Based on the results of numerous studies, researchers have found that metacognition, or the ability to "think about thinking," plays a significant role in students' design education. Educators are increasingly focused on metacognition in design education, not only with the subject matter, but also with the development of metacognitive skills for self-regulated and lifelong learning. Since the early 2000s, there have been an increasing number of studies on the role of metacognition in education. However, there is a lack of research on the nature of metacognitive processing in design education and how metacognitive strategies develop in design students. This study focuses on the process of learning, in terms of design thinking, and specifically on the role of metacognitive learning. The purpose of the inquiry is to extend metacognitive theory to design learning and uncover the factors and influences of metacognitive thinking and learning during a student's first year in the Design Lab. In this study, the researcher probed the students' metacognitive ability in different design learning-tasks. The research frames metacognitive aspects of students' learning based on evidence obtained from students while they were working in the Design Lab. The evidence is as follows: verbal description (oral or written), experiential (videos or notes about people in action) and artifactual objects of the learning process (sketches and models). The field studies utilized a constructivist paradigm to examine the various forms of thinking in action, and the actions that occur during a learning-task. Verbal protocol analysis of video recordings of students engaged in selected learning design tasks was used to uncover the metacognitive thinking that develops during the execution of the learning-task. The researcher used a thematic data analysis process to develop an understanding of the data and identify common themes that arose from the investigation. Themes were generated through the interpretation of the data in light of the literature reviewed, the research questions, and the researcher's personal knowledge and intuition. The cyclical process of metacognitive thinking for design students was examined based on three main categories: Reflective process knowledge, reflective process monitoring, and reflective process control. The research reveals that metacognitive thinking plays an important role in design idea generation and development, and is an important part of the creative process in design. As one would expect, based on metacognitive theory, the differences between high-performing and low-performing students are well explained. High-performing students focused more on metacognitive thinking, especially monitoring their design process, while low-performance students were more concerned with cognition, or doing the task. The findings have added new knowledge to the fields of metacognition and self-regulated learning by identifying the conscious thinking process that occurs when students engage in design learning in the first year Design Lab. This knowledge will be helpful to design educators in formulating design learning-tasks for students in their labs in tandem with fully utilizing the environment of their school. / Ph. D.

The thesis on topic "Development of Metacognitive Thinking of Pupils by RWCT Practices" asks a research question: "How does RWCT develop the metacognitive thinking of pupils at elementary school and what are the outputs?" The aim is to find out the possibilities and the limits of the pupils' metacognition using the RWCT (Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking). In the theoretical part, this thesis deals with the definition of metacognition, relation among metacognition and autoregulation, metacognition and self-reflection, metacognition and teaching, and last but not least the RWCT procedures in terms of the objectives of the program itself and the objectives of the RVP ZV (Framework Educational Program for Basic Education). The possibilities of using the RWCT procedures in connection with the development of metacognitive thinking of pupils at elementary school level were examined using the action research that took place in a fifth grade, where RWCT procedures are being regularly used. During searching answer on the research question is used analysation and description on basis of participated observation, pupils' products, written reflection and pupils' self-reflection. Furthermore with non-structural interview. From action research results that RWCT practices initiate discussion between...

Syftet med pilotstudien är att pröva hur rekommenderade metoder för att uppmuntra elevers metakognitiva tänkande kan användas. Metakognition handlar om ”att lära att lära” och är relaterat till begrepp såsom återkoppling, självreglering och formativ bedömning. Forskning visar att elever som får träning i metakognition ökar sina prestationer. Ett av skolans mål enligt läroplanen för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011/2017 är att eleverna ska utveckla förmågan att bedöma sina resultat. Jag har undersökt hur elever i årskurs sju besvarar och uppfattar metakognitiva frågor i ämnena bild och svenska. Eleverna svarade på metakognitiva frågor vid tre olika tillfällen: vid planeringen, under genomförande samt vid utvärderingen av arbetsuppgiften. I samband med frågorna svarade de även på en enkät om hur de uppfattade de metakognitiva frågorna. Avsikten är att använda pilotstudiens resultat för att bereda mark för en större studie. I studien har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod använts. Resultatet visar att det är väsentligt att lärarna tar reda på elevernas olika förförståelse för de metakognitiva frågorna. Majoriteten av elever upplever de metakognitiva frågorna som oanvändbara, men av olika skäl. Om eleverna inte förstår frågorna tycker de att frågorna blir något utöver arbetsuppgiften. Om eleverna har en hög metakognitiv förförståelse kommer de att anse att frågorna är överflödiga. De flesta eleverna upplevde att de metakognitiva frågorna tog tid från den uppgift de skulle genomföra. Några elever uttryckte stort missnöje, stor frustration och irritation över frågorna. För att metakognitivt tänkande ska kunna tränas metodiskt med avsedd effekt, måste eleverna vara motiverade. En nyckelfaktor är att eleverna förstår vad träningen ska leda till. Detta behöver läraren arbeta med på olika sätt med olika grupper av elever. / This pilot study aims to test how recommended methods to promote students’ metacognitive thinking can be used. Metacognition is about “learning how to learn” and is related to conceptions like feedback, self-regulation and formative assessment. Research shows that students that get training in metacognition increase their performances. One of the goals according to the Swedish Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the recreation centre 2011/2017 is that students shall develop the ability to assess their results. I have examined how students in grade seven answer and apprehend metacognitive questions in the compulsory subjects Art and Swedish. The students answered metacognitive questions at three different times: when planning, when carrying through and when evaluating the task. In connection to answering the questions they also answered a questionnaire about their conception of the metacognitive questions. The intention is to use the result of the pilot study to prepare for a larger study. A qualitative research method has been used in this study. The result show that it’s substantial that the teachers find out about the students different preunderstanding of the metacognitive questions. The majority of the students find the metacognitive question useless, but for different reasons. If the students don’t understand the questions they think that the questions are something in addition to the task. If the students have a high metacognitive preunderstanding they will consider the questions as redundant. Most students thought that the metacognitive questions took time from the task they were supposed to do. Some students expressed great dissatisfaction, big frustration and irritation over the questions. To be able to train metacognitive thinking methodically with desired effect the students have to be motivated. A key factor is that the students understand what the training is supposed to leading. The teacher has to work in different ways with different groups of students with this.