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 MetacognitionUnderstanding how to learn something There are four types of metacognitive learners (Perkins, 1992) and metacognition aims to move students from level 1/2 to 3/4. Tactic/passive - little understanding or engagement with learning (mostly boys) Aware - they will know which kinds of activities they like to do but they don’t know why. Their revision doesn’t help them progress because they can’t identify what to changeStrategic - they can learn and plan revision strategies that are specific to them and the things they need to learnReflective - they monitor their own progress and can tweak what they are doing within an activity or schedule based upon their strengths, weaknesses, and progress. They can do their own markingThere are two spheres of metacognition to consider and they must work together: 1) having the sense of self, confidence, and motivation to be flexible; 2) understanding the exam material and strategies to revise it effectively.Sphere 1: MotivationModelling: Teachers should model in a practical and emotional capacity. It must be default in the classroom because many students lack resilience in the face of challenge and have little support at home to create this“I find this part of the question difficult because I can’t see an obvious answer in the source. To get around this, I am going to …” “I know that I need to add knowledge to this, but I can’t remember anything. A trick I could use at this point is ...” “I do, we do, you do” activitiesSupport and challenge: Students will require scaffolding to begin with, however that scaffolding must be taken away in adequate time so that they can function independently during the exam period (this requires department planning). However, this must also be at the right time for the students, so that they feel confident and able to succeed on their own (develop a sense of self)Sphere 2: Strategy Plan, Monitor, Evaluate: Students should design their own revision activity sequences in the same way that teachers do when planning lessons. They should evaluate their progress with it, and develop an ability to switch activities to achieve the same end point. They can do this multiple times in an activity, lesson, or sequence, so that they are able to replicate it independently at homePlan - “How am I going to achieve this? What activity/task do I need?” Monitor - “Is this task working? Am I understanding? Do I need to change it?” Evaluate - “Have I been successful? Am I ready to move on? Is it time for more challenge?” To encourage this, teachers could explain how the lesson will build, in content and skills, and why the activities have been chosen at each point. Hopefully, this will allow students to select a more effective programme of revision at home. Explicit metacognition sessions in-class could support this. HOWEVERCognitive load - most students can only manage 2-3 pieces of information at once, which means that new skills should be taught with familiar content, and new content with familiar skills - metacognition should be thought of as a new skill. Strategies for this are: interleaving, spaced learning, dual-coding, and retrieval practiseTop recommendations for metacognitive activities: Spaced LearningInterleaving Dual coding Continual retrieval practiseLow stakes testingElaborationHistory department action pointsWhole schoolIdeally, meta-cognition is a whole-school approach so that the thinking process becomes familiar and routine. However, each department should present metacognitive strategies that are specific to individual subjects and even teachers. Start the process with Y7 so that it becomes default as they grow through the schoolHistory department MotivationDiscuss the thinking process (practically and emotionally) more explicitly when modelling Encourage pastoral to give us more information about Y11 backgrounds so we are aware of who cannot revise at home/has no support from family StrategyUse the exam spec more explicitly so that they can use it themselves to evaluate their own work, e.g. highlighting key words, use it as a checklist, break it down for essay feedback, use it in essay plansConsider including specific metacognition lessons in KS3 SOW so that we teach the process explicitly. Include progress checks/plenaries in lessons (perhaps 2-3 times a half term) that ask questions such as “this is what we need to revise … which activity should we choose?”. This would provide us with more feedback as to their understanding of revisionBuild self-evaluation sheets into homework tasks that are mandatory in order to get a ‘good’. These could ask a variety of metacognitive questions, including a suggestion for changing the activity if it wasn’t working. Expectations of metacognition across the Key StagesY7: Students should be encouraged to take ownership for revision and begin to familiarise themselves with different revision strategies. They should complete a variety of tasks and be able to identify the purpose of each task (retrieval, content, explanation, evaluation). Y8: Students should be familiar with a variety of revision activities within the four groups. They should be able to select activities from the groups based on a topic or the requirements of an assessment. Y9: Should begin to analyse their strengths and weaknesses according to a basic markscheme or formative assessment. They should be able to select activities designed to fill those gaps.Y10: Students should be mostly independent with metacognitive learning. They should be able to analyse their performance and select revision or reflective activities that target their strengths and weaknesses. In more intense periods of revision, such as around mocks, students should start engaging with sequencing activities independently. Y11: Students should be comfortable and independent with metacognitive learning. They should be able to design and follow personalised revision sequences, analyse their progress within it, and be flexible enough to change the sequence if necessary. ................
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