Turning Point of Inquiry - Metacognition
At this step in my journey I came to develop my final inquiry question:
How does teaching students to have a metacognitive approach to learning objectives promote their success?
This was the pivotal turning point in my inquiry journey because it reflected the change in what I believed about the purpose of teaching and learning. I came to the realization that, in order to serve the larger issue of scientific literacy, I need to develop students’ self-awareness and understanding of themselves as learners. Most importantly I want to build student skills to be life long learners because this would truly allow them to succeed in any context. Effective and efficient learning requires an understanding of how and why one learns and to be aware of ones’ understanding. This is foundational to developing and applying the skills required of a scientifically literate adult. Promoting students metacognitive development will give them the tools to be life long learners. The concept of developing students’ abilities as a metacognitive and self-regulated learner was a foreign concept to me prior to this program. Learning objectives, such as presenting them in exit tickets, do nows, in presentation slides during class, and to review for an assessment, was used to structure students’ learning and metacognitive development throughout this process. Next I will began to discuss how I incorporated the development of students’ metacognition skills in my practice and philosophy of teaching and promoting student success.