Orientador: Messias Borges Silva / Banca: Fernando Augusto Silva Marins / Banca: Rubens Alves Dias / Banca: Regina Elaine Santos Cabette / Banca: Marco Antonio Carvalho Pereira / Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objeto de estudo a educação em engenharia. A questão a ser respondida pela pesquisa é: como compor uma sistemática metacognitiva, que possa subsidiar o planejamento de ensino de disciplina do curso de Engenharia de Produção? O referencial teórico seguido compreende temas sobre teoria da aprendizagem, fundamentos da aprendizagem significativa, ferramentas da qualidade e métodos de tomada de decisão multicriteriada. O método proposto inclui três ferramentas: Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) e o diagrama de Kano, sustentadas por um conjunto de teorias de aprendizagem. Os objetivos desta análise estão diretamente relacionados a cada um dos elementos que compõem o método, ou seja, conhecer os elementos pedagógicos de forma priorizada por grau de aplicabilidade, segundo alunos, professores e gestores, além de conhecer os possíveis temas a serem trabalhados em práticas ativas e a classificação de atributos a serem integrados no planejamento de ensino da disciplina delimitada. Um teste do modelo proposto pelo autor foi feito na disciplina de Pesquisa Operacional de um curso de Engenharia de Produção de uma instituição de ensino superior, localizada no Vale do Paraíba. O método QFD permitiu priorizar por grau de aplicabilidade, habilidades, atitudes, conhecimentos e métodos ativos, enquanto o método AHP possibilitou, de forma multicriteriada, a escolha dos possíveis temas de práticas a serem utilizadas de forma ativa, e o métod... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The research work has as object of study the education in engineering. The question to be answered by the research is: how to compose a systematic metacognitive, that can subsidize the planning of discipline teaching of the course of Production Engineering? The theoretical framework followed includes topics on learning theory, fundamentals of meaningful learning, quality tools and multicriteria decision-making methods. The proposed method is a set of three elements: Quality Function Deployment, QFD, Analytic Hierarchy Process, AHP and the Kano diagram, supported by a set of learning theories. The objectives of this analysis are directly related to each of the elements that compose the method, that is, to know the pedagogical elements in a prioritized way by degree of applicability, according to students, teachers and managers, in addition to knowing the possible themes to be worked on active practices and the classification of attributes to be integrated in the planning of teaching of the delimited discipline. A test of the model proposed by the author was made in the discipline Research Operational of the course of Production Engineering of a higher education institution, located in Vale do Paraíba. The QFD method allowed prioritizing by degree of applicability, skills, attitudes, knowledge and active methods, while the AHP method made possible, in a multicriteria way, the choice of possible practical themes to be actively used, and the Kano ranked attributes, allowing to ca... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

This study investigated approaches to studying, intellectual developments, and metacognitive skills of general chemistry students enrolled for the spring 2011 semester at a single campus of a multi-campus community college. the three instruments used were the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), the Learning Environment Preferences (LEP), and the Executive Process Questionnaire (EPQ). the subjects were 138 students enrolled in either general chemistry 1 or 2. the results revealed that the preferred approach to study was the strategic approach. the intellectual development of the students was predominantly Perry’s position 2 (dualist) in transition to position 3 (multiplicity). Correlation statistics revealed that deep approach to studying is related to effective employment of metacognitive skills. Students with a deep approach to studying were likely to utilize effective metacognitive skills. Students with a surface approach to studying used no metacognitive skills or ineffective metacognitive skills. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to ascertain which of the three variables, namely approaches to studying, ability to metacognate, or level of intellectual development, was the most salient in predicting the success of general chemistry students. No single variable was found to predict students’ success in general chemistry classes; however, a surface approach to studying predisposes general chemistry students to fail. the implication of this study is that students’ study approaches, intellectual developments, and metacognitive skills are requisite information to enable instructional remediation early in the semester.

Prior studies looking at the effects of listening strategy instruction on motivation have shown there to be a positive correlation between the two. However, the participants of these studies all shared a first language (L1) and were not enrolled in an intensive English program (IEP). This study aims to investigate the correlation between listening strategy instruction and listening motivation in an IEP classroom for students from different L1s. Listening motivation was recorded utilizing the English Listening Comprehension Motivation Scale (ELCMS) and strategy use was tracked with the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ). Pre- and post-test scores of 56 participants (control group, n=30; experiment group, n=26) were analyzed using a mixed-effects regression and paired t-test to determine differences after a 7-week treatment period. Results revealed that study participant motivation levels in both groups decreased over the treatment period, with the experiment group seeing a smaller decrease than the control group.

Internal rhetoric describes how individuals engage in self-persuasion. Jean Nienkamp developed a theory of internal rhetoric by drawing on both the rhetorical tradition and the field of psychology. I build on Nienkamp's work by arguing that the Christian meditative practice outlined by Joseph Hall in The Arte of Divine Meditation (1607) and Edmund Calamy in The Art of Divine Meditation (1634) provides a theoretical and practical framework for performing a particular kind of internal rhetoric in which people become the rhetorical critic by reading their own beliefs and knowledge and then become the rhetor by composing self-directed arguments. This process of internal rhetoric aims to increase understanding, rouse affections, and change behavior. Synthesizing Hall and Calamy's meditative approach to internal rhetoric with Gregory Schraw's model of metacognition creates a more complete theory and practice of internal rhetoric, a practice that transforms the very nature of the individual. By bringing scholarship from multiple disciplines into conversation with one another, we can better understand how internal rhetoric is enacted and how to teach it.

In 2013, developers of the Next Generation Science Standards implemented national K -12 directives and elevated engineering design to the level of scientific inquiry. Teaching design, however, is challenging to educators due to the complex nature of design problems, which cannot be solved via simple algorithms. Solving design problems requires a more reflective and iterative approach that emphasizes metacognitive skills like planning, monitoring, and taking another person’s perspective. Educators are further challenged by children’s immature metacognitive skills, which may be insufficient to engage in the entire design process. A qualitative study of paired seventh graders demonstrated a pragmatic learning activity for enhancing adolescent designs during their earliest phases through guided peer interactions with metacognitive prompts. Four distinct interaction styles were observed among the pairs. Each style varied by which verbal and social phenomena were used to make changes. The metacognitive prompts used in the learning activity can be adapted to any design challenge. Furthermore, an additional, exploratory case demonstrated a restructuring of the learning activity in which the metacognitive prompts were generated naturally by the students themselves. The student-generated prompts were design-specific and timely; delivered in the moment when a student was struggling with a design element. The result was a dynamic co-construction and co-ownership of the designs.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects on a student’s metacognition, reflection, and learning in a specifically designed educational simulation supported by unique technology. The simulation allows players’ actions to be recorded for the purpose of review to identify mistakes. The simulation also allows students to start at and redo actions while fixing previous mistakes instead of starting over at the beginning of a new scenario. When starting at the mistake or point of failure, as identified by a facilitator, during the redo of the initial saved scenario, students reflect on the actions performed during the initial scenario. Student thinking during a redo of a scenario, after the initial scenario reflection, may be called reflective redo when the simulation technology can support starting from the point of failure. This research investigated how metacognition, reflection, and learning were affected by reflective redo. Two key findings were identified when analyzing reflective redo in how students. learn the content and how they learn about their own use of metacognition and reflection. The first key finding relating to the influence of reflective redo on learning was that participants used reflection at levels that matched their need as a support mechanism. The second key finding was that the students’ abilities to place themselves in the problem space contributed to the amount of contextual information they needed to be successful— in this case, either starting from the beginning or from the point of failure.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Disorganized speech is a core feature of schizophrenia. It is a key component of formal thought disorder (FTD). Recent work has tied disorganized speech to deficits in metacognition, or one’s ability to integrate experiences to form complex mental representations. In this study, we aimed to 1) explore the relationship between disorganized speech and metacognition and 2) compare trained rater and emerging automated analysis methods. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Indiana Psychiatric Illness Interviews (IPII) were conducted; the IPII was coded for disorganized speech using the Communication Disturbances Index (CDI) and Coh-Metrix multidimensional indices. Metacognition was rated using the Metacognition Assessment Scale. We compared FTD (n = 16; PANSS conceptual disorganization ≥ 3) and non-FTD (n = 29; PANSS conceptual disorganization < 3) groups on metacognition and examined CDI and Coh-Metrix’s ability to account for variance in metacognition. We hypothesized that the FTD group would have lower metacognition and that both CDI and Coh-Metrix would account for significant variance in metacognition. Analyses indicated metacognition did not differ between groups and neither measure accounted for significant variance in metacognition. Results also showed that the CDI was able to distinguish the groups. Overall, results suggest little relationship between FTD and metacognition. Findings also indicate that trained rater measures of disorganized speech may have clinical utility in classifying FTD. Future research examining these constructs should address important limitations of this study by ensuring adequate levels of FTD in the study sample and by assessing neurocognition.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Objective: Social functioning encompasses interactions with people across situations of varying complexity. Given the frequency of observed social impairments in individuals with schizophrenia, there is a need to identify mechanisms that influence social functioning impairments. One proposed mechanism is metacognition, a mental process that enables the integration and interpretation of mental states and experiences. Impaired metacognition can inhibit one’s ability to engage and navigate through our social world. In individuals with schizophrenia, both social functioning and metacognitive deficits are profound. This study examined three hypotheses. Following Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), (1) individuals will show improvements in social functioning; (2) individuals will show improvements in metacognitive abilities; and (3) improvements in social functioning will be associated with improved metacognitive abilities. Method: Using secondary data from a MERIT therapy feasibility study, data collected from the active condition groups (e.g., individuals with schizophrenia, n =16) at pre-and post-assessment were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for primary outcomes and hierarchical linear regressions to assess metacognition as an underlying mechanism of change. Results: Paired samples t-tests found no significant improvement in social functioning or metacognition. In contrast to the hypothesis, metacognitive abilities significantly declined. When subscales were examined, two subscales (self-reflectivity and awareness of others) significantly decreased. The post-hoc analysis found significant improvements in overall symptoms and disorganization. Lastly, metacognition did not significantly predict post-intervention social functioning. Conclusions: Measurement modality and the length of intervention may help explain the null findings observed in this study. The improvement in overall and disorganized symptoms could indicate that symptom reductions precede social functioning and metacognition changes. Given that the results from this trial were not aligned with previous studies, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of MERIT on social functioning and metacognition in schizophrenia.

No description available.

Successful tertiary-level education in the biological sciences is crucially important in providing a high-level work force for a number of careers. The government of South Africa has realised the strong positive correlation that exists between the availability of scientific and technical human resources, the viability of the economy, and the well-being of its people. However, despite government policies and tertiary institutions efforts in South Africa to increase enrolment and improve students’ throughput, the pass rates at first-year university level remains low, a source of concern for the government and affected institutions. The low pass rates of first-year students in the biological sciences at tertiary institutions constituted the problem which prompted the study. The aim of this study was to identify factors perceived to be essential for academic success in first-year biological sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and to investigate the effects of a computer-based programme designed to address some of the factors. The programme was developed to help students increase their awareness of appropriate attitudes, metacognitive knowledge and work-habits, all of which contribute to achieving academic success. The study had two main phases, a “diagnostic” and a “therapeutic” phase. The research methods adopted in this mixed-methods study included the use of interviews and questionnaires to elicit information from various stakeholders. In the diagnostic phase, interviews were used, first to elicit the perceptions of 10 lecturers teaching first-year biology courses, 8 Honours students, and 17 undergraduates, at the University of the Witwatersrand, about factors they believed influenced academic success. The five top-ranked factors influencing academic success identified were being motivated, using appropriate study habits, having positive attitudes to studies, asking for help and clarification, and managing time effectively. Whilst the above-mentioned were the common factors identified by the three samples, each stakeholder group made its distinctive contributions. Secondly, to obtain a wider perspective of first-year students’ views, a questionnaire focussing on attitudes, work-habits and metacognition was administered to two large groups of students (n=145; n=100) at the end of two consecutive years. In this replicate study the three top-ranked factors in both studies had to do with academic behaviours: attending all lectures; taking accurate notes; and asking for help and clarification when a topic was not understood. Eighty-three first-year students provided data on students’ changing perceptions at the beginning and end of the year. This data was used to determine if, without an intervention, a year at the university influenced students’ perceptions about appropriate factors affecting academic success. Rasch analytical techniques applied to 27 items in the questionnaire yielded 11 responses which were statistically significantly different. These responses were later addressed in the package because students needed this information from the start of their studies. During the therapeutic phase a computer-based instructional programme, Bioskills, was designed to inform student users about attitudes, behaviours and metacognitive factors the literature and stakeholders said were important for academic success. Six experts and 75 first-year students provided comments as part of a formative evaluation during its development. These were used to modify the screen design, user interface and content of the alpha version of the package. Bioskills proved very easy to use, even for first-time computer users. A case-study approach was used to explore the experiences of eight students with Bioskills, in particular its influence on their attitudes, metacognition and academic behaviours. All eight students made positive comments, saying it was relevant, informative and encouraging. Six out of the eight recommended it be used much earlier in the year, whilst two said it took too much time to work through. Without trying to imply causation the four students who used Bioskills three or four times passed the course. Students’ metacognitive gains were reported in terms of metacognitive knowledge [what students know about successful learning] and metacognitive control [the application of the knowledge]. The small sample size (n=8) made it difficult to detect trends. However, individual students mentioned new attitudes (being more determined, showing more interest in the topic and applying more positive attitudes to their studies) which they claimed they learned from using Bioskills. Attribution is traditionally explained as a search for understanding of causes. Students’ attributions on specific academic tasks are therefore important in the remediation efforts by educators. Of the 38 factors identified by the eight students, as causes for poor performance in their June examination, before they used Bioskills, almost two-thirds, when categorized using attribution dimensions, were of internal but unstable dimensions. The literature suggests it is easier to remediate causes that are internal and unstable rather than external and stable. After using Bioskills, four of the eight students who performed well at the end of a teaching block ascribed their success to the effort they had put in, whilst two of the four who did not do well, blamed external factors (the length of the test, the question structure) as contributing to their poor results. The important contribution this study made was the theoretical framework developed which expanded the existing attitude-behaviour models by adding additional constructs and showing the relationships between them. In addition, a summary of factors mentioned by the stakeholders and supplemented with views from the literature were used to propose a conceptual model of factors influencing academic success. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the constructs in the model for improved academic performance and as an area for further research.