The Effects of Metacognition 17 The Effects of Metacognition and Concrete Encoding Strategies on Depth of Understanding in Educational Psychology Suzanne Schellenberg, Meiko Negishi, & Paul Eggen, University of North Florida The study compared the academic achievement, as measured by final examination scores, of an experimental group of undergraduate educational psychology students who were provided with concrete mechanisms designed to promote metacognition and the use of specific encoding strategies to the achievement of a control group of similar students who were not provided with the same concrete mechanisms. The two groups were taught by the same instructor, who used the same teaching methods and identical class activities, homework, quizzes, and tests. The results indicated a statistically significant difference between the two groups, favoring the experimental group. Implications of the study for instruction and suggestions for further research are included. This study explored instructional capacity working memory that designs that encourage learners to consciously organizes information into become responsible for their own conceptual structures that make sense to learning. Responsible learners are the individual, a long-term memory that metacognitive, strategic, and high stores knowledge and skills in a achievers. Therefore, researchers have relatively permanent fashion, and become interested in investigating ways metacognitive monitoring that regulates to foster learners’ metacognition and this processing (Atkinson & Shiffrin, strategy use. 1968; Chandler & Sweller, 1990; Mayer The purpose of the study was to & Chandler, 2001; Paas, Renkl, & examine the impact of concrete Sweller, 2004; Sweller, 2003; Sweller, mechanisms for promoting van Merrienboer, & Paas, 1998). The metacognition and the conscious use of way knowledge is stored in long-term encoding strategies on the achievement memory has an important impact on of undergraduate educational learners’ ability to retrieve that psychology students. The theoretical knowledge and effectively organize and frameworks that guided this study store new information. Meaningful included (a) information processing and knowledge is more easily retrieved and human memory, (b) metacognition, and more effectively aids the organization (c) strategies for promoting encoding. and storage of new information than is knowledge stored in isolated bits, most Information Processing and Human commonly represented in long-term Memory memory through rote memorization Information processing is the (Lin, 2007; Mayer, 2002). conceptual framework used to describe Meaningfulness describes the the way humans gather, organize, store, extent to which individual elements of a and retrieve information. It describes conceptual structure are interconnected, learning structures in terms of a system such as a history student understanding composed of a sensory memory that the relationships between Marco Polo’s receives and briefly holds information visit to the Far East, the Portuguese until it can be organized, a limited- explorers, and Columbus’s visit to the Fall, 2011 Teaching Educational Psychology 7:2 The Effects of Metacognition 18 new world, as opposed to knowing elaboration, the process of increasing isolated information about each (Gagne, the number of connections among items Yekovich, & Yekovich, 1997). of existing knowledge (Terry, 2006); and Attempting to make content meaningful (d) imagery, the process of forming is essential in all content areas, and it is mental pictures (Schwartz & Heiser, particularly important in educational 2006). Learners who consciously use psychology, because educational encoding strategies are mentally psychology courses are designed to help (cognitively) active as they make students apply their understanding of the decisions about how to make the content to their personal lives and to the information they’re studying as real world of teaching and learning. meaningful as possible. In contrast, simply reading a textbook, for example, Metacognition and Encoding or memorizing information can be a Metacognition refers to relatively passive process. The study individuals’ awareness of and control attempted to measure the extent to which over the way they process information providing concrete mechanisms that (Meltzer, Pollica, & Barzillai, 2007), and promote metacognition and encoding encoding is the process of representing strategies impacts introductory information in long-term memory (J. R. educational psychology students’ depth Anderson, 2007). Research indicates that of understanding. metacognition has an important influence on the way students learn, in Method general, and encode information, in Participants particular (Pressley & Hilden, 2006). Fifty three undergraduate Students who make conscious attempts students (35 females and 18 males) in a to meaningfully encode information 3-credit hour introductory educational consistently achieve higher than those psychology course made up the who are less metacognitively aware experimental group, which was provided (Kuhn & Dean, 2004). with the mechanisms for promoting metacognition and the use of encoding Encoding Strategies and Cognitive strategies. Their achievement was Activity compared to the achievement of the Encoding strategies refer to control group consisting of 64 learners’ conscious attempts to encode undergraduate students (41 females and information into long-term memory in 23 males) who were not offered the ways that are meaningful to the concrete mechanisms. No statistically individual. Four encoding strategies are significant differences existed between commonly described. They include (a) the experimental and control groups with organization, an encoding strategy that respect to aptitude, as measured by the involves the clustering of related items SAT. of content into categories that illustrate relationships (Mayer, 2008); (b) schema Educational Psychology Course activation, a strategy that involves The experimental group and the activating relevant prior knowledge so control group were taught by the same that new information can be connected instructor who used the work of to it (Mayer & Wittrock, 2006); (c) Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) Fall, 2011 Teaching Educational Psychology 7:2 The Effects of Metacognition 19 and Stiggins (2008) as a model for organized in any form they chose. The organizing the learning environments for treatment was an attempt to encourage both groups. Bransford et al. (2000) the students in the experimental group to suggested that productive learning use the encoding strategies described in environments must be learner centered, theoretical frameworks. Therefore, this knowledge centered, and assessment study did not intend qualitative analysis centered; and Stiggins (2008) embraced on the concrete mechanism (i.e., how the conception of assessment for sophisticated they were or which type of learning. Using this work as a guide, the strategies was used more frequently); instructor explicitly stated her learning however, every student created the goals for each topic and carefully information sheet for each of the aligned her assessments with her quizzes, the midterm, and the final learning goals. She developed the exam. content of the classes with real-world Nevertheless, because the examples and high levels of interaction students were limited to information that to promote deep understanding, they could fit on one 8.5 × 11-in. sheet frequently assessed the students’ of paper (one side only), they were understanding of the content and required to be metacognitive about what provided detailed feedback to gain information they would include, and as insight into the students’ thinking and they prepared the sheet they had to increase their learning. The instructor activate relevant schema and organize used the same methods and class and elaborate the information in a way activities, as well as the identical that was as meaningful as possible to quizzes, midterm, and final exam for make it usable. If they created diagrams, both the experimental and the control flow charts, or any other form of visual groups. Students in both groups were representation, they would also be using given detailed feedback about their imagery. Using any or all of the performance on the class activities, encoding strategies required the students quizzes, and midterm. Practice quizzes to be cognitively active. written in the same format as the quizzes This process is very different used in the class were available on the from using an open-book or open-note website for both the experimental and approach to the quizzes and exams, the control groups. Both classes were which doesn’t require the use of any of taught during the day and in a format of the encoding strategies in addition to two 75-min class sessions per week. those they used when they originally took and organized their notes. In Treatment: The Concrete Mechanism addition, beyond their routine quiz and The treatment for the test preparation procedures, an open- experimental group consisted of the book or open-note approach allows opportunity to bring one 8.5 × 11-in. students to remain cognitively passive. sheet of information to each of the 13 In fact, using an open-book–open-note quizzes, the midterm, and the final approach might detract from preparing exam. The students were told that they thoroughly for assessments, because could include any information on the students often overestimate the help their sheet that they believed