Sample EDUC8731 Motivation Cognition and Metacognition Assignment

EDUC8731 Motivation, Cognition and Metacognition Assignment Sample

Assignment — Cognition & Metacognition
Weighting: 50%
Length: 2000 words

Part A: Learners are cognitive

Applying theory to practice

(1) Very briefly outline your sequence of instruction, then,
(2) Explain in detail how the steps in the sequence address different stages of information processing.

Be very brief in section (1) and give most attention to section (2)

Part B: Learners are meta-cognitive

Please stay within the word limit in your assignment response.

• Aim of assessment

- Explain key constructs in cognition and metacognition
- Analyse how cognition and metacognition affect learning and problem solving
- Relate an instance of student learning to extant theories about cognition and/or metacognition
- Contribute to informed debate about teaching and learning
- Demonstrate high standards of academic literacy

Solution

Part A: Learners are cognitive

Sequence of Instruction

The sequence of instruction for assignment help can help students in gaining a brief overview of the topic at first alongside learning objectives of the lesson (Wyer Jr & Srull, 2014). This instructional sequence for teaching the topic of “Marketing Mix” to students will consist of the following:

• Watching any video of marketing mix over video to acquire an idea on the topic,
• Whole-class discussion amongst students about the information they have gained,
• Reading the chapter 2 from pages 45 to 50 of the book: Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L., 2016. A framework for marketing management. Boston, MA: Pearson.
• Trying to answer the questions at the end of the chapter
• Discussing the answers in class by forming groups of four

Stages of Information Processing

Information processing refers to the idea of humans actively processing information that they receive through their senses (Wyer Jr & Srull, 2014). Here, the student after taking in the information, stores it as the sensory storage, thereby moving from short-term to working memory. This information is either forgotten or transferred to the long-term memory after that. There are various stages of information processing in students or humans, namely, attending, encoding, storing and retrieving (Lachman, et al., 2015). Thus, students go through these four stages while processing any information received in class.

Attending is the first stage of information processing. Here, the students are expected to listen and pay close attention to the instructions being provided in the class. Such active listening is essential for preparing themselves to receive the information or instruction that the teacher has given (Eggenberger, 2021). Here, the students pay attention to the things that they are supposed to do, such as, watching videos, reading, engaging in discussions and completing the questions and answers. In this regard, the teacher can verbally inform the students about the activities that are supposed to be done in the class for covering the required chapter. On the other hand, the teacher can also present the instructional sequence in a visual format by showing it in a PowerPoint slide (Mathew & Alidmat, 2013). Visual instruction sequence and planning can be more effective here as it tends to capture the attention of individuals more easily as compared to verbal instruction. Thus, this is the first stage of providing instruction and students attending to them.

The second stage of information process is encoding where the recipient tries to comprehend the information or message that has been shared. This step is not possible without the accomplishment of the previous step of paying attention or placing importance on the information. In this regard, the students make sense of what they are supposed to do based on the instructions provided (Klahr & Wallace, 2022). They focus on comprehending the instructions of watching video, reading chapters, discussion and answering the questions. In this stage, they also try to clear their confusions regarding the instructions or tasks that they are required to perform. Here, the teacher provides support and help to the students for enabling them to better understand their responsibilities during the class and about their homework. Students can ask questions to the teacher for clearing their confusions and further analysing the instructions that have been shared with them (Capps & Crawford, 2013). Thus, active cooperation from the teacher is of utmost importance at this stage.

Storing is the third stage in the information processing where the information or message enters the memory bank of the individuals that is called upon at some other time. Here, the information can either enter the short-term or long-term memory of the humans (Norris, 2017). The information can also be forgotten but if not, then it moves to the long-term memory. The teacher passes the instruction to the students based on the sequence mentioned in the above section. Students are required to act based on such instructions. In this step, they undergo the process of retaining such information after receiving and understanding the same. This is the consecutive step to encoding the information (Wyer Jr & Srull, 2014). Here, students who are able to encode the information effectively can retain the instructions in their memory, which them passes to their long-term memory. However, if they are unable to decode the instructions, then the information passes to the short-term memory and ultimately gets forgotten. In this stage, the students will prepare themselves for following the instructions of watching a marketing mix video and reading the chapter from the book. They focus on gaining insights on the particular topic that they are supposed to learn. Thus, this determines their ability to follow the instruction by storing it in their memory for gaining knowledge from the videos and books.

The last stage involves retrieving the information received to conscious awareness. This retrieval is essential for using the acquired information. In this stage, the students use the information by retrieving it at two different times. They retrieve the information about the instructions provided in class and accordingly, start watching the tutorial video on marketing mix and further reading this chapter on the mentioned book. Without attending, encoding and storing the information in long-term memory, this step cannot be completed (Bruning, et al., 2010). Furthermore, the students are also gaining insights and information about the marketing mix topic by reading the specific chapter and watching a video. These insights are retained again in the memory after comprehending them to be used for answering the questions at the end of the chapter. Moreover, information retrieval is also performed by the students when they engage in classroom discussions conducted on the topic of marketing mix.

Part B: Learners are meta-cognitive

Metacognitive Activity

Metacognition involves thinking about things associated with a person’s awareness alongside the ability of evaluating and organizing own thinking (Anwari, et al., 2015). Individual metacognitive activity has often been developed through effective social interaction where the discussion or conversation acts as the main tool for supporting such activity. Here, a reciprocal relationship and involvement of two or more members is required for solving problems together through the social interaction (Anwari, et al., 2015). In this regard, the three fundamental elements involved in the metacognitive activity of problem solving are awareness, regulation and evaluation. Thus, these elements help in developing problem solving strategies for responding to problems through metacognition. Furthermore, metacognitive strategies are different sequential processes used for controlling cognitive activities for achieving a cognitive goal (Ghasempour, et al., 2013). These processes are capable of regulating and supervising learning of the students or individuals through cognitive activities of planning, monitoring and checking outcomes. It has been opined that metacognitive strategies are required to be taught despite such knowledge being instinctively obtained from parent, classmates, relatives or others (Ghasempour, et al., 2013). Thus, learning about metacognitive strategies help in enabling students to monitor their own learning and further improve self-perceptions and motivation.

Ways to Enhance Students’ Metacognitive Activity

There are various ways for enhancing metacognitive activities of students that help in building their metacognitive skills including knowledge, practice, experience and intelligence. In this regard, STEM education is one of the most influential approaches for motivating students to become self-regulated learners (Anwari, et al., 2015). This education helps to engage students in metacognitive activities. This implementation of STEM education in the classroom can provide student with opportunities of comprehending the importance of integrating different disciplines and applications. It involves designing solutions for different real-world issues and problems, thereby improving metacognitive skills of the students (Anwari, et al., 2015). Here, STEM education activities can be undertaken consisting of scientific processes and engineering design. Alongside thus, concept map, taking notes and discussion, complex learning of unfamiliar problems and issues and scaffold instruction are some of the activities involved in STEM education that can help in improving metacognitive skills (Anwari, et al., 2015). Thus, this innovative approach of complex learning can help in enhancing metacognitive activities amongst students.

Furthermore, metacognitive reading strategy can also be undertaken for the students. This reading comprehension strategy can be beneficial in generating a positive effect on the students’ learning of a second language. Learners can also acquire the required skills for effectively communicating in English (Muhid, et al., 2020). Here, metacognitive strategies also facilitate this reading comprehension, thereby promoting performance and enhancing the understanding of an individual’s reading comprehension. Thus, systematic instruction about this metacognitive activity can help the students in improving their skills. Besides, problem solving activities can help in enhancing metacognition amongst students. It focuses on the three elements of awareness, regulation and evaluation for improving metacognitive skills in students (Intan, et al., 2016). This problem solving is associated with metacognitive activities that include complex, unpredictable, difficult and new tasks requiring effective skills of the individuals.

Metacognitive activity can also be enhanced with the help of metacognitive monitoring. It indicates the process of checking cognitive activities of the students (Avhustiuk, et al., 2018). Such checking also involves ascertaining how the results can help in generating solutions for various cognitive tasks that typically include doing tests, recalling answers and reading texts. This monitoring students to evaluate their own knowledge, knowledge of conditions influencing their learning process and knowledge of cognitive strategies. It also helps in reviewing explicit judgments of individuals about themselves that facilitate development of their learning processes (Avhustiuk, et al., 2018). This activity can be undertaken in the process of reading texts or in the process of words and statements learning. Thus, the complexity of tasks involved help in enhancing metacognitive abilities of the students engaging in these activities.

Metacognitive activity can be enhanced with the help of problem solving or test in the learning activity. It records the progress of a students’ learning having different academic abilities. Along with this, inquiry-based learning can also be helpful by undertaking a constructivism approach. Here, the idea and knowledge are developed by the students themselves instead of coming immediately from the teacher (Rahmat & Chanunan, 2018). This helps in improving metacognitive abilities of the students by enhancing their learning process. Thus, this learning process involves identifying, promoting and instructing the role of metacognition amongst the students.

Metacognition scaffolding is another wat for supporting metacognitive activities and facilitating problem solving processes in the classrooms. Students receiving metacognitive question prompts are expected to perform better in problem solving processes (An & Cao, 2014). This is because they display the ability of representing problems, generating solutions, providing justifications and monitoring and evaluating their own learning process. Metacognitive scaffolds further help students in developing problem solving plans and further monitor and evaluate their own progress. This is because these are effective in improving metacognitive processes of students that include planning, monitoring and evaluation (An & Cao, 2014). They also help in students’ knowledge construction and content learning alongside other metacognitive processes. In this regard, collaborative learning can further contribute towards facilitating metacognitive interaction between students (Molenaar, et al., 2014). This interaction of sharing existing knowledge and appreciating each other’s contributions without disagreement and with demands of justification help in enhancing the metacognitive activities as well. Thus, these are some of the ways that can help in enhancing metacognitive activities in students.

Improving Metacognitive Awareness

Metacognition enables students in taking charge of their own learning, thereby becoming more aware about how they learn, evaluating their learning needs, developing strategies for meeting these needs and implementing such strategies (Bahri & Corebima, 2015). The awareness of thinking and learning process through planning, monitoring and evaluation of what is learnt can help in improving metacognition awareness. Metacognitive awareness can be improved by asking students to reflect on their knowledge and things they care about in the learning process (Jaleel, 2016). This helps in developing their awareness about themselves alongside providing valuable feedback to improving metacognitive activities. Reflecting on the learning methods and performance in the classrooms and academic achievements can also improve metacognitive awareness. Besides, posing thoughtful questions to students by enabling them to use different strategies can also help in improving their awareness about academic tasks and own learning processes (Ellis, et al., 2014). Thus, this knowledge can further contribute towards increased metacognitive awareness of the students. 

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