Collaborative Research: Developing Metacognitive Activities and Assessments for Introductory and Upper-Division Physics

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This project develops methods to assess and promote student metacognition in physics. In particular, the project is: (1) developing and validating a suite of assessment tasks to probe the ability of students to monitor their own learning during physics instruction, (2) developing and testing a suite of activities to foster this self - monitoring, and (3) documenting specific strategies, practices, and deficits that students exhibit as they review and direct the development of their own physics understanding. The project is motivated by a variety of common student behaviors, many of which have been documented through research and are familiar to experienced instructors. These include the tendency of students to: (1) focus on memorized algorithms without developing an awareness of how they know what they know, (2) apply concepts inconsistently in different but related contexts, and (3) struggle in identifying appropriate reasoning approaches when confronted with novel situations. These findings and others suggest that student learning of the content and practice of physics may be improved through systematic efforts to enhance the ability of students to think methodically and productively about their own thinking (i.e., metacognition). The activities and assessments are being developed concurrently and tested at four different institutions, in labs (both introductory and upper - division) and interactive lecture environments. Intellectual merit: The project is developing a suite of research - validated activities to evoke and improve students' metacognitive skills and investigate the resources that students utilize and the specific difficulties they face when engaged in metacognition. Furthermore, the project is examining the connections between specific lines of metacognitive thinking and gains in conceptual understanding and reasoning ability in physics. Despite substantial prior research and widespread agreement on its crucial role in learning, metacognition remains a "fuzzy" concept that is difficult to integrate into instruction. A major contribution of this project is to develop instructional strategies to support different forms of student metacognition; from "backward - looking" reflection, in which the learner articulates what she knows about a concept and how she came to know it, to "forward - looking" strategies that support the learner in selecting approaches best suited to new situations. A novel aspect of the activities is systematic student reflection on and evaluation of the role of specific instructional tasks and exercises in promoting learning. Broader impact: The metacognitive activities differ substantively from existing materials. They do not require the wholesale adoption of entirely new curricula or pedagogies, and may therefore be flexibly incorporated into physics courses as a supplement to existing instruction. The flexibility of the approach allows instructors to adopt teaching innovations incrementally. In addition, as the quality of student metacognition is linked to academic success, the activities may not only increase student learning in physics courses, but may also strengthen ongoing efforts to: (1) promote equity in the classroom by closing the gap between higher - and lower - achieving students, and (2) retain at risk students in STEM disciplines.