Assessing metacognition

© 2000 Dr. Jeni WilsonResearchers, educators and curriculum documents promote the importance of metacognition for student learning but much confusion in the field continues to exist about what the term 'metacognition' means. This lack of clarity creates obstacles for researchers and educators. It is difficult to teach and assess what has not been clearly defined. Because of the importance attached to assessed curriculum, a likely implication is that metacognition will not be widely embraced as a worthwhile part of the curriculum unless metacognition is clearly defined and is included as part of assessment practices. This thesis investigated the assessment of metacognition within the curriculum domain of mathematics. The study involved Year 6 students from three different schools. Conventional techniques used for monitoring metacognition are criticised in terms of their validity and reliability. The need for practical assessment tasks was identified to minimise limitations of individual techniques and attend to questions of rigor. A new multi-method approach was developed and trialled for the assessment of three key metacognitive functions: Awareness, Evaluation and Regulation. The main features of this approach were a hands-on card sorting task and a video replay used within the context of a problem based clinical interview. This thesis sets out the consequences of implementing a new method for the assessment of meta cognition. The data generated provides a detailed endorsement of a theoretical model for metacognition developed in the course of this thesis. The findings of the study call into question previous research into metacognition (both methodologically and in terms of actual findings) and shed significant light on the nature of metacognition and its use by Year 6 students in the solution of mathematical problems. The results consistently show that student metacognitive behaviour is predictable regardless of school, class or task. The study also provides a technique for assessing and researching metacognition that could be adapted for other purposes and in other contexts