Richard Gunstone

Metalearning and conceptual change

Conceptual change means the commitment to a new belief about a principle or a phenomenon, and the abandoning of an old one. Promotion of a new belief is relatively easy, but it is difficult to get students to abandon their former beliefs. Conflicting beliefs can be held by a learner. This article argues that the resolution of conflicting beliefs requires elements of metalearning (conscious control over ones learning). The work of the Project to Enhance Effective Learning (the peel project), which attempts to promote metalearning in a secondary school is described and some general principles derived from the experience of the project are outlined. It is suggested that the key to the acceptance of metalearning strategies by students parallels the conditions for promoting conceptual change specified by Posner et al. (1982) and in particular in the acceptance of the fruitfulness of the new approaches. It is argued that this requires changes in the organization of schooling, particularly adoption of methods o...

Metacognitive Development as a Shift in Approach to Learning: An in-depth study

In this article it is argued that metacognitive development can be viewed as a shift in the approach to learning used by a student. This theoretical position is used to investigate the metacognitive development of a group of students on a course which was aiming to develop deep approaches and conceptual understanding. Considerable diversity was found in the approaches used by students, and also in the degrees to which those not initially using a conceptual (deep) approach were able to develop this approach. In those students initially using an algorithmic approach, one was able to make this transition fairly early on in the course, while others changed to different degrees at later stages. The students using information-based approaches did not display any appreciable metacognitive development during this course. The study confirms that the promotion of metacognitive development (i.e. the use of deep approaches) is not easily achieved, and suggests certain aspects of the course environment that are either supportive of or detrimental to metacognitive development.

A Perspective on the Resolution of Confusions in the Teaching of Electricity.

Physics continues to be widely regarded by students as difficult and therefore unattractive. Electricity is a particular problem, as it involves extremely complex and highly abstract concepts and is thus totally dependent on models/analogies/metaphors. Research consistently shows very poor student understanding after the teaching of electricity. We consider this research and draw two broad conclusions of central relevance to the teaching of electricity (which are both also argued to be significant contributors to student learning difficulties): there is an absence of any systemic consensus about what models etc. are appropriate for students at different year levels and for different intended learning outcomes; there is no consensus about appropriate learning outcomes for electricity at different levels.

Students' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of the World Wide Web as a Research and Teaching Tool in Science Learning

Students often make little linkage from lesson to lesson on what they learn in the regular classroom. Having them take responsibility for what they are learning is one way of having them think and connect these thoughts together. This qualitative study looks at the use of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a research and teaching tool in promoting self-directed learning in a group of 15 year old students. The perceptions of students on the effectiveness of the World Wide Web in assisting them with the construction of knowledge on Photosynthesis and Respiration are reported and discussed in this paper. The study showed that the students found that the WWW had a number of positive effects on their learning including motivation for independent learning. However, the unedited and unstructured nature of the WWW meant that many of the sites they visited had information that was too difficult to understand and that time was required to improve technical and critical thinking skills to search effectively. The teachers role as facilitator and guide was crucial to the success of their learning.

Metacognition and Conceptual Change

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on conceptual change and metacognition, explaining why two constructs are said to be necessarily intertwined. When considered in terms of an individual learner, the essence of a constructivist view of conceptual change is that it is the learner who must recognize his/her conceptions, evaluate these conceptions, decide whether to reconstruct the conceptions, and, if they decide to reconstruct, whether to review and restructure other relevant aspects of their understanding in ways that lead to consistency. Metacognition refers to the knowledge, awareness, and control of ones own learning. Metacognitive knowledge refers to knowledge of the nature and processes of learning, personal learning characteristics, and effective learning strategies and where to use them. Metacognitive awareness includes perceptions of the purpose of the current activity and personal progress through the activity. The links between conceptual change and metacognition seem to be an obvious consequence of the description of conceptual change. The processes of recognizing existing conceptions, evaluating them, deciding whether to reconstruct, and reviewing are all metacognitive processes; they require appropriate metacognitive knowledge, awareness, and control.

Students' Perceptions of Teaching and Learning in First-Year University Physics

The transition from school to university involves substantial change in the structure and organization of teaching, and in the nature and purpose of learning contexts. This paper, which reports some data from a broader study of learning and teaching in first year university physics, focuses on aspects of the school-university transition. In particular, we report perceptions of first year physics students about how they should learn physics, what it is intended they should learn, and what they believe to be the functions of the various teaching situations in which they are placed.

Conscious knowledge of learning: accessing learning strategies in a final year high school biology class

This paper reports on a qualitative case study investigation of the knowledge and use of learning strategies by 16 students in a final year high school biology class to expand their conscious knowledge of learning. Students were provided with opportunities to engage in purposeful inquiry into the biological, social and ethical aspects of cancer. A constructivist approach was implemented to access prior content and procedural knowledge in various ways. Students were encouraged to develop evaluation of their learning skills independently through activities that promoted metacognition. Those students who planned and monitored their work produced essays of higher quality. The value and difficulties of promoting metacognitive approaches in this context are discussed, as well as the idea that metacognitive processes are difficult to research, because they have to be conscious in order to be identified by the learner, thereby making them accessible to the researcher.

Quality Learning of Physics: Conceptions Held by High School and University Teachers.

This paper reports an exploration of the conceptions of quality learning held by two samples of physics teachers – final year, high school physics teachers and academics teaching first year university physics. We begin by outlining our view of quality learning, that is a view of learning in which learners take control of their own learning and engage with active construction and reconstruction of their own meanings for concepts and phenomena. This view of quality learning recognises the crucial role of the affective dimension of learning on the extent to which students engage with and maintain such constructivist and metacognitive approaches to learning. The study explored the qualitatively different ways in which individuals conceptualise quality learning in physics, using semi structured interviews that explored aspects of learning that the respondents regarded as worth fostering in their classrooms. The interview approach was a modification of the Interview-About-Instances approach that allowed the possibility of interviewees suggesting instances of particular relevance to their view of quality learning. This process resulted in a considerable quantity of rich and complex data related to a large range of aspects of physics learning. These data are summarised here, and the qualitatively different conceptions of the respondents with respect to four significant aspects of physics learning are discussed. These aspects are: doing experimental work; linking physics to the real world; students taking responsibility for their own learning and being confident/feeling proud of what you can do.

Word association and the description of cognitive structure

INTRODUCTION This paper describes a section of a study which sought to explore effects of instruction on cognitive structure and, in turn, effects of cognitive structure on performance. The paper focusses on the method used to describe cognitive structure and the use of the cognitive structure

Health and sickness causation and the influence of Thai culture among Thai schoolchildren

ConclusionThe findings show that Thai schoolchildren interpret the causes of health and sickness using their cultural knowledge and commonsense knowledge as well as school knowledge learned in the classroom. The cultural and commonsense knowledge are remarkedly different from what they are taught. More importantly, when the children employ school knowledge, the explanations are still very much commonsense interpretations.What do these findings imply then? They suggest that despite lengthy training in the classroom, the influence of the culture in which the children are growing up and their everyday experiences play an important role in their learning process. The basis of their understanding of the causes of health and sickness still seems to be in cultural and commonsense knowledge.