Joyce M. Alexander

Where Gifted Children Do and Do Not Excel on Metacognitive Tasks.

Metacognition is an important component of advanced intellectual performance and, therefore, has been proposed to be more advanced in intellectually gifted than average children. However, existing research comparing gifted to average childrens metacognitive abilities does not support this idea uniformly. Compared to average children, gifted children appear to have generally better declarative metacognitive knowledge and better ability to transfer strategies to situations distinct from those in which the strategy was learned. However, gifted children do not demonstrate consistently better strategy use, maintenance, or near transfer compared to average children. Nor do they display better cognitive monitoring ability compared to average children. Metacognition appears to be important to the development of high achievement in a domain. We argue that metacognitive abilities might be incorporated as additional criteria for entry into programs for the gifted beyond standard intelligence measures. Several ident...

Homophily Among Peer Groups Members’ Perceived Self-Regulated Learning

The present study is one of the first examining whether peer group members hold similar levels of self-regulated learning. The study specifically addresses the potential homophily among group members’ regulative abilities (metacognition, environment regulation, effort regulation, peer learning, and help seeking) and whether group members’ regulative abilities predict affiliates’ academic performance. The study surveyed 9th-grade students from a Midwestern high school about their regulative abilities for mathematics. Results suggest that peer groups members’ effort regulation is similar among peer affiliates but not other regulative abilities. In addition, peer group members’ regulative abilities do not predict each others’ academic performance.

The development of metacognitive causal explanations

Abstract Metacognitive causal explanations reflect a childs understanding about how or why a strategy works. Two studies examined the growth of metacognitive causal explanations over time. Study 1 found an increase in the sophistication of early elementary school childrens causal explanations over a 3-year period, although the mean intelligence score in the group was relatively high. Study 2 was conducted with children from a wider range of intelligence. Only those children with higher intelligence scores were likely to shift to more sophisticated metacognitive causal explanations over a 2-year period. Results from the two studies together suggest that the relationship between intelligence and metacognitive knowledge is much more than monotonic throughout development [Dev. Rev. 15 (1995) 1]. Indeed, higher levels of intelligence increase the likelihood that children will move from less sophisticated to more sophisticated levels of metacognitive understanding, possibly laying the foundation for more sophisticated later learning.

Development of metacognitive concepts about thinking in gifted and nongifted children: Recent research

Abstract This article provides an overview of recent research in our laboratories on the development of metacognition in gifted and nongifted children. Research examining the development of childrens metacognitive knowledge of mental activity concepts, general declarative metacognitive knowledge, and specific metacognitive attributions are reviewed. The present studies found, as had Alexander, Carr, and Schwanenflugel (1995), patterns of gifted and nongifted metacognitive development differed depending on the type of metacognitive knowledge being examined. Specifically, recent research on knowledge of mental activity concepts showed no clear advantages for gifted children over nongifted children. Declarative metacognitive knowledge research continues to support a monotonic advantage hypothesis in which gifted children show consistent advantages over nongifted children during the early elementary school years. This advantage, however, is short-lived due to the possible presence of a ceiling effect showing a closing of the declarative metacognitive knowledge gap between gifted and nongifted children around fourth grade. Finally, recent research on specific metacognitive attributions suggests that more intelligent children develop more sophisticated attributions over time but their ability to use this information may be more dependent on other individual differences variables that may or may not be related to intelligence such as knowledge base familiarity. We conclude that it is important to differentiate the types of metacognitive knowledge being measured in studies as we investigate individual differences in the development of childrens metacognitive insights about thinking.

Children's early interest-based activities in the home and subsequent information contributions and pursuits in kindergarten.

This study examined the early interests of 109 children and their subsequent information contributions and pursuits in kindergarten. Four groups of children with similar interests were identified on the basis of the childrens profiles of activities in the home, tracked bimonthly for over a year. Activity patterns reflected conceptual, social, procedural, or creative interests. The role of early interests in understanding academic engagement was investigated, with gender, cognitive skill, and temperament statistically controlled. Observational data from throughout the school year revealed differences in the types of information that children contributed to discussions and pursued in class related to childrens early interests. Findings enrich understanding of young childrens academic behaviors and extend theoretical models of academic self-instruction behaviors such as information exchanges and pursuits in classrooms.

The influence of early interest orientations and time on kindergartners’ academic monitoring and information-seeking behaviors:

This study addressed questions about the influence of children’s early childhood interests on their subsequent academic regulation and information pursuit behaviors in kindergarten. Differences in the pattern of academic behaviors employed by four groups of children who had different interest orientations were examined. Specifically, the study investigated the relative stability (or variability) of the influence of particular interest types on the children’s behavior patterns across the first year of school. Participants included 109 children who were enrolled in a longitudinal study of interest development. To assess their academic regulation strategies and information pursuits, the children were observed in their kindergarten classrooms during both teacher-led and student-directed activities on four occasions throughout the school year. The findings reflected an elaboration in children’s repertoires of regulation strategies and information pursuits across the school year in general. However, differences in the profiles of academic behavior for the four interest groups suggest that at least short term, the influence of interest is relatively pervasive, strengthening rather than waning over time. Early interaction preferences may function as important transitional and maintenance tools as children adapt and adjust to new cognitive and behavioral expectations of school.

Young Children's Interest-Oriented Activity and Later Academic Self-Regulation Strategies in Kindergarten.

ABSTRACT This study investigated children’s interest-based activities in the home during the preschool years and their subsequent academic self-regulation behaviors in school. Children’s home activities were tracked for 1 year prior to kindergarten entry. Based on their profiles of activities, children (109) were assigned to one of four interest groups: conceptual, social, procedural, or creative. The children’s academic self-regulation behaviors were observed throughout kindergarten. Specifically, the contribution of children’s early interests to understanding their metacognitive talk and progress monitoring was analyzed, controlling statistically for the effects of gender, cognitive skill, and temperament. There were discernible patterns unique to each group in the content of their metacognitive talk and strategies for monitoring progress. The study offers an uncommonly rich description of the academic self-regulation behaviors of young children and explores the role of early childhood interests in the development of academic self-regulation.