The effects of knowledge,strategies, and the interaction between the two in verbal analogy problem solving

An experiment was conducted to assess how accessibility to relevant knowledge would affect performance on verbal analogy problems as well as the efficacy, perception, and continuation of use of a componential strategy for solving these problems. Participants were either taught to use a componential strategy for solving verbal analogy problems or just given practice opportunities while the accessibility of relevant knowledge was manipulated and the performance and perception of the strategy was assessed. We also investigated whether variations in accessibility to relevant knowledge affected the continuance of strategy use. Results showed that knowledge accessibility affected both performance and the way in which the strategy was perceived. Participants rated the strategy as more useful, easier to use, and less effortful when their initial strategy experience involved solving analogy problems based on familiar vocabulary and relationships. Also, participants who had experience with easily accessible vocabulary and relationships were significantly more likely to choose to continue to use of the strategy on a subsequent task. It is also argued that accessibility to knowledge and strategy use play independent, as opposed to interactive, roles in determining performance.     

Assessing metacognition in an online community of inquiry

Metacognition is an important aspect of human intelligence and higher learning. There is the recognition that metacognition is not just a private internal activity but also socially situated. In this context, the purpose of this research is to develop and validate a metacognitive construct that provides the opportunity to assess metacognition in online discussions. Furthermore, the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework provided the conceptual coherence to construct, operationalize and interpret metacognition in an online collaborative inquiry. The results provided evidence of metacognition indicators in student discussion postings and the frequency of these indicators increased over time.     

Thematic awareness and recall of information from text

In a repeated-measures experimental design,28 college students read and lateranswered questions about specific pieces ofinformation in 2 sets of 4 fictitiousbiographical passages that differed in terms ofthe presence of thematic connections (withtheme or without theme). As hypothesized, thestudents recalled more items from the theme setthan the non-theme set. The positive effect ofthematic connections was strongest for thestudents who exhibited some awareness of theme. In other words, the students who selected thetheme set as the easiest recalled more thanthose who chose the non-theme set as easiest. The students who picked the theme set aseasiest were also more accurate in theirprediction estimates of their theme set recall. Student explanations for why one story set waseasier than the other were predominantly Storyexplanations (referring to characteristics ofthe story) and Order explanations (referring tofactors influenced by set order). Studentsgave different explanations depending on whichstory set they picked as easiest. As expected,the students who picked the non-theme set aseasiest gave relatively few Story explanations. The students reported different patterns ofstrategy use depending upon whether or not theyswitched strategies for the different storysets.     

认知测评发展的现状及趋势述评

本文论述了近20年来有关认知测量与评价的研究新进展。讨论的内容集中在智力测评、元认知测评、标准化记忆测评、内隐认知测评利创造性测评等方面。最后,在前人研究的基础上对认知测评今后的主要研究任务和发展趋势进行了探讨。     

论学习共同体——教育新理念

学习共同体是当代教育的一种全新理念,本文分析了衡量学习共同体的几个纬度,并将学习共同体与传统教育进行了比较,最后,总结出了设计学习共同体的基本原则。     

元认知策略在口译教学中的运用

口译教学效果的好坏直接关系到学生口译技能的掌握与口译能力的提高。文章结合口译训练特点,讨论了如何将元认知策略运用到口译教学中,以及培养学生元认知意识和发展元认知策略的途径。根据教学实践和学生反馈,发现元认知策略对于口译教学质量和学生口译水平的提高均有明显效果。     

Predicting performance on academic and non-academic tasks: A comparison of adolescents with and without learning disabilities

Previous research suggests that adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) are less accurate in predicting academic performance than normally achieving (NA) adolescents and display a tendency to overestimate their level of performance (e.g., Klassen, 2007). However, no studies have been conducted investigating whether this overestimation is specific to academic contexts or a phenomenon that extends across domains. Ninety-four adolescents (46 LD, 48 NA) predicted their performance on a spelling task and on a ball-throwing task. Results revealed group differences in performance calibration across domains with adolescents with LD showing an overestimation of ability on the spelling and ball-throwing tasks, and NA adolescents demonstrating more precise self-appraisals. Additionally, the accuracy of non-academic performance predictions remained stable with increasing difficulty in the NA group whereas the adolescents with LD demonstrated a decrease in accurate performance prediction as the difficulty level increased.     

Elementary Students' Laboratory Record Keeping During Scientific Inquiry

The present study examines the mutual interaction between students' writing and scientific reasoning among sixth‐grade students (age 11–12 years) engaged in scientific inquiry. The experimental task was designed to promote spontaneous record keeping compared to previous task designs by increasing the saliency of task requirements, with the design goal of making the relationship between record keeping and inquiry strategies more explicit and visible. Compared to previous studies, this new task design resulted both in a higher amount of record keeping overall and in a higher quality of information, which is interpreted to be a result of increased participants’ metatask and metastrategic knowledge arising from greater engagement with the task. The study found a significant relationship between the quality of students' record keeping and the inquiry strategies that were investigated. However, this relationship varied depending on the type of inquiry strategy. Strategies that are employed during the design of experiments (i.e., factorial combination strategy and control‐of‐variables strategy [CVS]) were statistically related to the number of complete comments (plans and intents), but not with the total number of comments. In contrast, the study found that for strategies employed while evaluating evidence (i.e., drawing inferences), student production of quality records is a necessary but not sufficient condition for effective evidence evaluation; in addition to recording high‐quality information, students must also review their records (both from design and evaluation phases).     

Approach–avoidance motivation and metacognitive self-regulation: The role of need for achievement and fear of failure

Previous research has indicated that approach–avoidance motivation at the achievement goal level influences the quality of self-regulated learning. Additionally, research indicates that approach–avoidance motivation at the dispositional level is associated with cognitive self-regulated learning strategy use. The present investigation sought to extend this research by examining the relationship between approach–avoidance motivation at the dispositional level and metacognitive self-regulation, as well as the mediational potential of approach–avoidance achievement goals among a sample of undergraduate students (N = 145). Results indicated that need for achievement was significantly related to metacognitive self-regulation and mastery-approach goals partially mediated this relationship. Fear of failure was negatively associated with metacognitive self-regulation; however, performance-avoidance goals did not mediate this relationship. The significance of such individual differences in metacognitive self-regulation is discussed.     

Metacognitive calibration—an extended conceptualization and potential applications

In this theoretical paper, I present a short critical review of research on calibration. Based on this conceptual analysis I argue for two extensions of this construct: In addition to traditional applications, the methodology should be transferred to also measure calibration between students’ metacognitive control processes (traditionally, only students’ metacognitive judgments were considered) and important external criteria (traditionally, judgments were only compared to students’ own performance). As an illustrative example, one application context will be highlighted where these proposed extensions would alleviate potential problems with the traditional conceptualization: While students’ idiosyncratic task definitions constitute unwanted error variance in the traditional account it would be possible to investigate them as a primary research question within this extended notion. More specifically, it would be possible to investigate how well students’ learning processes match objective task demands. I will put forward theoretical and empirical arguments in favor of these suggestions.