Active Learning: Effects of Core Training Design Elements on Self-Regulatory Processes, Learning, and Adaptability

This research describes a comprehensive examination of the cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes underlying active learning approaches, their effects on learning and transfer, and the core training design elements (exploration, training frame, emotion-control) and individual differences (cognitive ability, trait goal orientation, trait anxiety) that shape these processes. Participants (N = 350) were trained to operate a complex computer-based simulation. Exploratory learning and error-encouragement framing had a positive effect on adaptive transfer performance and interacted with cognitive ability and dispositional goal orientation to influence trainees’ metacognition and state goal orientation. Trainees who received the emotion-control strategy had lower levels of state anxiety. Implications for developing an integrated theory of active learning, learner-centered design, and research extensions are discussed

Remembering as a mental action

Many philosophers consider that memory is just a passive information retention and retrieval capacity. Some information and experiences are encoded, stored, and subsequently retrieved in a passive way, without any control or intervention on the subject’s part. In this paper, we will defend an active account of memory according to which remembering is a mental action and not merely a passive mental event. According to the reconstructive account, memory is an imaginative reconstruction of past experience. A key feature of the reconstructive account is that given the imperfect character of memory outputs, some kind of control is needed. Metacognition is the control of mental processes and dispositions. Drawing from recent work on the normativity of automaticity and automatic control, we distinguish two kinds of metacognitive control: top-down, reflective control, on the one hand, and automatic, intuitive, feeling-based control on the other. Thus, we propose that whenever the mental process of remembering is controlled by means of intuitive or feeling-based metacognitive processes, it is an action

A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions based on metacognition and self-regulation in school-aged mathematics

Mathematics is an important gatekeeper for educational and professional opportunities and a useful tool for discovery and expression. Given previous research and theory demonstrating potential for metacognitive and self-regulated learning (MC/SRL) interventions to support mathematics achievement with diverse learners, a systematic review was conducted to evaluate their effectiveness within the years of general education, with pupils of ages three to 18. Appropriately-designed studies that were reported in English between 2005 and 2019 were included. Following a systematic search, with double-reviewing and expert consultation for consistency, 1,761 bibliographic items were screened, resulting in 60 included studies. Qualitative aspects of the designs, contexts, participants, and intervention activities were synthesised narratively. Posttest-only and adjusted, random effects meta-analyses were performed using a single mathematics achievement measure from each study. The results indicate a generally positive effect from the included interventions (combined Cohen’s d=0.46, SE=0.08, 95% CI=0.30 to 0.60). This represents a somewhat more modest effect compared with previous reviews in this area, possibly due to a greater range of included reports. No risk of publication bias was identified, reflecting the breadth and diversity of included studies, but efforts to mitigate heterogeneity were only partially successful. Interventions using structured problem-solving with metacognitive prompts were more effective than those not using it, while dissertations reported lower effects than journal articles. No differences were found based on participant age or intervention dose. Primary studies used a variety of assessments and differed on reporting of interventions and quality-related factors, and there remained substantial heterogeneity in the meta-analysis. Implications of this review for educational theory, research, and practice are discussed, with emphasis on reporting studies fully, using broad-scope, comparable assessments, and investing in comprehensive metacognitive and self-regulated learning interventions that can support lasting change in teaching and learning

Strategies in technology-enhanced language learning

The predominant context for strategy research over the last three decades has focused on language learning situated in a conventional classroom environment. Computer technology has brought about many changes in language learning and has become ecological and normalized rather than a supporting tool in the language classroom. Consequently, the landscape of language learning has been rapidly and largely changed with the normalization of technologies in people’s daily communication. The pervasive use of mobile technologies and easy access to online resources require that digital language learners understand and employ appropriate learning strategies for learning effectiveness and that their teachers are able and willing to teach these strategies as needed. This article provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research into technology-enhanced language learning strategies. The strategies under review include those for language learning skill areas, language subsystems, and self-regulated learning. At the end, we discuss the pressing issues that Digital Age language learning has posed to learners, teachers, and researchers and propose considerations for strategy research in digital realms

Enhancing EFL Readers’ Metacognition

This article discusses two components of metacognition: knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition, which are of great importance in learning. In order to be more successful, competent readers, EFL students need assistance in promoting both aspects of metacognition. This article also reviews several ways of improving EFL students’ knowledge and regulation of cognition. These may include using tools to assess their metacognitive knowledge and strategy use, applying instructional aids to develop their regulatory skills, and implementing two instructional practices which encourage metacognition: Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) and Experience-Text-Relationship (ETR). Key words: metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive regulation, strategy instructio

Understanding Metacognitive Failure

This paper reports on a study that investigated patterns of collaborative metacognitive activity in senior secondary school classrooms. Although peers working together on mathematical tasks may enjoy the metacognitive benefits of being able to monitor and regulate each other’s thinking, collaboration does not guarantee that they will achieve a mathematically productive outcome. The notion of metacognitive "red flags", or warning signals that problem solving has gone astray, is developed in order to identify three possible scenarios for metacognitive failure. These scenarios, described by the metaphors of blindness, vandalism, and mirage, are illustrated via analysis of videotaped lesson transcripts obtained from a secondary school mathematics classroom. The results provide insights into the interactive constitution of metacognitive activity during small group work, and suggest implications for teachers concerning the fostering of communication and problem solving within a classroom culture of inquiry