Module 5: Reflection

At the start of this module I felt I had a very good understand of metacognition, problem solving, self-regulation, and multitasking.  However, it wasn’t as good as I thought.  All of the material provided some interesting insight into things I didn’t know about these four components.  Each of these components plays a role in the learning process.

Metacogition is a person’s knowledge of his or her own thinking processes and strategies.  Noddings states, “Possibly no goal of education is more important or more neglected than self-understanding…In an important sense, this entire book is about self-understanding and an examination of how external and internal forces affect out lives.  We need to ask not only what we believe but why we believe it” (Noddings, 2006, p.10).  He also states that motivation, study habits, memory, and remaining sensitive to both the object of study and one’s own energy flow are important in the discussion of the student’s own learning. 

Problem Solving is the process of achieving desired goal for which there was initially no familiar solution.  Pretz, J. E., Naples, A. J., & Sternberg, R. J. states, “If our ultimate goal is to help people become better able to solve problems that confront them in their personal and professional lives and in the concerns of the world, we must be prepared to examine the fuzzy issues surrounding problem recognition, definition, and representation. Because most of life’s problems are not cleanly packaged with one correct path to solution, it is important that we take on the ill defined challenge of studying these early phases of problem solving in an effort to understand how problem solving can be enhanced in these initial stages” (Pretz, et al, 2003, p. 27).  In Dr. Usher’s power point it says that problem solving is the key process in the learning process.  So, it is extremely important to make students better problem solvers.   Dan Meyer, in his video, said Math books need a makeover.  He talked about how in our society and the way the math book is designed causes the students to become frustrated and impatient with problem solving.  Most people want the quick fix and problem solving cannot always be quick.

Self-regulation is the term self-regulated can be used to describe learning that is guided by metacognition, strategic action, and motivation to learn.  Kegan touches on self-regulation in the article In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life but he calls the student a self-directed learner.   He gives an example about an educator by the name of William Perry that created a class at Harvard to help adult students with the burden of reading the volume of material assigned in higher education curriculum.  Perry is not really working on better reading but on the students’ own dissatisfaction with the results of their reading.  Kegan states, “”They come to see ‘better reading’ is not a challenge to their intelligence,” Perry says, “but a challenge to their courage”’ (Kegan, 1994, p. 280)

Multitasking is the handling of more than one task at the same time by a single person.  Only one of the articles actually defended multitasking.  The rest of them echo what Rosen says in the article Myth of Multitasking.  Rosen states “When we talk about multitasking, we are really talking about attention: the art of paying attention, the ability to shift our attention, and, more broadly, to exercise judgment about what objects are worthy of our attention.”  Towards the end of the article Rosen relates multitasking to what James describes as the youthful mind.  I often wonder how different William James Talks to Teachers would be if he lived in this day and age.  I wonder what he would say.  One statement Rosen makes at the very end of the article that I feel is profound is, “When people do their work only in the ‘interstices of their mind-wandering,’ with crumbs of attention rationed out among many competing tasks, their culture may gain in information, but it will surely weaken in wisdom.”

Just a side note: In one of my class with Dr. Aglin, one of his assigned readings was a book called Hamlet’s BlackBerry.  It was an enjoyable read.  Powers really made you examine your life and your use of what he called multiple screens.  He discussed how staying on the multiple screens do not give you an opportunity for deep reflection.

References:

Hamilton, J. (2008). Think You’re Multitasking? Think Again. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794

James, W. (1899/1962). Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.

Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Press. [Excerpt: Chapter 8]

Meyer, D.  (2010).  Dan Meyer: Math Class Needs a Makeover.  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html

Noddings, N. (2006). Critical lessons: What our schools should teach. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. [Excerpt: Intro and Chapter 1.] 

Powers, W. (2010).  Hamlet’s BlackBerry: building a good life in a digital age.  New York: Harper.

Pretz, J. E., Naples, A. J., & Sternberg, R. J. (2003). Recognizing, defining, and representing problems. In J. E. Davidson & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The psychology of problem solving (pp. 1-30). New York: Cambridge University Press.

RosenThe New Atlantis, 64, 105-110.

Silverman, D. (2010). In Defense of Multitasking. Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/silverman/2010/06/in-defense-of-multitasking.html

Usher, E. (2011). Learning and Problem-Solving