In reflecting back on the last edition of the Resource of the Week Blog, and in an ongoing attempt to improve on the quality of the posts that I provide, I have concluded that I need to consciously and deliberately practice formulating my thoughts in a manner that is interesting and informative, yet slightly more clear and concise. As I say that, let it be known I make no claims of expertise in the “art” of blogging. I find it to be both a challenging and an interesting endeavor, and I believe that the exercise in reflection and analysis that is required each time I complete one of these write-ups is, on a personal level, of significant benefit. Hopefully someone(s) “out there” might also benefit from the thoughts I’m attempting to articulate and convey.

Recently, I’ve been reading up a bit on various measures that can be assessed associated with student gains outside the typical cognitive “learning gains” that result following the implementation of a new instructional strategy or approach to teaching. One measureable construct of particular interest to me is that of metacognition. Without breaking out a specific literature reference, I’ll simply define metacognition as actively planning for, thinking through, and self-evaluating one’s learning experience or understanding of a concept. The undergraduate students that come to our classrooms bring with them metacognitive skills that span a broad spectrum of ability. In fact, I would predict that, if measured for any random introductory biology student population, at least 90% of students would be unable to adequately define “metacognition” beyond something to the effect of, “…above, or beyond, what I know or understand.” However, literature suggests that honing these skills is related to improved student goal orientation, perceptions of self-efficacy, and other affective measures, which I find fascinating, but for the purposes of this post I’ll digress.

I bring up metacognition for a couple of reasons. First, I feel that my own metacognitive skills could use practice and have ample room for growth, so I thought I’d take a specifically metacognitive approach to this post. I have, thus far, entered into each of my previous posts somewhat haphazardly, with no defined plan of exactly what or how to write.  Instead of continuing with such a heedless approach, this time around I first took a step back and attempted to formalize a plan for how to construct an effective blog. I am also actively attempting to read and monitor the alignment between my goals for the post and the actual product on “paper,” and I will use my experience this time around to frame my approach to the next iteration of the blog. Second, literature suggests a specific need to explicitly teach, and assist students in the development of, metacognitive skills. This directive was actually included as one of the five “big ideas” from education research in the last quarter century according to Slater et al. (2015) in Discipline-Based Education Research: A Guide for Scientists. Very often, students enter college having mastered the art of memorizing key terminology and performing well on multiple choice exams that, fortunately for them, tend to assess their ability to recall information. However, at the college level, often we, as instructors, assess the extent to which our students can think critically, analyze data, and recognize connections that exist between concepts. This can potentially result in a disconnect between the skill set of the student and the desired outcomes established by the instructor, which paves the way for a potentially negative experience, all around.

So, the question now becomes, “What resources exist to support the learning outcome that students will be able to, ‘practice metacognitive skills and apply these skills throughout the learning process,’?” To, at least in part, answer this question, one need only visit the CLSE Resource Portal homepage. There, (currently) you should find that the homepage resource feed features “Metacognition – How to Get Your Students to Think About Their Thinking,” which is a dedicated portal page pointing out a number of excellent resources to support development and practice of metacognition. I highly encourage everyone to check out this featured resource on metacognition, and hope we, as instructors, begin to consider the importance of explicitly teaching important skills, such as metacognition, that go beyond the content, and support student success not only in our classes, but in all of their learning endeavors.

That’s it for this edition…hope to hear your thoughts in the comments section, and if you enjoy reading about the excellent teaching and learning resources that the CLSE Resource Portal continues to accumulate, be sure to subscribe!