Metacognition and Problem Solving Metacognition

Metacognition and Problem Solving

Metacognition demonstrates a manner in which people learn through being conscious of the way they think about problems and their proposed solutions. To demonstrate the utilization of metacognition one must first learn patterns and problem solving strategies that lead them toward learning, on any topic, but especially novice topics, or topics they have yet to become expert learners in. This work will address a group of novice fourth graders stepping into the need to demonstrate competency on the New York English Language arts (ELA) competency exam. Facing this exam should not be an opportunity for fear and uncertainty as skills of metacognition through the learning of problem solving skills can assist students in their ability to demonstrate competency in any subject. With regard to the ELA there are outlines of preparation, offered by the New York district that can guide the instructor through the ways they might better prepare novice students for taking the ELA exams. (New York ELA Resource Guide to Core curriculum online) Within this document there are clear examples of the ways in which instructors can guide children through the process of metacognition, to move from being novice to becoming expert learners able to demonstrate competency in ELA. (CBASSE, 2000, pgs. 31-50)

Each grade group 2-4 included is given a set of curriculum skills that will address this transition as each group is guided through the skills they will need to be able to problem solve the ELA questions. Reading, writing, listening and speaking are all given particular emphasis as demonstrations of manners in which metacognition can be utilized. The instructor can then guide the novice through a set of steps that might be involved in each task, e.g. The instructor can guide the novice learner though the process of library research beginning with knowledge maps and graphic organizers that detail the metacognitive processes of formulating a description of the kind of information they want and need and then following a step-by-step process to find such information. The expert learner would walk into the library with purpose, if interested in science articles seek out the database where he or she can find science information, while the novice learner would wander about the stacks randomly pulling books off the shelf and looking at the covers hoping to find one that dealt with the science of volcanoes, their interest topic. Similarly the novice learner might be overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of a large research text, while the expert learner might know the steps of gaining specific information from a text, by directly seeking the index to look up information that is more specific than the general text table of contents or chapter headings. (CBASSE, 2000, pg.32) Metacognitive, problem solving strategies are required to allow students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they need to solve complex problems such as those that are found on the ELA.

The first step for any instructor in developing a set of curriculum strategies that would allow the learner to demonstrate the ability to learn new information, from standardized patterns of seeking it is to develop ways in which to impart such systems to meet novel problems. (Mayer, 1998, pg.49-41) the instructor must impart an understanding to students that clearly addresses poor transference to novice problems, by showing students the steps to utilizing resources across the board by allowing the student the opportunity to be exposed to structured principles of how similar systems work. The student may then take such learning and apply it to a novel problem, such as how to write a sentence with two adverbs and only one verb, rather than one verb with no adverb and vice a versa. This will create a sense of competence that the learner can then take to the ELA competency exam. In so doing the instructor must begin by showing the student the patterns of sentence formation, through reading, writing and grammatical structure lessons that are based on how the thought is formed to how it is described in written form. The instructor might do this by giving student example sentences that have the same components but convey a different message, incorporating skills for comprehension as well as metacognition of sentence formation.

To convey the need to monitor such learning the student will then be offered a madlib style sentence formation exercise in which he or she is then asked to convey two different meanings with the same components but different meanings. "A focus solely on teaching problem solving skill and metaskil is incomplete, because it ignores the problem solver's feelings and interest in the problem." (Mayer, 1998, pg.50) as Mayer states in the above message the difficulty in creating desire to learn is even greater if one does not format the skill set in such a manner that the child finds interest in the subject matter, hence the utilization of a favorite fourth grade pastime, madlibs as the format for the work. They are learning something and at the same time having fun altering structures and systems that to the novice learner might have seemed mysterious and solid and therefore uninteresting. In the madlib format, with the appropriate stylized look, as if they are taking a popular mind quiz in a teen magazine might seriously demonstrate to students that the manner in which sentences are formed is both a system of structure that is repeatable through time and can be changed by the writer to demonstrate skill in formation and comprehension.

To expand this learning metacognition one might develop an entire text, in a set of five or six groups, that will allow students to build their own madlib pages, utilizing a whole class agreed upon set of basic information, including character(s) names, setting, and plot, as functions of the dramatic. Each group can then form a set of five madlib pages that are specific to the above basic principles and put those together with the other four or five group results, collectively developing a whole work, which can then be translated into different genres if the whole so desires. A work of prose compiled could be read aloud, a dramatic play could be performed in the classroom or to the whole grade or school, once again helping the student see that there is a process to developing an entire work, that can be achieved with the collection of the appropriate parts, or metacognitive problem solving strategies. 'Unfortunately mastering each component skill is not enough to promote non-routine problem solving. Students need to know not only what to do but when to do it." (Mayer, 1998, pg. 50)

Through an exercise that has many parts, such as the above the students are given the opportunity to build and entire project through a set of steps that are thematic and provide a point of interest and a sense of community. It is not unusual for even a novice fourth grader to write a single sentence that conveys the knowledge they wish for it to convey, it is however unusual for a single student to write an entire book, play or poem that conveys everything that is important with regard to the drama of a character's life. By building the curriculum upon itself each stage can be broken down by the student to demonstrate the elements contained and to demonstrate that the task is doable and likely very entertaining for the viewer or reader. A fourth grader would be particularly impressed if the final project collectively gave the impression of a publishable document, giving the project a sense of importance and connecting such processes to the development of even the largest of research texts.

By creating situations where children can achieve in a metacognitive manner, through a series of steps that begin with a single sentence and end with a whole publishable book the instructor has set the stage for competency. Individual writing, in say free writing journals should also be congruent with a project like this and the instructor should be watching to see if the students apply the skills they are learning through the group project to individual writing, and if they are not the instructor may be able to intervene by suggesting in comments that they look at the particular metacognitive step in the process of the group project that could be applied to creative writing. The group project could also be applied to an existing work, such as a popular children's chapter book, so children can see the collective project-based manner in which one work was completed, can be applied to additional works, such as writing a collective sequel to an already popular book that was hard to put down, because the reader was interested in what happened next. "The general procedure is to analyze each problem into the cognitive skills needed for solution and then systematically teach each skill to mastery." (Mayer, 1998, pg.51) by creating a step process that eventually leads to an entertaining and interesting finished product an instructor of fourth grade novices can help the student demonstrate each of the selective skills needed to complete it.

In the reading component, individuals should be able to utilize library skills, mentioned earlier to identify articles, books, newspapers, advertisements and electronic resources that are of interest to him or her. Within the system observation is important as seeking literature and other resource materials is not innate, the novice must have reminders, in the form of intervention and help that continually reiterate the skill set to finding information, this can be performed through peer instruction, as well as instructor librarian interventions. The student need no have the guide do the work for them but should be offered reminders that help guide them to resources, both in the classroom and in the library. "Instead of using drill and practice on component problem-solving skills in isolation -- as suggested by the skill based approach -a metaskill-based approach suggests modeling of how and when to use strategies in realistic academic tasks." (Mayer, 1998, pg. 53)