Understanding metacognition to enhance student and teacher learning

Helping teachers see behind the scenes of research is made possible when they participate in research. A great example of this occurred recently when a group of Pymble Ladies’ College Junior School teachers volunteered to take part in a metacognition study with PhD student Stanley Yip.

As well as meeting Yip and having the opportunity to talk about his project, staff also met his supervisor, Associate Professor Minkang Kim, from the University of Sydney School of Education. Yip, who is also the manager of the Learning Design Hub and Head of AI at the Association of Independent Schools NSW, is investigating teachers’ perceptions of metacognition and aims to examine what is currently known about the efficacy of metacognition in enhancing learning, both generally and as it applies in teachers’ professional learning. Kim shared her expertise about incorporating brain science into the primary Science classroom to help young students understand how brains work and form our identity.

What is the study about?

Metacognition is commonly defined as ‘thinking about thinking’. However, it is much more than that. It is a thinking process that involves planning, monitoring, regulation and evaluation. Our human brains are beautifully complex with their thinking powers and functions. As teachers, we know we need our students to be adaptive and critical thinkers using their human metacognition, especially in a world of increasing uncertainty, volatility and the rise of artificial intelligence.

What did participation involve?

Our teachers participated in both parts of the study; an online survey to probe their understandings of metacognition and whether, and in what ways, these understandings inform their current classroom practice. Then, sitting down with a pile of marking, they put on an EEG, or electroencephalogram, cap to track their brain signals which examined how neural activity contributes to the metacognitive process underway during marking.

Teachers Jo Avraam and Sarah McGeoch were motivated to participate in the study because they were interested in learning about how their brains worked.

“It was a study that made sense to me. I’ve often wondered why as teachers we have never been expected to learn about the human brain and how this connects with learning,” said Avraam.

“Yet, here we are applying all kinds of methods in our teaching practice without really having a solid grasp on how the brain actually works and which parts of the brain are active when we learn different things. It also raises questions as to how we can best accommodate children with specific learning needs.”

Yip’s data collection is ongoing and he hopes to involve more teachers across Australia in the study. We look forward to catching up again with him and Professor Kim when findings are presented to Pymble Junior School staff later in the year.