Conference:
ECER 2009
Format:
Poster
Session Information
PRE_POSTER, Poster Session and Coffee Break
Time:
2009-09-25
10:30-11:00
Room:
Otkogon
Chair:
Gjert Langfeldt
Contribution
Recent studies have shown that metacognitive prompts help students stay on task, keep track of their effort and progress (Koechlin & Zwaan, 2007) and are related to more efficient problem solving (Hoffman & Spatariu, 2008). This is because learners can control and modify their own ideas, learn with greater understanding, become active participants in a learning process and so they can perform better in difficult tasks (Chen, Wei, Wu & Uden, 2009; Lee & Hutchison,1998). This study investigated the hypothesis that students’ performance in physical education can be improved, if question prompts are used to activate students’ metacognitive processes. 241 students, thirteen years old, participated in this study. The students had to face a problem-solving situation: how to effectively perform five attempts in volleyball service in order to achieve the highest score. They had to perform two trials. Between those two trials, all students were given a semi-structured written interview prompting them to activate learners’ metacognitive activity. The ΑAHPERD (1984) motor skills test was used for the assessment of students’ performance. Paired-t test was used in order to examine differences between the two trials and there were statistically significant differences. Performance scores of the last trial were higher compared with the scores of the first trial. The results imply that metacognitive prompting has significant influence on students’ performance
Method
Two hundred and forty one students (113 boys, 108 girls), 13 years old participated in this study. Performance in volleyball service was used (ΑAHPERD, 1984).The pupils had to execute 5 volleyball services and the maximum score was 20 points in total. Additionally all students were given a semi-structured written interview, which included five categories (analysis of the problem, planning, monitoring, evaluating and reflecting) prompting them to activate their reflective thinking.
Research design had four steps: i) at first, learners were asked to respond to the questions of the first two categories of metacognitive activity (problem analysis, planning), ii) secondly they were asked to execute five services in volleyball (first trial), iii) then they had to respond to the other three categories of metacognitive activity (monitoring, evaluating, reflecting) and iv) finally they had to execute again the five services in volleyball (second trial).
Expected Outcomes
This study examined the influence of question prompts in students’ performance in volleyball service. The results from paired t-test analysis revealed that metacognitive prompting had significant influence on students’ performance, because the second trial’s scores were significantly higher than the first (t(236), p< .005). Results supported that the questioning guided students in the process of problem solving structure- especially in monitoring, evaluating and reflecting- used appropriate strategies which enhanced the performance in physical education classes. For this reason the second trial performance in services was better than the first, because the metacognitive prompting activated the students’ reflective thinking in order to execute better the second time. The results of the present study are consistent with previous findings indicating that metacognitive prompting is an important stimulus that promotes metacognitive monitoring, evaluates outcomes, abandon strategies if deemed unsuccessful and finally reflection prompts lead to greater problem-solving accuracy (Hoffman et al,2008)
References
ΑAHPERD (1984). Skills Test Manual: Association Drive, Reston, V.A. 22091. Chen, N., Wei, C., Wu, K. & Uden, L. (2009). Effects of High Level Prompts and Peer Assessment on Online Learners’ Reflection Levels. Computers & Education, 52, 283-291. Hoffman, B. & Spatariu, A. (2008). The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Metacognitive Prompting on Math Problem-Solving Efficiency. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 875-893. Koechlin, C. & Zwaan, S. (2007). Assignments Worth the Effort: Questions Are Key. Teacher Librarian, 34, 14-19. Lee, A.Y. & Hutchison, L.(1998). Improving learning from examples through reflection. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 4,187-210
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