Module for Facilitating Learner – Centered

Teaching
BEED 2 and BSED 2 Major in English

TOPICS:

I: METACOGNITION

II: Theory behind Metacognition

III: Levels of metacognitive learners

IV: Benefits of metacognition

V: Misconceptions of metacognition

VI: Strategies and examples on how to use fostering

metacognition in the classroom

VII: Distinction between Cognitive and Metacognitive Learning

strategies

VIII: LEARNER-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

Pre-Lim Periodic Coverage

Prepared by:
Ms. Lurish E. Eusebio
Instructor
METACOGNITION
What is Metacognition?
 It comes from the root word “meta”, meaning beyond.
 It refers to a higher order thinking which involves active control over a cognitive
process engaged in learning.
 It is an appreciation of what one already knows.
 Thinking about thinking, knowing “what we know” and “what we don’t know”.
 It refers to the learner’s understanding and control of their cognitive processes.
What is Cognition?
 Cognition is a term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining
knowledge and comprehension.
 These processes include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-
solving.
 These are higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language,
imagination, perception and planning.

Two dimensions of Metacognition

 Metacognitive knowledge includes the learner’s knowledge of their own

cognitive abilities (e.g. I have trouble remembering dates), the learner’s
knowledge of the nature of particular tasks (e.g. the ideas in this article are
complex), and the learner’s knowledge of different strategies including when to
use these strategies (e.g. if I break telephone numbers into chunks I will
remember them) (Brown, 1987; Flavell, 1979).

 Metacognitive regulation describes how learners monitor and control their

cognitive processes. For example, realising that the strategy they are using to
solve a mathematical problem is not working and trying another approach (Nelson
& Narens, 1990). Monitoring and control are described in more detail below.
MONITORING e.g., checking that you understand what you are reading.
CONTROL e.g., re-reading a paragraph, or reading slower to ensure better
comprehension.

What is the theory behind metacognition?

A theory of metacognitive regulation that is widely cited in the research literature is

Nelson and Narens’ (1990) model of metacognition. This consists of two levels: the
object level and the meta level.
The object level is where cognitive processes or one’s thinking’ occurs. One example is
decoding text when reading. At the object level, cognitive strategies (e.g. decoding) are
used to help the learner achieve a particular goal (understanding the meaning of the
text).
The meta level is where ‘thinking about thinking’ takes place. At this higher-order level,
metacognitive strategies are used to make sure the learner reaches the goal they have
set. To continue with the reading example, this would begin with the learner thinking
about how well they have understood the paragraph they have just read, this is termed
monitoring. If they are happy with their comprehension level they will continue reading.
If not, they will perhaps re-read the paragraph, or decide to use a dictionary to help
their understanding. These actions are called control processes, as they are changing
the learner’s cognitive processes or related behaviours, based on the monitoring
feedback.

Levels of metacognitive learners

Tacit Learners - Tacit learners are unaware of their metacognitive knowledge. They do
not think about any particular strategies for learning and merely accept if they know
something or not.
Aware Learners – ‘Aware’ learners know about some of the kinds of thinking that they
do – generating ideas, finding evidence, etc. – but thinking is not deliberate or planned.
Strategic – ‘Strategic’ learners organise their thinking by using problem solving,
grouping and classifying, evidence seeking, decision making, etc. They know and apply
the strategies that help them learn.
Reflective – ‘Reflective’ learners are not only strategic about their thinking but they
also reflect upon their learning while it is happening, monitoring the success of any
strategies they are using and then changing them as appropriate.

What are the benefits of metacognition?

 Metacognitive practices help learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their own
progress and take control of their learning as they read, write and solve problems
in the classroom.
 Research indicates that metacognition is a powerful predictor of learning.
Metacognitive practices make a unique contribution to learning over and above the
influence of cognitive ability. The implication of this research is that improving a
learner’s metacognitive practices may compensate for any cognitive limitations
they may have (Veenman, Wilhelm & Beishuizen, 2004; Wang, Haertel & Walberg,
1990).
 Metacognitive practices have been shown to improve academic achievement
across a range of ages, cognitive abilities and learning domains. This includes
reading and text comprehension, writing, mathematics, reasoning and problem
solving, and memory (Dignath & Buttner, 2008; EEF, 2019; Hattie, 2009).
 Metacognitive skills can help students to transfer what they have learnt from one
context to the next, or from a previous task to a new task. The teacher can
support this by explaining how what has been learnt from one task can be applied
to the next.

What are the misconceptions of metacognition?

• Metacognition is always deliberate. Many metacognition researchers highlight the

conscious, deliberate nature of metacognition. An alternative approach is to say that less
conscious, automatic processes are also metacognitive. For example, a learner may
check work for errors as they write, out of habit, with little awareness that they are
doing so until an error is identified. The notion of automatic or implicit metacognition
may cause further difficulties in distinguishing cognitive from metacognitive processes.
However, it has led to more sophisticated models of metacognition, particularly in the
area of metacognition in young children (Whitebread et al., 2009).
• Metacognition is for older students. In contrast to the view that metacognitive
skills emerge at the age of 8 to 10 years old, Veenman & Spaans (2005), Whitebread &
Pino-Pasternak (2010) and Larkin (2010) document a number of studies which indicate
evidence of young children’s metacognitive abilities. Findings include children as young
as 18 months demonstrating error-correction strategies, 5 to 6-year-old children
showing understanding of memory processes, and 3 to 5-year olds exhibiting a wide
range of verbal and non-verbal indicators of metacognitive processes in nursery and
reception classrooms. These studies demonstrate that although young children may not
be able to describe the metacognitive processes they are exhibiting, it does not mean
that these processes are not occurring.

Strategies and examples on how to use fostering metacognition in the

classroom

1. Connecting new information to former knowledge.

2. Selecting thinking strategies deliberately.
3. Planning, monitoring, and evaluating thinking processes.
4. A thinking person is in charge of her behaviour.

Metacognitive knowledge and skills

 Being aware of one’s own learning and memory capabilities and of what learning
tasks can realistically be accomplished.
 Knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not.
 Planning an approach to a learning task that is likely to be successful.
 Using effective learning strategies.
 Monitoring one’s present knowledge state.
 Knowing effective strategies for retrieval of previously stored information.

Strategies for developing Metacognitive Behavior

1. Identifying “what you know” and what “you don’t know”.

2. Talking about thinking.
3. Keeping a thinking journal.
4. Planning and self-regulation.
5. Debriefing the thinking process.
6. Self-Evaluation.

Distinction between Cognitive and Metacognitive Learning strategies

Cognitive and Metacognitive strategies and skills are closely related in terms of them
both involving cognition and skill but they are conceptually distinct in at least one major
way.
Weinstein and Meyer state that a cognitive learning strategy is a plan for
orchestrating cognitive resources, such as attention and long term memory to help teach
a learning goal. This indicate that there are several characteristics of cognitive learning
strategies, such as being goal-directed, intentionally, invoked, effortful, and are not
universally applicable but situation specific.
Metacognitive strategies appear to share the most of this characteristics with the
exemption of the last one since they involve more universal application through focus
upon planning for implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. That is to say
metacognitive strategies are not so situation specific but involve generic skills essential
for adult, more sophisticated forms of thinking and problem solving.

LEARNER-CENTERED PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

BACKGROUND
Throughout its history, psychology has provided vital information for the design of
schooling based on theory and research on human learning, development, and
motivation. Research in psychology relevant to education has been particularly
informative during the past decade. Advances in our understanding of thinking, memory,
and cognitive and motivational processes can contribute directly to improvements in
teaching, learning, and the whole enterprise of schooling. At the same time, educators
concerned with the growing problems of school dropout, low levels of academic
achievement, and other indicators of school failure are arguing for more learner-
centered models of schooling. Such models attend to the diversity among students, and
use this diversity to enrich learning and to produce results within the context of current
school reform.
The learner-centered psychological principles, which are consistent with more than a
century of research on teaching and learning, are widely shared and implicitly
recognized in many excellent programs found in today's schools. They also integrate
research and practice in various areas of psychology, including developmental,
educational, experimental, social, clinical, organizational, community, and school
psychology. In addition, these principles reflect conventional and scientific wisdom. They
comprise not only systematically researched and evolving learner-centered principles
that can lead to effective schooling but also principles that can lead to positive mental
health and productivity of our nation`s children, their teachers, and the systems that
serve them.
Learner-centered psychological principles provide a framework for developing and
incorporating the components of new designs for schooling. These principles emphasize
the active and reflective nature of learning and learners. From this perspective,
educational practice will be most likely to improve when the educational system is
redesigned with the primary focus on the learner.

The following 14 psychological principles pertain to the learner and the learning process.
They focus on psychological factors that are primarily internal to and under the control
of the learner rather than conditioned habits or physiological factors. However, the
principles also attempt to acknowledge external environment or contextual factors that
interact with these internal factors.
The principles are intended to deal holistically with learners in the context of real-world
learning situations.
Thus, they are best understood as an organized set of principles; no principle should be
viewed in isolation. The 14 principles are divided into those referring to cognitive and
metacognitive, motivational and affective, developmental and social, and individual
difference factors influencing learners and learning. Finally, the principles are intended
to apply to all learners -- from children, to teachers, to administrators, to parents, and
to community members involved in our educational system.

Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors

1. Nature of the learning process.

The learning of complex subject matter is most effective when it is an intentional

process of constructing meaning from information and experience.
There are different types of learning processes, for example, habit formation in motor
learning; and learning that involves the generation of knowledge, or cognitive skills and
learning strategies.
Learning in schools emphasizes the use of intentional processes that students can use to
construct meaning from information, experiences, and their own thoughts and beliefs.
Successful learners are active, goal-directed, self-regulating, and assume personal
responsibility for contributing to their own learning. The principles set forth in this
document focus on this type of learning.

2. Goals of the learning process.

The successful learner, over time and with support and instructional guidance, can
create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.
The strategic nature of learning requires students to be goal directed. To construct
useful representations of knowledge and to acquire the thinking and learning strategies
necessary for continued learning success across the life span, students must generate
and pursue personally relevant goals. Initially, students' short-term goals and learning
may be sketchy in an area, but over time their understanding can be refined by filling
gaps, resolving inconsistencies, and deepening their understanding of the subject matter
so that they can reach longer-term goals.
Educators can assist learners in creating meaningful learning goals that are consistent
with both personal and educational aspirations and interests.
3. Construction of knowledge.
The successful learner can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful
ways. Knowledge widens and deepens as students continue to build links between new
information and experiences and their existing knowledge base. The nature of these
links can take a variety of forms, such as adding to, modifying, or reorganizing existing
knowledge or skills. How these links are made or develop may vary in different subject
areas, and among students with varying talents, interests, and abilities. However, unless
new knowledge becomes integrated with the learner's prior knowledge and
understanding, this new knowledge remains isolated, cannot be used most effectively in
new tasks, and does not transfer readily to new situations. Educators can assist learners
in acquiring and integrating knowledge by a number of strategies that have been shown
to be effective with learners of varying abilities, such as concept mapping and thematic
organization or categorizing.

4. Strategic thinking.
The successful learner can create and use a repertoire of thinking and reasoning
strategies to achieve complex learning goals.
Successful learners use strategic thinking in their approach to learning, reasoning,
problem solving, and concept learning. They understand and can use a variety of
strategies to help them reach learning and performance goals, and to apply their
knowledge in novel situations. They also continue to expand their repertoire of strategies
by reflecting on the methods they use to see which work well for them, by receiving
guided instruction and feedback, and by observing or interacting with appropriate
models. Learning outcomes can be enhanced if educators assist learners in developing,
applying, and assessing their strategic learning skills.

5. Thinking about thinking.

Higher order strategies for selecting and monitoring mental operations facilitate creative
and critical thinking.
Successful learners can reflect on how they think and learn, set reasonable learning or
performance goals, select potentially appropriate learning strategies or methods, and
monitor their progress toward these goals. In addition, successful learners know what to
do if a problem occurs or if they are not making sufficient or timely progress toward a
goal. They can generate alternative methods to reach their goal (or reassess the
appropriateness and utility of the goal).
Instructional methods that focus on helping learners develop these higher order
(metacognitive) strategies can enhance student learning and personal responsibility for
learning.

6. Context of learning.
Learning is influenced by environmental factors, including culture, technology, and
instructional practices.
Learning does not occur in a vacuum. Teachers a major interactive role with both the
learner and the learning environment. Cultural or group influences on students can
impact many educationally relevant variables, such as motivation, orientation toward
learning, and ways of thinking.
Technologies and instructional practices must be appropriate for learners' level of prior
knowledge, cognitive abilities, and their learning and thinking strategies. The classroom
environment, particularly the degree to which it is nurturing or not, can also have
significant impacts on student learning.

Motivational and Affective Factors

7. Motivational and emotional influences on learning.

What and how much is learned is influenced by the motivation. Motivation to learn, in
turn, is influenced by the individual's emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and
habits of thinking.
The rich internal world of thoughts, beliefs, goals, and expectations for success or failure
can enhance or interfere the learner's quality of thinking and information processing.
Students' beliefs about themselves as learners and the nature of learning have a marked
influence on motivation.
Motivational and emotional factors also influence both the quality of thinking and
information processing as well as an individual's motivation to learn. Positive emotions,
such as curiosity, generally enhance motivation and facilitate learning and performance.
Mild anxiety can also enhance learning and performance by focusing the learner's
attention on a particular task. However, intense negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, panic,
rage, insecurity) and related thoughts
(e.g., worrying about competence, ruminating about failure, fearing punishment,
ridicule, or stigmatizing labels) generally detract from motivation, interfere with
learning, and contribute to low performance.

8. Intrinsic motivation to learn.

The learner's creativity, higher order thinking, and natural curiosity all contribute to
motivation to learn. Intrinsic motivation is stimulated by tasks of optimal novelty and
difficulty, relevant to personal interests, and providing for personal choice and control.
Curiosity, flexible and insightful thinking, and creativity are major indicators of the
learners' intrinsic motivation to learn, which is in large part a function of meeting basic
needs to be competent and to exercise personal control. Intrinsic motivation is facilitated
on tasks that learners perceive as interesting and personally relevant and meaningful,
appropriate in complexity and difficulty to the learners' abilities, and on which they
believe they can succeed.
Intrinsic motivation is also facilitated on tasks that are comparable to real-world
situations and meet needs for choice and control. Educators can encourage and support
learners' natural curiosity and motivation to learn by attending to individual differences
in learners' perceptions of optimal novelty and difficulty, relevance, and personal choice
and control.

9. Effects of motivation on effort.

Acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires extended learner effort and guided
practice. Without learners' motivation to learn, the willingness to exert this effort is
unlikely without coercion.
Effort is another major indicator of motivation to learn. The acquisition of complex
knowledge and skills demands the investment of considerable learner energy and
strategic effort, along with persistence over time. Educators need to be concerned with
facilitating motivation by strategies that enhance learner effort and commitment to
learning and to achieving high standards of comprehension and understanding. Effective
strategies include purposeful learning activities, guided by practices that enhance
positive emotions and intrinsic motivation to learn, and methods that increase learners'
perceptions that a task is interesting and personally relevant.

Developmental and Social Factors

10. Developmental influences on learning.

As individuals develop, there are different opportunities and constraints for learning.
Learning is most effective when differential development within and across physical,
intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into account. Individuals learn best
when material is appropriate to their developmental level and is presented in an
enjoyable and interesting way. Because individual development varies across
intellectual, social, emotional, and physical domains, achievement in different
instructional domains may also vary. Overemphasis on one type of developmental
readiness--such as reading readiness, for example--may preclude learners from
demonstrating that they are more capable in other areas of performance. The cognitive,
emotional, and social development of individual learners and how they interpret life
experiences are affected by prior schooling, home, culture, and community factors. Early
and continuing parental involvement in schooling, and the quality of language
interactions and two-way communications between adults and children can influence
these developmental areas. Awareness and understanding of developmental differences
among children with and without emotional, physical, or intellectual disabilities, can
facilitate the creation of optimal learning contexts.

11. Social influences on learning.

Learning is influenced by social interactions, interpersonal relations, and communication
with others.
Learning can be enhanced when the learner has an opportunity to interact and to
collaborate with others on instructional tasks. Learning settings that allow for social
interactions, and that respect diversity, encourage flexible thinking and social
competence. In interactive and collaborative instructional contexts, individuals have an
opportunity for perspective taking and reflective thinking that may lead to higher levels
of cognitive, social, and moral development, as well as self-esteem. Quality personal
relationships that provide stability, trust, and caring can increase learners' sense of
belonging, self-respect and self-acceptance, and provide a positive climate for learning.
Family influences, positive interpersonal support and instruction in self-motivation
strategies can offset factors that interfere with optimal learning such as negative beliefs
about competence in a particular subject, high levels of test anxiety, negative sex role
expectations, and undue pressure to perform well. Positive learning climates can also
help to establish the context for healthier levels of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Such
contexts help learners feel safe to share ideas, actively participate in the learning
process, and create a learning community.

Individual Differences Factors

12. Individual differences in learning.

Learners have different strategies, approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a
function of prior experience and heredity. Individuals are born with and develop their
own capabilities and talents. In addition, through learning and social acculturation, they
have acquired their own preferences for how they like to learn and the pace at which
they learn. However, these preferences are not always useful in helping learners reach
their learning goals. Educators need to help students examine their learning preferences
and expand or modify them, if necessary. The interaction between learner differences
and curricular and environmental conditions is another key factor affecting learning
outcomes. Educators need to be sensitive to individual differences, in general. They also
need to attend to learner perceptions of the degree to which these differences are
accepted and adapted to by varying instructional methods and materials.

13. Learning and diversity.

Learning is most effective when differences in learners' linguistic, cultural, and social
backgrounds are taken into account.
The same basic principles of learning, motivation, and effective instruction apply to all
learners. However, language, ethnicity, race, beliefs, and socioeconomic status all can
influence learning. Careful attention to these factors in the instructional setting enhances
the possibilities for designing and implementing appropriate learning environments.
When learners perceive that their individual differences in abilities, backgrounds,
cultures, and experiences are valued, respected, and accommodated in learning tasks
and contexts, levels of motivation and achievement are enhanced.

14. Standards and assessment.

Setting appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing the learner as well
as learning progress -- including diagnostic, process, and outcome assessment -- are
integral parts of the learning process.
Assessment provides important information to both the learner and teacher at all stages
of the learning process. Effective learning takes place when learners feel challenged to
work towards appropriately high goals; therefore, appraisal of the learner's cognitive
strengths and weaknesses, as well as current knowledge and skills, is important for the
selection of instructional materials of an optimal degree of difficulty. Ongoing
assessment of the learner's understanding of the curricular material can provide
valuable feedback to both learners and teachers about progress toward the learning
goals. Standardized assessment of learner progress and outcomes assessment provides
one type of information about achievement levels both within and across individuals that
can inform various types of programmatic decisions. Performance assessments can
provide other sources of information about the attainment of learning outcomes. Self-
assessments of learning progress can also improve student’s self-appraisal skills and
enhance motivation and self-directed learning.

Answer the following Questions in a Yellow sheet of paper.

1. How will you differentiate Metacognition from cognition?

2. What do you mean by “thinking about thinking”?

3. Why do we need to teach students about metacognition?

4. What is awareness of your thinking?

5. b

6. How will you apply the strategies to foster metacognition in the classroom?

7. What strategy will most likely develop your Metacognitive Behaviour? Why?

8. What is Learner – centered approach?

9. How does Cognitive and Metacognitive factors, Motivational and Affective factors,
Developmental and Social factors, and Individual Differences Factors affect the
way a person learn? Explain each and cite examples.

Problems with memory, particularly short-term and ‘working memory’, are common after brain injury. Some people
may be unable to remember faces or names, or what they have read or what has been said to them. New learning
may be affected, while previously learned skills may still be intact (e.g. multiplication tables learned at school).
Metacognition allows people to take charge of their learning. Because it involves
awareness of how they learn. It helps in the evaluation of their learning needs,
generating strategies to meet these needs, and then implementing the strategies.
Learners often show an increase in self-confidence when they build metacognitive skills.
Motivation has a direct impact on how an individual learns. The affects of motivation is
normally far reaching because it increases an individual’s energy level, determines the
persistence in reaching a specific goal, affects the types of learning techniques used and an
individual’s thinking processes.
Affective factors are emotional factors that influence an individual's ability to learn a new
language. Common affective factors that influence acquisition are anxiety, personality,
social attitudes, and motivation. Individuals may also lose a language through a process
called second-language attrition.
How does social and emotional development affect learning? By providing a kind
environment, it helps to encourage optimal brain development as well as social connection
and collaboration. In other words, SEL affects learning by shaping children’s
developing neural circuitry, particularly the executive functions.
Individual differences in the cognitive accessibility of a given personal characteristic may lead to more overlap in the
descriptions provided by the same perceiver about different people than there is in those provided by different perceivers
about the same target person.

10. Describe a time you felt frustrated learning something new. How did you cope with
it? What strategy did you use?
I learn by researching and collecting information. Then, I practice my new skill through repetitive
performance
11. What do you do when you don’t understand something? Does any of the 14
principles has something to do with it? Explain.

12. How do you connect the information to things you already know?

13. Did you have any challenges in today’s learning? How did you overcome those
challenges?
It is to overcome the learning crisis we were already living and respond to the pandemic we are all facing. The challenge
today is to reduce as much as possible the negative impact this pandemic will have on learning and schooling and build on
this experience to get back on a path of faster improvement in learning.

Accept and Let Go: Accept where you are now and what you
have. This is your life, at this time. While it’s temporary, accepting it
will help you to let go of stress, anxiety, and fear. Meditation is one
of the best ways to learn and practice acceptance.
1.Observe and Decide: When you face a particular challenge,

take a step away from your feelings to make a plan. While it’s
important to still feel your feelings, when deciding how to act,
you want to be objective as possible.
2.Face Fears and Act: Taking action is one of the biggest steps

in overcoming challenges. It’s likely that a big part of whatever

you’re facing feels like a challenge because you have an
underlying fear. Try to recognize and define what you fear in
the situation. Then, you can act to mitigate that fear.
3.Practice Gratitude: Ultimately, we tend to exist in our

comfort zones. So, when something new happens or is

presented, we may feel like it’s hard to deal with. By practicing
gratitude, you can reframe your definition of a challenge. You
will also be more happy overall in your present moment.
14. What could you have done better to improve your learning today?
In a similar way occasionally changing the time of day you study and the materials you use - laptop, pen and
paper, speaking into a voice recorder - also boost learning. Get a good night’s sleep . But vary your sleep time
depending on what you are learning.

15. What is your stand about the mode of learning in this time of pandemic? How will
you apply the learner – centered approach to your students in modular or online
learning?

While this pandemic is turning out to be a very confusing and difficult time for many people, it is undoubtedly giving humanity
an incredibly rare opportunity to learn some challenging lessons. I believe these lessons will trigger a much-needed change
of perspective for how we do things on this planet and will hopefully enable us to turn over a new leaf. ….........And so on