept of word problems to my students by telling them that math equations are not always written in number form. I will draw on the board for them an example: 4-2=2. I will then tell them that math problems also exist in word form and that a number equation can be used to solve the word problem. I will then write an example of a word problem: "Ms. Hallock has 10 kids in her class. One day, Ms. Hallock only had 7 kids in her class. How many students were missing from Ms. Hallock's class?" Then I would show my students that I can use subtraction from the word problem to find my answer by writing 10-7=3. 

Next, I will introduce the story to my class and have them predict what they think the story will be about based on the new math concept we just discussed. I will tell my students that what they predicted the story would be about connects to the new math concept I just introduced and that this story will help them to better understand word problems. Making predictions and connections are metacognitive skills that are important for comprehension. 

Then, I will read the story to my class and tell them to pay special attention to the story so that they will be able to answer the various word problems the story contains. Throughout the story, there are a number of places that allow for me to stop and ask my students questions regarding the cat reducing the number of tigers. I would ask my students "If the cat started with 30 tigers and now has 22 tigers, how many tigers did he send away?". I would explain to my students that it is important to stop and check for our understanding when learning new material/reading text by asking ourself questions or explaining to ourself what is being read. I would then ask my students to first explain to themselves how I could use subtraction to find the answer to this word problem. Then I would have them turn to their neighbor and discuss how I could use subtraction to solve this word problem. This would involve my students in self-explanation by verbalizing to themselves how to solve the problem. In addition, discussing it with a partner would involve monitoring their comprehension of word problems by checking their own understanding and the understanding of their peer. I would then have someone volunteer to tell me how to write the problem. 

After finishing the story, I would tell my students that we are going to solve a word problem together that relates to the story we just read. I would write the problem out: "If the cat started with 30 tigers and ended with 1 tiger, how many tigers did the cat send away?". 

Then, I would tell my students that they can use the word SOLVE to help them remember the steps to go through when working a word problem. Next, I would walk my students through the SOLVE process.

1. Study the problem. (I would have my students read the problem silently to themselves and decide what the problem is asking them to solve for. I would then ask my students to tell me what they think the problem wants them to find and then I would write what I think the problem wants us to find. Checking their answer based off my answer is a way for my students to use the metacognitive skill of comprehension monitoring by checking to see if their understanding matches with the correct answer.)
2. Organize the facts. (I would tell my students to look at the problem and identify what information is important by circling the most important words and numbers. Picking out what information is important to finding the answer is an important metacognitive skill. I would ask my students to think about what information they circled and to verbally explain to themselves how they know this information is important. This demonstrates the metacognitive skill of self-explanation, which helps to further their understanding of the material. I would then tell them what information I circled and allow for them to monitor their comprehension by comparing their circled words and numbers to mine.) 
3. Line up the plan. (I would first have my students decide what operation they need to use to solve this problem. Then, I would have my students work with their partner to write out an equation to solve the word problem and explain to one another why they chose to use a specific operation and why they set up the equation the way they did. This allows for additional comprehension monitoring. I would then write out the correct equation to be used to solve the word problem "30-1=?.) 
4. Verify your plan with computation. (As a class, we would test out the equation we came up with by solving 30-1=?.) 
5. Examine your answer. (I would ask my students if the answer we got to the problem makes sense to answer the question of how many tigers the cat sent away. We would then as a class decide whether we thought this answer was correct or not.) 

To conclude the lesson, I would have my students write out the answer to the problem in a complete sentence and then write what steps they used to solve the word problem to further expand their comprehension of word problems. This involves the students using the metacognitive skill of summarizing which enhances their learning and memory. 

This article explores what metacognition is, why it is important, and how it develops in children. It discusses why teachers need to help children develop metacognitive awareness and identifies factors that enhance metacognitive development. 

Developing Metacognition