Employing metacognitive procedures in Natural Science teaching

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Education, both in South Africa and internationally, experiences a number of challenges with regards to the need for improved teaching and learning. South African education is in a state of transformation to address the country's educational needs. In science education specifically, there is a heightened necessity to develop teaching that will respond to distinctive educational needs in the sciences. Many of the educational issues, presented in current literature, are mirrored in my Natural Sciences classroom. Given the benefits of enhanced metacognition for effective learning, this study aimed to investigate the use of metacognitive instruction procedures to improve my Natural Sciences teaching practice. Consequently, it also aimed to explore the influence that this may have on the metacognitive development of my Grade 9 Natural Sciences learners. This research study was based on a social constructivist perspective that views learning as a unique, internalized construction of knowledge from a social interaction, such as teaching.This study was embedded within a paradigm of praxis, with a qualitative action research cycle forming the research methodology and design respectively. Purposeful sampling was used to select nine of my Grade 9 Natural Sciences learners to act as informants for the Grade 9 class. Data was collected in the form of learner reflections, an open-ended questionnaire, a focus-group interview, and a research journal. Furthermore, the data was analysed, using a theoretically founded coding scheme, to identify and interpret significant themes and/or trends.The research findings indicated that the employed metacognitively orientated teaching procedures enhanced my Grade 9 Natural Sciences learners' metacognition. Their metacognitive awareness and reflection abilities improved, as well as their knowledge and regulation of cognition. The teaching techniques also demonstrated the potential to facilitate the development of my learners' conscious thinking, self-discipline, responsibility and active participation in learning - all characteristics envisaged for the ideal South Africa learner. In addition to this, the research process demonstrated the ability to enhance my Natural Sciences teaching practice and the information gained from this study will be used to inform my future teaching practice. I now realise the value of incorporating metacognitive teaching procedures into my lessons, as well as the importance of reflecting on my teaching process and considering the uniqueness of each learner in my class. Additionally, teacher training institutes and educational policy makers may benefit from the information gained from this study, for improving teaching practice. Apart from this, findings attained from this study have the potential to inform future cycles of this action research process or alternatively to be used for other research within the field.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University