Students’ Metacognitive Competencies: Effect on Mastery of Learning Strategies and Outcomes

This paper discusses the constructs of students’ metacognitive competencies and its effect on mastery of learning strategies and enhancing learning outcomes in the context of high school in Shanghai, China, where Learning to Learn curriculum has been implemented for years. 780 students from three types of typical high schools in Shanghai participated in a questionnaire survey. Result of a structural equation model shows that metacognitive knowledge, planning, monitoring, and evaluation constitute students’ metacognitive competencies which effectively predict mastery of learning strategies and their student learning outcomes. Pedagogies for metacognitive teaching for effectively implementing the Learning to learn curriculum are proposed.

The effect of using metacognitive thinking in understanding moral concepts among eighth grade students in Jordan: أثر استخدام التفكير فوق المعرفي في استيعاب المفاهيم الأخلاقية لدى طلاب الصف الثامن الأساسي في الأردن

The current study aimed to identify the effect of using metacognitive thinking in understanding moral concepts among eighth grade students in Jordan. The researcher used the quasi-experimental approach to identify the effect of using metacognitive thinking in developing the comprehension of ethical concepts. The researcher prepared a test to measure the moral concepts of the study sample, which consisted of (72) students in two groups (control – experimental). The study reached several results, the most important of which is the existence of an effect of the metacognitive thinking strategy in developing the comprehension of moral concepts for the tenth grade students, where the experimental sample students outperformed the control sample students. The study recommended the necessity of using the metacognitive teaching strategy in all other units of Islamic education, as a unit (creed, interpretation, hadith.

Self-Perceived Instructional Competence, Self-Efficacy and Burnout during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study of a Group of Italian School Teachers

Prolonged school closures, forced isolation, and mutations in social interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have posed challenges for actors in the educational context; teachers, in particular, have had to develop new instructional strategies to ensure that lessons could continue. The present research measures in a group of 374 Italian teachers—curricular and specialist support teachers—the relationship between self-perceived instructional competence, self-efficacy, and burnout. The present research, conducted between April and December 2020, represents the second part of a larger study conducted from November 2018 to October 2019, which was replicated during COVID-19. Participants completed an anamnestic questionnaire, the Assessment Teaching Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory in both phases of research; an ad hoc questionnaire (to measure teaching practices) and the Teacher Sense of Self Efficacy Scale were added in the second phase. Data confirm that general level of burnout increased and personal accomplishment was reduced during the pandemic; elevated personal accomplishment appears to be a predictor of emotional, socio-relational, and didactic competences before and during the pandemic. Feelings of frustration and accomplishment represent some manifestations of distress caused by the pandemic condition; these dynamics favor the crystallization of roles and behaviors towards the perception of metacognitive teaching processes.

The Extent to which Chemistry Teachers Practice Teaching Strategies Related to Metacognitive Thinking and the Direction Towards the Teaching Profession at the Secondary Stage in Jordan: مدى ممارسة معلمي الكيمياء لاستراتيجيات التدريس المتعلقة بالتفكير ما وراء المعرفي والاتجاه نحو مهنة التدريس في المرحلة الثانوية بالأردن

This study, which followed the descriptive analytical approach, aimed to identify the extent to which chemistry teachers practice teaching strategies related to metacognitive thinking and the direction towards the teaching profession at the secondary stage in Wadi Al-Seer schools and the relationship of these strategies to teacher attitudes Chemistry about the teaching profession. The researcher used two tools to achieve the objectives of this study, one of which was a questionnaire that included teaching strategies related to metacognitive thinking that consisted of 27 paragraphs, and the other was a measure of attitudes toward the teaching profession. Its number reached 28 items, where it was applied to the study members after verifying its validity and reliability. The results have shown, after analyzing the data of the responses of the sample members, that the extent of study members practicing metacognitive thinking strategies was average, as well as the presence of positive attitudes of the study members' towards the teaching profession and with a high degree. The results also showed a statistically significant correlation relationship at the level of significance (0.05) between the extent of study members' practice of teaching strategies and their attitudes towards the teaching profession, and there are statistically significant differences in the chemistry teachers' practice of the teaching strategy related to metacognitive thinking attributable to both sex variable and in favor of female teachers, sector variable and in favor of the private sector, and experience variable and in favor of individuals from the years of experience category less than five years. In light of the results, the study recommended the necessity of preparing and developing training programs for teachers and encouraging them to use metacognitive teaching strategies and apply them in educational situations.

Developing metacognitive teaching in Chinese language through conducting lesson study in Shanghai

PurposeThis paper investigates the effectiveness of metacognitive teaching methods on students' reading comprehension through a lesson study case conducted in Shanghai.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts an experimental design with control groups and experimental groups. Plan–do–check–act (PDCA) cycles of lesson study were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of modeling, self-questioning, think aloud and KWL strategy in Chinese language lessons. Metacognitive teaching strategies were implemented at a junior high school in Shanghai. The data was collected via lesson observation, interviews and pre- and posttests.FindingsResults identified a significant difference between the incremental scores of students' reading comprehension in the experimental group and control group. The findings from the lesson observation showed that metacognitive teaching strategies in Chinese language developed students' reading comprehension. Moreover, PDCA cycles of lesson study helped the teachers improve metacognitive teaching strategies.Originality/valueFew studies have been conducted to validate metacognitive teaching through lesson study in the context of China schools, and this study contributes to a new research dimension of lesson study on developing pedagogical practices to improve student learning outcomes.