Research Summary

Question     

What practices lead to successful self-reflection and promote metacognitive development in young learners?

Summary

While I have found myself to be fascinated with the mental processes of my 2nd grade students, those same students seemed to not possess explicit knowledge about themselves as thinkers.  A tell-tale sign of this lack of self-knowledge was their flat, simplistic self-assessments.  A more troubling indication was their reluctance to consciously adopt the specific reading and writing strategies that formed the core of our literacy curriculum.  I was led to believe that my students lacked the necessary metacognitive knowledge that comes from successfully reflecting on one’s own life as a thinker and learner. Self-reflection is an integral part of many teacher training programs, but what would it look like in an elementary classroom?  This article stands as a record of my investigations into the efficacy of 4 classroom practices in developing and strengthening the emerging metacognitive capacity of my students. It documents the significant metacognitive value of several widespread practices, including written self-reflections and oral conversations, and recommends several more specialized routines, including goal-setting routines and instruction in articulating thought processes.