Meta-what?

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Meta-what?  Metacognition, Reading, and Studying
and Todays First-Year Students
Cengage Learning College Success
Dr. Constance Staley Professor of Communication
Director, Freshman Seminar Program University of
Colorado, Colorado Springs 719.262.4123
cstaley_at_uccs.edu
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The First Year Is About Metacognition
Metacognition is about having an awareness of
your own cognitive machinery and how the
machinery works. Its about knowing the limits
of your own learning and memory capabilities,
knowing how much you can accomplish within a
certain amount of time, and knowing what learning
strategies work for you.
Staley, C. (2009). Focus on College Success.
Belmont, CA Wadsworth Melchenbaum, D.,
Burland, S., Gruson, L., Cameron, R. (1985).
Metacognitive assessment. In S. Yussen (Ed.),
The growth of reflection in children. Orlando,
FL Academic Press.
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How do you know?

• when youre full?
• when your paper is ready to turn in?
• when youre done with a reading assignment?
• when youve finished studying for a test?
• how YOU learn best?

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Students may play a great game of checkers
but their professors expect them to play chess.
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Noel-Levitz National Freshman Attitude Report
--While 95 of first-year students express a
strong desire to complete their education, only
half are likely to accomplish this goal. --Only
half of entering students enjoy
reading. --Female entering students report
stronger study habits. --Most first-year
students say they would like help in learning how
to prepare for exams (74).
https//www.noellevitz.com/NR/rdonlyres/3934DA20-2
C31-4336-962B-A1D1E7731D8B/0/2007FreshmanAttitudes
.pdf
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Millennials born between roughly 1980 and 1994
have grown up with more choices and more
selectivity in the products and services they
use, which is why they do not have, for example,
a generational music. They rarely read
newspapersor, for that matter, books. They are
impatient and goal oriented. They hate busywork,
learn by doing, and are used to instant feedback.
They want it now. They think it's cool to be
smart. They have friends from different ethnic
backgrounds. They want flexibilityin the
classroom and in their lives. To get this
generation involved, you have to figure out a way
to engage them and make their learning faster at
the end of the day. Is it possible to do that? I
think the answer is yes, but the jury is out.
(2007, January 5). How the new generation of
well-wired multitaskers is changing campus
culture. Chronicle of Higher Education.
Available at http//chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i18/1
8b01001.htm
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Things have changed. Todays students are master
multi-taskers or are they? Can they FOCUS when
they need to?
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College Graduates and Literacy
Hope
Actual
1992
National Survey of Adult Literacy, 1992 and 2003
results
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How Important IS Reading?
First year students often need to read and
comprehend 150-200 pages per week in order to
complete their academic assignments.
The average reading rate (for relatively easy
material) is 250 words per minute with 70
comprehension.
FOCUS, p. 234.
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READING The Issues
Its a fact. On any given day, only 20-30 of
your class will have done the reading. Why?
Students see only a weak relationship between
course reading and success. They dont see a
justification in the syllabus, arent asked to
directly use the material in class, or are
assigned reading that is inappropriate for their
level of cognitive development.
Meta-what?
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7 (of 14) Tips to Get Students to Read

• Not every course needs a textbook. But FYE
  courses do!
• Choose judiciously.
• Pull in everyone, even less-skilled readers.
• Give the whys of reading assignments.
• Preview the reading.
• Use the reading.
• Teach reading strategies overtly.

Hobson, E. H. (2004, July). Getting students to
read Fourteen tips. IDEA paper 40. The IDEA
Center, Manhattan, KS. Used with permission.
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TEACHING STUDENTS TO READ RIGHT!

1. Understand what reading is all about.
2. Take stock of reading challenges.
3. Adjust reading style.
4. Converse with the author.
5. Dissect the text.
6. Make detailed notes.
7. Put things into context.
8. Dont avoid the tough stuff.
9. Learn the language.
10. Bring the reading to class.
11. Be inventive.
12. Make friends with the dictionary.

FOCUS, pp. 236-246.
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PASSPORT
TO LEARNING
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Four Metacognitive Tools
The VARK http//www.vark-learn.com/english/page.as
p?pquestionnaire SuccessTypes Learning Style
Type Indicator http//www.ttuhsc.edu/SOM/success/p
age_LSTI/LSTIntro.htm MBTI (Consulting
Psychologists Press) EQ-i Postsecondary
(Multi-Health Systems)
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0
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VARK and Learning
Visual (depicted) symbols, charts, diagrams,
color, layout, flow charts, mindmaps, spatial
arrangements, headings Aural (spoken, heard)
lectures, Podcasts, discussions, study groups,
email, chats, oral presentations, oral
feedback Read/Write (read, written) textbooks,
papers, notetaking Kinesthetic (reality-based,
uses all the senses) analogies, case studies,
application, simulations, field trips, role
plays, experiments, games, problem-based
learning, learning by doing, film, animated
websites
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According to Research

• Teacher talk takes up 80 of classroom time.
• Students forget 50 of course content within a
• few months.
• Professors can speak 2500-5000 words during
  
• a 50 minute lecture. A poor reader could read a
• written version of the lecture twice during that
• time a good reader, 10 timesand comprehend
• more.

Source Cross, P. (1986, September). A proposal
to improve teaching or what taking teaching
seriously should mean. American Association of
Higher Education. Also see Green and Dorn, 1999.
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What Teachers Would Rather Not Know

• In one study, students who took a lecture
  course
• knew only 8 more than a control group who
• had not taken the coursefour months
  later.
• Students tune out of 40 of the average
  lecture.
• Attention levels drop as the lecture continues.
• 30 of overhead questions asked during a
• lecture result in no response by students.
• Students retain 70 during the first 10
  minutes,
• versus 20 during the last 10 minutes.

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When Optimism Can Work Against You
In one study, researchers asked undergraduates to
predict how long tasks would take themfrom
writing a thesis to fixing a bike. What they
learned is that students habitually underestimate
the time it takes to complete taskson average,
by three weeks for larger projects, and several
days for smaller ones. Psychologists call this
phenomenon an optimistic bias. Students tended
to forget problems they may have faced when they
completed similar projects in the past. Instead,
they focused on how smoothly the project would go
this time. Their optimism tricked them into a
false sense of complacency. Be awareand always
build in extra time!
Vergoth, in FOCUS, p. 253.
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Mental Physical Emotional READINESS TO
LEARN
Presence Diaries
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Challenge?Reaction
Never Sometimes
Always 1 2 3 4
5 6 7

1. I understand myself as a learner.
2. When Im studying something difficult, I realize
   when Im stuck and ask for help.
3. I make a study plan and stick to it in order to
   master class material.
4. I do whatever I need to do in order to learn
   something.
5. I talk through my problems, understanding things
   while I study.
6. After I study something, I think about how well
   it went.
7. I know when I learn best morning, afternoon, or
   evening, for example.
8. I know how I study best alone, with one other
   person, in a group, etc.
9. I know where I study best at home, in a library
   study carrel, at my computer, etc.
10. I believe Im in control of my own learning.

FOCUS, p. 247.
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Talk Throughs
Simpson, M. L. (1994-1995). Talk throughs A
strategy for encouraging active learning across
the content areas. Journal of Reading, 38(4),
296-304.
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Act on Your Memory!
Staley, C. (2009). FOCUS on College Success, p.
217.
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Hold a Press Conference
Meta-what?
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BECOMING AN INTENTIONAL LEARNER Requires Being
in 3 Time Zones at Once
PAST What do I already know?
PRESENT What do I need to learn now?
FUTURE How will I learn it?
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The Circle of Learning
Math
Number theory
Physics
Chemistry
Philosophy
Biology
Art
Literature
Psychology
Sociology
History
Anthropology
Political science
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WHAT'S WORKED FOR YOU? Please type your response
in the box.
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Academic Autobiography
Academic Forecast
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THE VALUE OF EDUCATION?

• Perhaps the most valuable result of
• all education is the ability
• to make yourself do the thing
• you have to do,
• when it ought to be done,
• whether you like it or not.
• Thomas Henry Huxley

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Meta-what?  Metacognition, Reading, and Studying
and Todays First-Year Students
Cengage Learning College Success
Tis not in mortals to command success, but
well do more well deserve it. Joseph
Addison, English politician and writer (1672-1719)
Dr. Constance Staley Professor of Communication
Director, Freshman Seminar Program University of
Colorado, Colorado Springs 719.262.4123
cstaley_at_uccs.edu