MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE(a= o) LESSON OBJECTIVES At the end of this lesson, you should be able to: 1. explain how learning occurs; 2. enumerate various metacognition and studying techniques; and 3. identify the metacognitive techniques that you find most appropriate for yourself,Gas) INTRODUCTION Knowing the "self" is not enough. Since "who you are” is partly made up of your choices, you must also have the ability to choose especially to be better " ‘ou." In the school setting, your knowledge of yourself should at least enable you to become a better student. This lesson will present several techniques that you can adapt depending on your situation and preferences to make you a better learner. Learning should not just mean studying for your quizzes and exams in school. Learning could also occur outside the confines of a book or classroom, like when you want to acquire a new move in your favorite sport, or the skills for a certain hobby, among others. Furthermore, the techniques here are not the only techniques available and months or years from now, new ways on how to study better will be discovered or rediscovered. What is important at this moment is that you learn how to learn these things.ACTIVITY Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI)St Peter's School ABSTRACTION We are Homo sapiens or the "wise man." We think in a more complex level than our ancestors and most, if not all, of the other beings. But being called wise, not only do we think, but we are also capable to think about thinking, like how we think of things and why we think in a certain way about things. Itis like your brain thinks about itself, then thinks about how it thinks about itself. In the context of learning, studies show that when you are able to think about how you think, how you process information, and how you utilize techniques while you are studying, you have a higher chance of improving your learning process than those who do not reflect on their methods.G=s) This idea falls under the concept of metacognition. Metacognition is commonly defined as "thinking about thinking" (Livingston 1997; Papaleontiou- Louca 2003). It is the awareness of the scope and limitations of your current knowledge and skills (Meichenbaum 1985 in American Institutes for Research 2010). Due to this awareness, metacognition enables the person to adapt their existing knowledge and skills to approach a learning task, seeking for the optimum result of the learning experience ay Institutes for Research 2010).t Peter's School Metacognition is also not limited to the thinking process of the individual. It also includes keeping one's emotions and motivations while learning in check (Papaleontiou-Louca 2003). Some people learn better when they like the subject, some when they are challenged by the topic, and others if they have a reward system each time they finish a task. The emotional state and the motivation of a person then should also be in the preferred ideal state for that person in order to further facilitate his or her learning.Schoot As seen from the abovementioned definitions, metacognition basically has two aspects: (1) self-appraisal and (2) self-management of cognition (Paris and Winnograd 1990 in Papaleontiou-Louca 2003). Self-appraisal is your personal reflection on your knowledge and capabilities while self-management is the mental process you employ using what you have in planning and adapting to successfully learn or accomplish a certain task (Paris and Winnograd 1990 in Papaleontiou- Louca 2003). Similar concepts, usually called elements of metacognition, are metacognitive knowledge or what you know about how you think, and metacognition regulation or how you adjust your thinking processes to help you learn better (American Institutes for Research 2010).AYA st Peter's School Under metacognitive knowledge, there are several variables that affect how you know or assess yourself as a thinker. First is the personal variable, which is your evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses in learning. Second is the task variable, which is what you know or what you think about the nature of the task, as well as what strategies the task requires. Lastly, strategy variable refers to what strategies or skills you already have in dealing with certain tasks (American Institutes for Research 2010)St Peter's School However, it must be noted that in order to make self-appraisal and self- management work, you must have an accurate self-assessment-you must be honest about what you know and capable of in order to find ways to utilize your strengths and improve on your weaknesses (Schoenfield 1987 in Papaleontiou- Louca 2003).THE ETAT ARE OTHER SKILLS THAT CAN HELP YOU IN EXERCISING M EE ACOCMIT ON 1. Knowing your limits. 2. Modifying your approach 4. Rehearsing 5. Self-TestKNOWING YOUR LIMITS. ‘As mentioned earlier, one cannot really make any significance advancement in using metacognitive skills without having an honest and accurate evaluation of what you know and what you do not know. Knowing your limits also looks at the scope and limitations of your resources so that you can work with what you have at the moment and look for ways to cope with other necessities.MODIFYING YOUR APPROACH. It begins with the recognition that your strategy is not appropriate with the task and/or that you do not comprehend the Learning experience successfully. Recognizing, for example, that you are not understanding what you are reading, you should learn to modify your strategy in comprehending your material. You might want to read and reread a page in five-minute intervals instead of trying to finish the material in one sitting. You may want to make a summary or code for yourself instead of using keywords or highlighting sections of what you are reading.SKIMMING This is basically browsing over a material and keeping, an eve on keywords, phrases, or sentences. | about knowing where to search for such key terms. For example, you might want to look at the Introduction first or the Abstract. The Table of Contents can » provide you with a quick guide to the contents of the book. Introductory paragraphs, headings or subheadings, and conel an also provide you with an overview of the whole material. This technique works best when you want to get an idea about the contents of a reading material, when you are trying, to cad through several materials in a limited time frame, or when you want to focus on certain details, among others. sionsREHEARSING This is not just about repeatedly talking, writing, and or doing, what you have learned, but also trying to make a personal interpretation or summary of the learning, experience. One of the fun ways to do this is by imagining yourself being, interviewed about your task. \s you try (o convey what you have learned from the resources. you also insert your opinions or other personal take on the matter. Just be sure that the key coneepts are well understood andl are stil in-line with the source material even with 7 /\ 5, & multiple rchearsals.SELF-TEST As the name implies, this is trying to test your comprehension of your learning experience or the skills you have acquired during, learning, While some materials already come with tests like this book, you can still create tests for yourself. You can make essay questions or definition of terms test while you are reading, or watching a material, You can challenge yourself in completing a task successfully, maybe in a given period of time—for example doing 50 free throws with at least 90% success rate, Self-test does not only focus on what you have learned but also on how you learned it. Mier the experience. you should also ask questions like, What strategies did use?" "How successlul were my learning, 2" How can [further improve my learning skills?” strategit Peter's School Other strategies that you need to develop include asking questions about your methods, self-reflection, finding a mentor or support group if necessary, thinking out loud (though you have to be considerate of others also when doing this), and welcoming errors as learning experiences. For clarification, "welcoming errors" does not mean seeking them or consciously making them as much as possible. It means that when you commit a mistake, you do not dismiss it as insignificant or you do not try to avoid responsibility of the results. You must process them to learn every lesson that you can take about yourself, about the topic, and other people or things. By having a more positive attitude toward mistakes, you will also have the courage to venture into new and unknown learning experiences that may one day interest youUsing these strategies, you can at least identify four types of metacognitive learners (Perkins 1992 in Cambridge International Examinations 2015). First, the "tacit" learners are unaware of their metacognitive processes although they know the extent of their knowledge. Second, the "aware" learners know some of their etacognitive strategies but they do not plan on how to use these techniques. third, "strategic" learners, as the name implies, strategize and plan their course of action toward a learning experience. Lastly, the "reflective" learners reflect on their thinking while they are using the strategies and adapt metacognitive skills depending on their situation.As you may have noticed already, the goal of metacognition is for the student to be a self- regulated learner. Education should not be limited by the capabilities of the teacher, the content of school textbooks, the four corners of the classroom, and the duration of the academic year or courses. You should have the capability to study things on your own as well as accurately evaluate your progress.AYA st Peter's School This is one of the benefits of using metacognitive techniques and strategies. Another benefit is the compensation and development of cognitive limitations of the learner because the student is now aware of his/her capabilities. Various researches also showed significant improvement in academic performance in any subject and across age range. The student is also enabled to transfer knowledge from one context into another (Cambridge International Examinations 2015).AYA st Peter's School OTHER TIPS THAT YOU CAN USE IN STUDYING ARE THE FOLLOWING (QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY LIBRARY N.D.):1. Make an outline of the things you want to learn, the things you are reading or doing, and/or the things you remember.AYA st. Peter's School PROJECT URES) UES | AS 2. Break down the task in smaller ssc) Honasce) [aera ; ae and more manageable details. = me [=I ro) | Uae) | Homans sup ion Lt) sup tise 22 © sup tse a2St Peter's School 4. Try to incubate your ideas. First, write your draft without doing much editing. Let the ideas flow. Then leave your draft at least overnight or around 24 hours some even do not look at it for a week and do something else. After a given period, go back to your draft or prototype and you might find a fresh perspective about it. Sometimes, during incubation, you suddenly have ideas coming to you. Write them down in a notebook first and do not integrate them into the draft yet. Review what you have written when the incubation period is done.5. Revise, summarize, and take down notes, then reread them to help you minimize cramming in the last minute, especially when you have a weakness in memorizing facts and data. Some people are motivated whenthe deadline is very close- tomorrow, for instance-and they just review the day before some evaluation or exercise. If you are that kind of person, you may still motivate yourself and have that feeling of urgency at the last minute but by using the aforementioned techniques, your "cramming" need not be a desperate attempt to learn but only as a way to energize your brain as you make a final review of the things you have already been studying for a week or so before.St Peter's School 6.Engage what you have learned. Do something about it. On a reading material for example, highlight keywords and phrases, write your opinions z | about the matter on a separate notebook, or create a diagram or concept map. Some people also learn best by copying the key paragraphs word for word. You may want to look for other definitions and compare or contrast materials. Use your new knowledge during discussions-just do something about it. aG=s) §j QUESTION Were you aware of your metacognitive processes?THANK YOU Subject UNDERSTANDING THE SELF | ~—Reported by: Rodriguez, Guasa, Pajares