Metacognition: Challenge, in-class assessment and feedback

/ Helen Webb

This original article was published in Sec Ed on 7th February 2023. You can view the original article here.

How do we get the level of challenge right in our classrooms? In this five-article series, Helen Webb explains the metacognition-inspired teaching and learning model at Orchard Mead Academy and how it translates to classroom practice. In part five, she considers challenge, prior learning, assessment, and feedback

Metacognition and self-regulation are rated by the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit as “high impact for very low cost, based on extensive evidence” (EEF, 2021).

It is a golden thread that can be weaved into all aspects of our classroom practice. In this series of articles, I describe the rationale behind our whole-school teaching and learning model at Orchard Mead Academy, our behaviour for learning model, our recent professional learning, and how this offers an integrated metacognitive approach in the classroom.

Learning at Orchard Mead is underpinned by the philosophy that teachers and students should know explicitly “why” they are doing “what” they are doing and “how” they can do it more effectively.

This supports both teachers and students to plan for, monitor and evaluate their learning more effectively. It also allows our staff to have greater certainty, clarity and confidence in the choices they make in the classroom and how they articulate these decisions and model their thinking to students and colleagues.

This fifth and final article considers how we can get the challenge right to maximise our students’ learning and also considers how we can reflect more critically on our learning so that students are more accurate in monitoring how well they are doing but can also make informed decisions about their next steps in the learning process.

Metacognition: A teaching and learning model

Article 1: An integrated approach to metacognition: Models for teaching, learning and behaviour: Published January 11, 2023.
Article 2: Memory, attention and FAST behaviours for learning. Published, January 17, 2023.
Article 3: Learning more: I do, we do, you do. Published, January 25, 2023.
Article 4: Checking for understanding: Cold calling and mini-whiteboards. Published February 1, 2023.
Article 5: Challenge, reviewing and reflecting on learning. This article

Challenge

In order to develop students’ self-regulation and metacognition, it is important to set an appropriate level of challenge. The aim is to achieve “desirable difficulties” and put students into the “struggle zone”. If you can recall from article two, “we learn what we think about”. If a student is made to think harder, they are more likely to recall that information from their long-term memory in the future.

An inappropriate level of challenge may lead to a lack of engagement: too much challenge and students may get demoralised and give up, if it is too easy students may get bored and distracted. The key to high challenge is not to reduce expectations, but to think carefully about the quality of your explanation, checking for understanding at every step, and gradually reducing the scaffolding of the task during an “extended we do” handover before expecting independence from students.

To plan for challenge more effectively, teachers are encouraged to engage in metacognitive reflection:

We need knowledge of the task:

  • Is this task going to be too challenging or too easy for my students?
  • What are the easy bits?
  • What are the most difficult aspects of the task?
  • How long should I devote to this task?
  • What prior knowledge is needed?
  • What are the common errors?
  • Where do students normally go wrong? What can we do to minimise errors?

We need knowledge of our students:

  • What prior knowledge do my students have?
  • What tasks have worked well or not so well with this class previously and why?
  • What barriers to learning are my students facing?
  • What are the main challenges in my classroom?
  • What specific needs do I need to meet?
  • What else do I need to know about my students for this lesson to be effective?

We need knowledge of strategies:

  • What resources do I need?
  • What resources do I have available to me?
  • What are the different strategies I can use to teach/learn this type of knowledge or skill?
  • Which is the best strategy I can use to teach/learn this type of knowledge or skill? Why?
  • How will I know if this strategy works really well? What will success look, feel or sound like?
  • What have I learnt from teaching previous strategies that will help here?
  • How can I ensure that students will remember what I have taught them?

These reflective questions are also useful to ask students when they are planning or reflecting on their own learning tasks.

Moving information into long-term memory

All lessons at Orchard Mead start with a short review of previous learning. This usually comprises of five or six “do now” questions that recap knowledge from previous lessons or topics and may also relate to and activate learning for that lesson.

This review phase of the lesson (which also provides an opportunity for spaced learning) may also include a recap explanation of previous material, a review of previous classwork, or feedback on homework.

Challenge is often ramped for these start of lesson quizzes: the first question being so easy to answer that everyone can access the lesson without support and settle into learning. This also allows the teacher to complete registers and deal with any other start-of-lesson issues.

These low-stakes quizzes also provide regular repeated retrieval practice. Retrieval involves bringing information to mind from your memory. The process of retrieving makes information easier to remember at a later date, compared to simply studying your notes. It also increases your ability to use and apply the information to new situations. Retrieval practice is a strategy that helps students reinforce information that they have previously learnt and helps them to use information more flexibly.

Prior learning

It is also worth drawing attention to the importance of prior learning and how this affects the perceived challenge of your lesson. Prior learning is the learning that a child gathers before entering your classroom. Learners who have more prior learning tend to have greater academic success in school despite experiencing the same lessons as other students. This is because we remember things much better if something already has meaning to us as we can connect that material to “stuff” we already know about a topic.

Conversely, prior misconceptions or inaccurate knowledge can also hinder new learning (Ambrose et al, 2010). As such, it is essential that you take the time to ascertain what knowledge your students bring to the classroom, whether that is through diagnostic or formative assessment, beginning of class activities, or by using a range of assessment for learning (AfL) strategies. The information you glean can then inform pedagogy and subsequent instruction.

Background knowledge helps students to understand what you are talking about. If students have vocabulary missing from their long-term memory, they are likely to be confused by your explanation. Background knowledge helps to bridge the gaps of assumed knowledge that is not explicitly included as part of your teacher explanation. As such, when planning ask yourself:

  • What knowledge are you assuming students already have in order for them to successfully understand your explanation or access the lesson activities?
  • What are the common misconceptions?
  • What misconceptions do your students have?
  • How will you diagnose what prior learning and background knowledge your students have?
  • Privileged students generally have a wider vocabulary and knowledge about the world compared to disadvantaged students. How do you, or your school, work to bridge that gap?

Reflecting on learning

Around the school, declarative and procedural knowledge is assessed in subject-specific ways. Our weekly and monthly assessment model provides students with repeated-spaced-retrieval practice and an opportunity to regularly reinforce their knowledge of key concepts.

This, together with timely, effective feedback and reflection allows students to judge more accurately how effectively they are learning and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Feedback should be goal-orientated, understandable, actionable, specific, and personalised. High-quality feedback is much easier to construct if the success criteria is explicit from the start. What specifically do you want the students to know or know how to do? What does success look like for this task? If the goal is clear, it is then much easier to see the gap between where the student is right now and what they need to do to get there. Can students improve as a result of what you have said to them?

When reflecting on learning, the same questions can be asked of yourself as well as your students:

  • How well are you doing? How do you know?
  • Can you explain to someone else what you have learned or learned how to do today?
  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • Can you make reasoned choices and decisions about your learning (or teaching)?
  • Do you know where to look or who to ask if you need help?
  • How can I do this even better?

A final reflection

Whether you are teaching or learning, this simple metacognitive approach of understanding and being able to articulate “why” you are doing “what” you are doing and “how” you can do it more effectively is, as the EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit indicates (2021; see also Quigley et al, 2018), “high impact for very low cost”.

This approach allows teachers and learners to have greater certainty, clarity and confidence in their pedagogical choices. If students can more effectively plan for, monitor and evaluate their learning, their increased feelings of success and competency will in turn improve motivation and this positive learning cycle will ultimately lead to greater outcomes for all.

Further information & resources

  • Ambrose, Bridges & DiPietro: How Learning Works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching, Jossey-Bass, 2010.
  • EEF: Metacognition & self-regulation, Teaching and Learning Toolkit, last updated July 2021: https://bit.ly/3zJ5ruN
  • Quigley, Muijs & Stringer: Metacognition & self-regulation: Guidance report, EEF, first published April 2018: https://bit.ly/3zKVE7w

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