A metacognitive learning cycle: A better warranty for student understanding?

The Science Curriculum Improvement Study Learning Cycle provides opportunities for students to reveal their science ideas, but no formal, structured opportunities exist for students to reflect on their science ideas. This study proposes a revised learning cycle model, termed the Metacognitive Learni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience education (Salem, Mass.) Vol. 84; no. 4; pp. 486 - 506
Main Author Blank, Lisa M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2000
Wiley
Wiley Periodicals Inc
Subjects
Cognitive Ability
Concept Formation
Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods
Ecology
Educational sciences
Exact and natural sciences
Grade 7
Junior High Schools
Learning Processes
Metacognition
Middle Schools
Science Course Improvement Projects
Science Curriculum
Science Curriculum Improvement Study
Teaching methods
Researcher-Teacher Cooperation
Metacognition
Conceptualization
Ecology
Learning Psychology
Comprehension
Science Education
Secondary School Teacher
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Summary:The Science Curriculum Improvement Study Learning Cycle provides opportunities for students to reveal their science ideas, but no formal, structured opportunities exist for students to reflect on their science ideas. This study proposes a revised learning cycle model, termed the Metacognitive Learning Cycle, which emphasizes formal opportunities for teachers and students to talk about their science ideas. Working collaboratively, the researcher and a seventh‐grade science teacher developed a 3‐month ecology unit based on the revised model. Two science classrooms studied identical ecology content using different pedagogical orientations. One class was taught using the SCIS approach and one was taught using the metacognitive approach. Only in the metacognitive classroom were students asked to reveal their science ideas and to discuss the status of their conceptions throughout the instruction. Results showed that students in the metacognitive classroom did not gain a greater content knowledge of ecology, but they did experience more permanent restructuring of their ecology understandings. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 84:486–506, 2000.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-C7C6Q9KW-7
ArticleID:SCE4
istex:00F1C1D3AD5B478A201444E88CE9DB6401F40B90
ISSN:0036-8326
1098-237X
DOI:10.1002/1098-237X(200007)84:4<486::AID-SCE4>3.0.CO;2-U