Seminar OpenCognitionandEducation

Institutdessystèmescomplexes,Paris

December 15,2017

Metacognition,diversity andEducation

JoëlleProust

InstitutJean-Nicod,ENS,Paris

http://joelleproust.org

Outline

1. What is metacognition?2. Engaging inatask:Predictive metacognition3. ImportanceofRetrospective metacognition4. Againstsome received views aboutlearning

5.Diversity ofepistemic norms andself-concepts:achallengeforeducators

1.What is metacognition?

Metacognition referstothesetofconsciousorunconscious processes throughwhichagentscontextuallycontrolandmonitortheirfirst-ordercognitiveactivity(suchasperceiving,remembering,learning,orproblemsolving)byassessingitsfeasibilityorlikelysuccess.

Processes relevanttoeducationalmetacognition

• Setofstrategies forlearningorsolvingproblems (tobe acquired)

Students'beliefs andlay-theoriesabouttasksandself ,including self-concept

Motivations for(oragainst)performing specific tasks.

• Self-regulation through feelings("experience-based"metacognition)

Centralexamplesofmetacognitive regulation

•Prospectivemonitoring(evaluatingone’sabilitytocarryoutatask)

•Easeoflearningjudgments (reducinguncertaintyontimeneededtolearn)

•Retrospectivemonitoring• judgingtheadequacyofaresponse:thisisright/wrong• Judgingtheonehassufficientlystudiedatext•Havingthesenseofunderstandingwhatonereads

Epistemic actionversusinstrumentalaction

Epistemicaction:Epistemicnorm(s):fluency,truth,coherence

Instrumentalaction:norm ofutility:rewards,grades,futurejob

What arethepinkbent arrows? They refer to

predictions such as

• WillIremember X's name?• WillIdiscriminate two shapes asrequested?

Post-evaluations such as

• Ismy outcome right?

Twolevelsofinformational flowineach

controlloop,consideredovertime

CONTROL

Monitoring

T1 T2

EXPECTEDFEEDBACK

OBSERVEDFEEDBACK

COMMANDSENT

DISCREPANCY

REVISION

NEWCOMMAND

OK

• Sending a command is meant to change the attentional system as a consequence of this command. It's like sending an order to act cognitively in a given way: (e.g.) TRY TO REMEMBER

• Monitoring a cognitive action checks up whether the expected change is occurring according to the anticipated steps

Howcan our brain predict afutureoutcome,

orevaluate apast outcome?

• Itusesa"forwardmodel"ofthetask

• Thepredictor inthismodelconsists innonconsciousheuristicsextracted from formeractivity

• These heuristics areextracted from recurrent aspectsintheneuraldynamics.

unconscious heuristics

• Cue familiarity:elicited bytheterms ofthequestion(Reder,1987)

• Overall accessibility ofpertinent informationregardingthetarget:elicited bytheactivity triggered bythequestion(Koriat,1993)

• Fluency heuristic:responses that cometomind quicklyaredeemed correct. (see primingexperiments asasourceofconfidenceenhancement:Kelley&Lindsay,1993)

Recently discovered heuristics

• Predictiveneuraldynamics:Kepecs &Mainen (2012).

• Predictive interoceptive cuesfrom therespiratory,circulatory,digestive,andendocrinesystems:Barrett &Symons (2015),Park&Tallon-Baudry(2014).

• Proprioceptive(postural,facial)cue-based heuristics:possibleinterpretation fromStepper&Strack (1993)

Monitoring outcome: specialized "noetic" feelings

Predictive

§ Feeling of cognitive effortfulness

§ Familiarity§ Feeling of knowing§ Tip of the tongue§ Feeling of Coherence,

incoherence

Retrodictive

§ Feeling of Uncertaintyabout correct performance

§ Feeling of being right

Metacognitive goalsofeducation

•Helpstudentsbuild reliable heuristics forpredictingandevaluating their own cognitiveperformances(learning/understanding/problem-solving)

•Helpstudents freethemselves fromnonreliable,culturalinferences,such as:

"Being afemale meansbeing nogoodinmaths."•Enhancing motivationtolearn

2.Engaging inatask:

predictivemetacognition

andself-concept

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Monitoring outcome: specialized "noetic" feelings

Predictive

§ Feeling of cognitive effortfulness

§ Familiarity§ Feeling of knowing§ Tip of the tongue§ Feeling of Coherence,

incoherence

Retrodictive

§ Feeling of Uncertaintyabout correct performance

§ Feeling of being right

When confronted with anewcognitivetask

Oneneeds toevaluate:• Whether it is importanttoperform it

• Whether oneis abletoperform it

• Howmuch timeandeffortshouldbe spent onit

When confronted with anewcognitivetask

Oneneeds toevaluate:• Whether it is importanttoperform it

• Whether oneis abletoperform it

• Howmuch timeandeffortshouldbespent onit

motivation

Self-regulation

Why dostudents occasionally fail toengageina

task?

1. Because they perceive thetask asboring,notworth theeffort

2.Because they havethefeelingthat thetask is too hardforthem.

Moststudents prefer toexpend their effortintasks inwhich they alreadyfeel being competent.

2. Becausetheyperceiveacontradiction betweenengaginginagiventaskandtheself-conceptthatiscurrentlymostsalient(It'snotmy typeoftask).

(Yan&Oyserman,2018)

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Educators need todiscriminate twomotivationsin

any cognitiveaction

Ø Iwant tosucceed performing this task!

Ø Iwant toacquire acompetence inthisarea!

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Theproblem ofhaving aperformancegoal

Ø Feedbackgeneratedbysuccess inatask isgratifying

Ø But:Feedbackgeneratedbyfailuremakes thetaskaversive.

à Inboth cases,thegroundsthat explain successorfailure tendtobe unattendedbystudents

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When is acompetence goalencouraged?

When positivefeedbackis associated notwithisolated performancesbutwith

ü effortfulness orpersistenceü thestrategies selected forreaching thegoal

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Teachers'goal:promote competence

acquisition

Students should be shown that•Themorestrategies areavailable,themorecompetent oneis.

• Correctstrategy choice is akeytofuturegoodperformance.

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Socialstereotypes andself-concept

• Adolescentsareabletoreason aboutpossiblemotivatingfutures,ifencouraged todoso.

• butthis is difficult,especially forpoor andminority youth:• fewer minority role models forsuccess• moreneighbourhood exposure tounemployment,poverty,crimeandother socialrisk factors.

Enhancing students'self-concepts is crucial

• Many youth donotsee aconnectionbetween thepresentandadulthood,which seems faraway.

• Students shouldbe offered reflective timetoarticulate theiradult images,

• drawoutatimeline• see forthemselves theconnection between presentandfuture.

à create agroupbelief that thepresent influencesone’s futurechances.

Oyserman,Terry&Bybee JournalofAdolescence2002

3.Importanceof

retrospective

metacognition

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Monitoring outcome: specialized "noetic" feelings, recalibrated over time

Predictive

§ Feeling of cognitive effortfulness

§ Familiarity§ Feeling of knowing§ Tip of the tongue§ Feeling of Coherence,

incoherence

Retrodictive

§ Feeling of Uncertaintyabout correct performance

§ Feeling of being right

Self-monitoring

Crucialtoevaluate• progress togoal(e.g.did Ilearn thematerial?)•whether one's response is correct• andtimeone's effort:should Itry again,orstop?

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Confidenceinresponse's correction

•Predictiveandretrospectiveconfidenceinaperceptual ormemorial response is elicitedbyametacognitive feeling.

•Asseen earlier,metacognitive feelingsdependonnonconsciousheuristics.

•Feelingsareonly reliablewhen they arecalibrated,whichrequires havinghad sufficientexposure tosimilar tasks

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Confidenceandresponse correction

•Beginners aregenerally overconfident intheir futureperformances

•Experience oferror leadstoaphaseofunder-confidence, followed byacalibratedfeelingofconfidence.

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Confidenceandresponse correction

• Different factors andcues contribute toreliable calibrationofconfidencefeelings:

• Priorobserved feedbackmusthavebeenveridical (neither pessimistic oroptimistic)

• Thetaskmustbe appropriately understood

• Self-conceptmustbe madecongruentwith task

• Collectiveattitudesconcerning error orfailure recognitionmustbe non-threatening

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Self-monitoring forstrategies

Onceastrategy hasbeenselected,thestudents mustdetermine

• Ifthis strategy is optimalgiven their goal• Iftheywill be abletoimplementevery step inthis strategy,

Andrevise thestrategy tobe selected,whennecessary.

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Howtoencouragestudents'self-

monitoring?

Hartman,2001

Teachers should explicitly

•presentthegoalsofagiven lecture(andmaximizestudents'agency)

•Modeltheir strategies throughverbalizationofeach step intheir reasoning.

• Interact with students:questions,comprehensionmonitoring,invitationtovisualize,predict,summarize.

•Enable Interactionbetween students incollaborativegroups.

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Howtocorrectstudents'responses?

• Awell-knowproblemwith verbally testing astudent inclass:

• Ifawrong answer is given,it will bememorized (interferenceofincorrectanswers)

• Granting that thestudentdoes notimmediately find theanswer,then,howtoproceed?

« Constructivefailure »Finn&Metcalfe (2010)

Inmemorytasks (when thestudent fails toretrieve theanswer),adilemma:

Ø Usethis situationtoallowdeep processing,which favors long-term learning?

ØMinimize falseresponses:should theteacher provide theanswer?

à solution:two conditions.

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Condition1:Incremental FeedbackFinn &Metcalfe

(2010)

Incremental (or« scaffolded »)feedbackshouldbeprovided:

• thestudent receives cues toorienther retrieval process(forexample,oneindicatestoher thefirstletter oftheword,oronegives her asemantic cue

•Thistypeoffeedbacksecures abetter longterm learning.

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Condition2:Feedbacktimingandelaboration

Immediate feedbackis moreefficientthat delayedfeedback.

Elaborated feedback(explainingthereasonsassociatedwith thecorrectanswer)is better thanmerely providingthecorrectresponse..

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Conclusion:promote students'cognitive

agency

• Intraditional education,thestudents were supposed toabsorbtheteaching byfollowing theinstructionsgiven tothem(modelofatransfer ofcontents).

• 3majorproblems:• following instructionsis not motivating• Itdoes notpromote theevaluation ofwhat oneknows,• Itdoes nothelpstudents understand why agiven strategy isrelevantinagiven context

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4.Againstsome received

views aboutlearning

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ISEXECUTIVEATTENTIONONLY

GENETIC?

"Executive attention is amatter ofgenetic

endowment,it cannot be trained"

• Theexecutive attentionnetworkinvolves theanterior cingulate andlateralprefrontal areas.

• Itis activated strongly insituationsthat entail attentional control,such aswhen there is conflict between responses suggested bystimulusdimensions.

• Executive capacities determinewhat is called "workingmemory",I.e.theability tomaintain activeone's own goal,andresist interferring goals,andimpulsions.

• Thisnetworkappears todevelop under strong genetic control(4genes thatregulate dopamine)

Relevanceofexecutive attentionto

metacognitive self-regulation

• Internal feedback(e.g.thefeelingofknowing/notknowing thecorrectanswer)normallygoverns theuseofone's anwer:onereportsit ornot.

• Inimpulsivestudents,however,responses areprovided before they areevaluated,oreven after they havebeenjudged incorrect.

•Alack ofinhibitioncompromisesstudents'ability tocontroltheircognitiveactionsasafunctionoftheir own retrospective evaluation (=poor"controlsensitivity").

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Itis howeverpossibletotrainexecutives capacities in4

yr-old children

Ithasbeenshown that these capacities• areinfluenced byfamily andschoolenvironment (Rueda&Posner,2005).

• can be trained assoon as4yr ofage.

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Executive training:longitudinalstudy

4yr-olds trained foraweek,onlyanhour perday²become abletoretainmethodsofexplorationandattentional fixationthathavebeenproposed tothem.

²achieve two years earlier than controls(when 6yr olds)theattentional abilitiesofuntrained8yr olds.(Rueda&Posner,2005).

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Executive tasksbeing used

•Matchingsimilar stimuli• Predict trajectories•Apply simpleinhibitory rules ("thelittle catmustnotwalk inthemuddypartsofthelawn")‹

•See onlineexercizes:http://www.teach-the-brain.org/learn/attention/index.htm

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DOESONELEARNBETTER

WHENPROCESSINGEFFORTISMINIMIZED?

COMMONSENSEHASITTHAT

• Onelearns betterwhen oneconcentrates longenough onthesamematerial.

• Massed learning seemsmoreefficientthan distributed learning.

• Onesees multiplereadingsofatarget material asthebestway oflearning.

• Research tellsusotherwise

Theorizing:

• Added cognitiveload,when inherent tothematerial,producesdisfluency

• this generates aneed toprocess informationmoredeeply,asit is thecasewith distributed practice.

• These aredesirabledifficulties.

Locate "desirable difficulties"(Bjork,1994)

• Distributed learningormassed learning?• studying done less frequently,butforlarger periods oftime?• amorespaced-outmethod,where you study inintervalsovertime?

• Interlaced learning,eg alittle math,some language,somephysics.

• Alternationteaching /Testing• Variationsinthepresentation ofmaterial tolearn

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Why difficulties aredesirable?

• Itis a"law ofmemory":• Reducingtheaccessibilityofinformationleadstoimproved learning(Bjork,Kornell,Scheung2009)

• Theinterleavingoftasks forcesthelearner toreactivate anactionprogram/strategy /knowledge,which also allows toextract generalrules allowingthetransfer oflearning tonewdomains.

••

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Important:difficulties arenolonger"desirable"if

combined.

• Variationis asourceoflearning only ifthetimeinterval between learning sessionsisshort

• Similarly,theinterlacing oftasks is only asourceoflearning ifthetimeintervalbetween learning is short.

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Limits ofdesirability ofdifficulties

•Students dislike themmuch!

•They areunder thesubjective,butstrong illusionthatdifficulties impair their learning process.

(Partial)remedy

Ateacher may instruct students aboutdesirable

difficulties inorder tohighlight benefits associated with

learning difficulties,because disfluent processing

usually leadtostopanactivity

Doseductive pictures facilitate

learning?

Doseductive pictures facilitate learning?

• Seductive imagistic details areinteresting forstudents,butactually impairlearning ifnotrelevanttothecentrallearning focus(Garner,Gillingham&White,1989;Harp&Mayer,1997,1998)

• Especiallyforweakstudents(Magner,Schwonke,Aleven,Popescu,&Renkl,2014).

Why areseductive pictures deleterious to

learning?

• Becauseenhancedoverallfluencyismistakenforeaseoflearning,whichreduceseffort<studentsmay misevaluate theextent oftheir own understanding,encoding,andlearning<Attentiondirectedaway from relevantcontent< thelearner often does not(orcannot)discern that thepicture isirrelevant tothetext.

à Picturesusefulonly when integrated toverbalinformation.

Sequence ofactivity should modulate fluency

1. Sparking interest:initialencountermustbe fluent

2. Deep learning requires introducing"desirabledifficulties"

3. End-rule :aneasy endofthelesson increases interest inthematerials andmotivationtolearn more.

Students'activerole

•self-regulation is much moreefficientandfarless threatening forself-concept thanteacher's regulation.

•Whenever possible,students shouldimagineandselecttheir own strategies andself-addressed questions.

• Summaries andself-tests (after 15mn)arecrucialsteps inallkinds oflearning.

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Diversity in epistemic norms, laytheories and self-concepts: a

challenge for educators

Where liesdiversity foreducationalmetacognition?

• Setofstrategies forlearningorsolvingproblems (tobe acquired)

Students'beliefs andlay-theoriesabouttasksandself ,including self-concept

Motivationsfor(oragainst)performing specific tasks.

• Self-regulation through feelings(experiencebasedmetacognition)

DiVERSITY inmetacognition

•An“independent”modelofpersonhoodandan“influence”modelofactionprevailintheUSandWesternEurope.

•Recognition ofone’sowncognitivesuccessorfailureinataskisseenasanindicationofindividual ability(Markus&Kitayama,1991)

à potential calibrationdifference:overconfidencemorelikely inWesterners andunderconfidence inAsians (« modesty bias »)intheir publicself-assessments

SELF-CONCEPTANDMETACOGNITION

•An“Interdependent”modelofpersonhoodandan“adjustment”modelofactionprevailinJapanandotherpartsoftheworld.

•Hence,recognitionofone’sownfailureinataskismorereadilyseenasdrivenbylackofeffortthansuccessisseenasdrivenbyeffortorability.

Markus&Kitayama 1991

Hartman 2001:groupvsindividual values

• While collegeclassrooms often emphasize competition andindividualachievement,students from non-Westernculturesaremoreaccustomed togroupcooperationandvaluegroupachievement.

• Treisman (1985)found that blackstudents,unlikeChinese,rarelystudiedwith classmates.Chinesestudents often worked ininformalstudy groups.Cooperativeworkwith ashared purpose,whichresearch suggests creates anenvironment rich inmetacognitiveprocessing,enabledAsians toshare theirmathematical knowledge,checkouttheir understandingandapproaches,andcritiqueeachother.

Differences inmetacognitive training

feelingsoffluency can be used either• toselectindividual strategiesmotivatedbyovercomingdifficulty• Ortodispensewith individual strategicgoals(e.g.rotelearningencouraged inChineseeducation).E.g.:Confucianismhasusedfeelingsoffluencyinacriticalway,bydevelopingexercisesmeanttoenhancethefluencyofmoralbehaviorandtodiminishthefluencyofselfishbehavior.

(Reber,2013).

Diversity intask engagement

• Low-incomeAfrican Americanyouth feel that theymustchoose

betweenpersonal achievementgoalsandidentifyingas‘‘Black’’.

because they donotsee school success andblackness ascongruent.Oyserman etal.2002

Culturaldiversity inassessment ofeffort

needed

• whileblackstudentsworked approximately eighthours aweek onmath,Chinesestudentsworked around fourteenhours perweek onthesame tasks.

• Finally,blackstudents rarely utilized thefreetutoringprovidedoncampusbecause they viewed themselvesasself-reliant,which wasoneoftheir greatest strengths before college.

Diversity:effects onteachers

• Therole ofhandwritingonperceivedessay quality (disfluency)

• Therole ofaccentoncredibility (disfluency)

• Therole ofculturalnormsonlearning style

• Thepreference forspecific epistemicnorms

Cognitive diversity:Nisbett (2003)Ongoingresearchsuggeststhatculturemight favorspecificmodesofattendingtoandcategorizingeventsandproperties:

• Holistic:Asiancultures

• Analytic:Westerncultures

Holistic mode(Asians)• Orientationdirectedtocontextualaspectsofascene,includingthefunctional&spatialrelationsbetweentargetandbackground.

• Preferenceforcausalaccountsbasedontheserelations.• Avoidanceofdebateamongincompatiblepositions,andpreferenceforconsensus

Analyticmode(Westerners)

• Targetobjectsinfocus,detachedfromtheircontext.

• Categorizationbasedonobjectattributes• Preferenceforpredictiveandexplanatoryaccountsbasedonthesecategorizations

• Debatebasedontheprincipleofcontradictionandlogicalargumentspreferredtoconsensualformsofagreement.

Students aremoreprone tointerpret

teaching inindividualist orcollectivist terms

• While critical thinkingtargetingtruth is recognizedasanimportant

competencebyWesterners,deference toculturalconsensusor

religiousexpertsis amorepowerful epistemicnorm inother cultures.

• Teachers havetofind newstrategies fordealingwith these norm

conflicts,andforpointingthemouttostudents.

Thanks foryour attention

Questionsmost welcome!

Thispowerpoint presentation can bedownloaded

http://joelleproust.org.fr

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