The practice of thinking about your own thinking. Metacognition helps students become aware of and reflect upon their own strengths, weaknesses, and processes in order to become more effective learners.
The one-minute paper is an assessment strategy that can be used to evaluate what students have learned and what they are struggling with. Students are asked two to three questions about a lecture, video, lab, field trip, discussion, or any other activity, and are given one minute to write their response. The questions should encourage students to consider what was most significant, surprising, important, disturbing, or useful, and what was unclear or difficult to understand.
Reciprocal Questioning is a strategy that promotes critical thinking while increasing student engagement with one another and with the course material. Students work in small groups to discuss course material, or a portion of the course material, like a video. They discuss where they need further clarification or more information. Then a group representative shares the questions with the instructor and the instructor's Docsanswers benefit the entire class.
The 3-2-1 method is a student-centered formative assessment activity that can be used to gauge student understanding of course material and determine where students might need additional support. Students are asked to consider a lesson, video, lab, etc., and respond by describing three things they learned, two things they found especially interesting, and one question they still have.
Students first take the exam independently, and then, during the same class period and before seeing their results, they get into groups of 4 to 5, discuss the exam problems, and retake the same exam as a group. Each student chooses whether or not to complete and submit a second exam. Students have the option of simply accepting their original, independent exam score only, if they wish.
Engaging students in class discussions and activities is always a challenging endeavor for instructors because there is no one-size-fits-all approach that will work to draw in everyone. Students will have varying degrees of interest in the topic, and not everyone will be able to find the same degree of relevance in the concepts presented.
Metacognition (thinking about your own learning) is a self-regulated behavior that students can use to gain control over their own learning. Self-regulated behaviors, like managing time effectively or asking for help, begin with monitoring, which helps us reflect upon or evaluate the information we’re trying to learn (I’m getting the answers wrong. Am I making simple mistakes, or don’t I understand the concept?).
Rubrics frequently supplement forms of assessment and are used to evaluate student work and learning. They can be used for projects, presentations, discussions, and writing assignments. Learners can view the criteria on which they are being assessed and can work towards meeting the stated expectations. For instance, it is common to include a rubric for online discussion forums so that learners have a clear idea of the criteria that will be used for grading (i.e.
Multimodal Instruction is just what its name suggests; it provides multiple modes of instruction, including verbal, graphic, numeric, or multimedia, to expose students to the same concept repeatedly. Multimodal instruction enhances learning in two ways: first, by allowing students to experience learning in the way they are most comfortable, and second, by challenging students to experience and learn in other ways (Picciano, 2009).
Retrieval Practice is the "act of calling information to mind rather than simply rereading, re-listening, or passively studying it. The idea is to produce 'an effort from within' to induce better retention" (Roediger and Butler, 2011).
