Improving Metacognitive Awareness and Authentic Teaching Practices
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Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 1-1-2017 Improving Metacognitive Awareness and Authentic Teaching Practices through Scaffolding Goal Setting and Reflective Practices with ECD Majors at the Community College Level Melanie Renee Yeschenko Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Yeschenko, M. R. (2017). Improving Metacognitive Awareness and Authentic Teaching Practices through Scaffolding Goal Setting and Reflective Practices with ECD Majors at the Community College Level (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/190 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMPROVING METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS AND AUTHENTIC TEACHING PRACTICES THROUGH SCAFFOLDING GOAL SETTING AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICES WITH ECD MAJORS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Education Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education By Melanie Renee Yeschenko August 2017 Copyright by Melanie Yeschenko 2017 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ED.D. IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Presented by: Melanie Yeschenko B.S., Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1998 M.S.Ed, California University of Pennsylvania, 2002 June 14, 2017 IMPROVING METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS AND AUTHENTIC TEACHING PRACTICES THROUGH SCAFFOLDING GOAL SETTING AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICES WITH ECD MAJORS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL _______________________________________, Chair Amy Olson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership Duquesne University ________________________________________, Member Anne Marie FitzGerald, Ed.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership Duquesne University _______________________________________, Member Julia Williams, Ed.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Instruction and Leadership in Education Duquesne University Program Director Connie M. Moss, Ed.D. Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Educational Foundations Leadership and Director, Ed.D. in Educational Leadership Program Duquesne University School of Education iii ABSTRACT IMPROVING METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS AND AUTHENTIC TEACHING PRACTICES THROUGH SCAFFOLDING GOAL SETTING AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICES WITH ECD MAJORS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEVEL By Melanie Yeschenko August 2017 Dissertation supervised by Dr. Amy Olson This research set out to enhance instruction for early education and child development majors in a community college setting in a manner that allows them to gain content knowledge while becoming more prepared to practice effective pedagogy in early learning classrooms. This study examined how metacognitive awareness changes throughout a semester with scaffolded goal setting and reflective practices. It investigated the types of goals students set for a specific learning task, as well as investigated their ability to apply reflective practice to their own learning and teaching practices. This research used a mixed method design to data collection with quantitative data from rubrics and an inventory and qualitative data from instructor journaling. Quantitative results indicated that students improved in some elements of goal setting and all assessed elements of reflective practice, along with improvements in metacognitive awareness. Qualitative findings also indicated that students improved in iv metacognitive awareness and goal setting as a formal practice even though there was evidence of struggle in regard to the unfamiliarity of the goal setting practice itself and defining a time frame to achieve their goals. The goal setting and reflective practices within the course were helpful to the instructor. Each provided an opportunity for the instructor to support student learning and effectively use strategies to support achievement of the students in the course and in the early childhood field. Keywords: community college, early childhood education, goal setting, metacognitive awareness, reflective practices, scaffolding v DEDICATION To Alan, Fate brought us together, but our love keeps us strong. Always and forever! To Brandon and Mason, I am proud to call myself a teacher, but I am even more proud to call myself your mom. I love you with my whole heart and soul! vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My deepest thanks and sincere gratitude to my chair, Dr. Amy Olson, and my committee members, Dr. Anne Marie FitzGerald and Dr. Julia Williams, for all of the wisdom you shared. Your scholarly practice and endless joy for teaching and learning has inspired me throughout this doctoral journey. You challenged and encouraged me each step of the way. I am forever grateful for your dedication and support of my educational goals. A special thanks to my family and friends who endured this doctoral experience with me and never let me give up. Your praise, encouragement, laughter, and tears meant the world to me. I am blessed to have the most supportive people in my life, and I am humbled by your unconditional love. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….....1 General Overview……………………………………………………………………………...1 Importance of Early Childhood Focus……………………………………………………..…..4 Social Justice Implications…………………………………………………………………......8 Importance of overall quality………………………………………………………….…..8 Need for Quality Early Learning Environments………………………………………..…9 Under-preparedness of Community College Students…………………………………...11 Intersection of Early Childhood Education and Community College in the Field………14 Context Review……………………………………………………………………………….16 Action Plan Review……………………………………………………………………...16 Community College……………………………………………………………………...17 ECD Program…………………………………………………………………………….18 CHAPTER II: PROBLEM OF PRACTICE……………………………………………………..21 Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………......22 Improvement Inquiry for Change in ECD………………………………………………….22 Metacognitive Awareness of ECD Students……………………………………………….24 Metacognition and learning……………………………………………………………...24 Implications of metacognitive awareness for community college students……………..28 Metacognitive awareness and teaching………………………………………………….30 Measuring metacognitive awareness of teachers………………………………………...31 Implications of metacognitive awareness for ECD students…………………………….32 Goal Setting………………………………………………………………………………...33 Goal setting and learning………………………………………………………………...33 viii Metacognitive awareness and goal setting………………………………………………35 Goal setting in the context of coursework……………………………………………….35 Defining high-quality goal setting……………………………………………………….36 Implications of goal setting for community college students ……………………………37 Goal setting and teaching………………………………………………………………...39 Implications of goal setting for ECD students…………………………………………...40 Reflective Practices…………………………………………………………………………41 Reflective practices and learning………………………………………………………...41 Relationship between reflective practice and metacognition ……………………………42 Evidence that high-quality reflective practices can be taught…………………………...44 Implications of reflective practices for community college students……………………45 Reflective practices and teaching………………………………………………………...46 Implications of reflective practices for ECD students……………………………….…..47 Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………………….49 Vygotskian theory…………………………………………………………………………..49 Scaffolding of learning……………………………………………………………………..50 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….53 CHAPTER III: DESIGN FOR ACTION………………………………………………………..55 Research Questions…………………………………………………………………….…….55 Methods of Investigation for Change……………………………………………………...…55 Research Participants……………………………………………………………………....56 Demographics of participants……………………………………………………………56 Protection of human subjects…………………………………………………………....57 Informed consent procedure…………………………………………………………….57 Researcher Participant…………………………………………………………………..58 ix Data Sources and Instruments……………………………………………………………..58 Survey……………………………………………………………………………………59 Rubrics…………………………………………………………………………………...59 Instructor’s journal……………………………………………………………………….60 Data Analysis………………………………………………………………………………..61 Quantitative………………………………………………………………………………61 Qualitative………………………………………………………………………………..62 Implementation……………………………………………………………………………...63 Quantitative Results……………………………………………………………………………...68 Quality of Student Goal Setting………………………………………………………………68 Quality of Reflection………………………………………………………………………….70 Metacognitive Awareness of Teaching……………………………………………………….73 Teaching Presentation: Student Self-Evaluation and Instructor Evaluation…………………75 Summary of Quantitative Results………………………………………………………...…..77 Qualitative Findings…………………………………………………………………………...…78 Instructor’s Journaling………………………………………………………………………..78 Difficulties Experience by Students…………………………………………………………..79 Initial unfamiliarity and difficulty with goal setting……………………………………..79 Difficulty using the rubric to improve goal setting………………………………………80 Difficulty with establishing an appropriate timeframe…………………………………..81 Difficulties in goal setting………………………………………………………………..82 Improvements in goal setting…………………………………………………………….83 Student perception