Quest for Metacognition


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 * bgcolor="#b4b4b4" style="border: 0px #cccccc solid;" |Subject: Personal Development
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 * bgcolor="#b4b4b4" style="border: 0px #cccccc solid;" |Sub-category: Study Skills
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 * bgcolor="#b4b4b4" style="border: 0px #cccccc solid;" |Length/Duration: 2 class sessions
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 * bgcolor="#b4b4b4" style="border: 0px #cccccc solid;" |Technologies Used: World of Warcraft, Posterous
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Lesson Overview
Students will develop their metacognitive skills in a sociocultural learning environment. Metacognition is awareness or analysis of one's own thinking processes. It is very helpful to students to think about and examine the way they think and learn, so they can structure their studying in such a way to maximize learning. Sociocultural theory is a theory of knowledge based on the teachings of Vygotsky that posits learners are in a social environment learners construct knowledge by interacting with and within their environment.

Stage 1: Complete assigned readings on metacognition and study skills (prior to class)

Stage 2: Pair up with a partner in class

Stage 3: Go to World of Warcraft and create a World of Warcraft account

Stage 4: Create a character and explore World of Warcraft

Stage 5: Join the assigned guild in order to interact with students from our partner school

Stage 6: Accept and complete a quest (each student)

Stage 7: Reflect on WoW experience using Posterous

Stage 8: Subscribe to the Posterous blogs from students from our class and partner school

Stage 9: Read and comment on at least three reflections from students from our partner school

Stage 10: Participate in a math lesson on calculating the mean and standard deviation.

Stage 11: Complete exercises on calculating the standard deviation (each student)

Stage 12: Analyze and deconstruct why you did each step. Reflect on Posterous about the problem-solving process.

Stage 13: Read and comment on at least three reflections from students from our partner school.

Stage 14: Reflect on the WoW problem-solving experience and the math problem-solving experience using Posterous

Stage 15: Read and comment on at least three WoW and math problem-solving experiences from our partner school.

Stage 16: Write a 2 - 3 page paper outlining how you think and learn when approached with a problem-solving situation.


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Lesson Plan
Stage 1: Students come to class having completed the assigned readings on metacognition and study skills.

Stage 2: Students pair up with a partner in class. They will explore World of Warcraft and observe their partner completing a quest while talking through their thought processes.

Stage 3: Students will go to World of Warcraft and create a World of Warcraft account. They may opt to use the 10-day free trial option.

Stage 4: Students will create a character with their partner and explore WoW. Their character must reside in the assigned realm. Students are encouraged to customize their character so it suits the “self” they want to represent in WoW.

Stage 5: Students must join the assigned guild in order to interact with students from our partner school. All guild members will add each other as friends.

Stage 6: Students will observe as their partner accepts and completes a quest. The student who is completing the quest will talk through their processes as they complete their tasks. This will immerse the students into the world of WoW where they will need move their character about and learn how to use their character's weapons/powers in order to accomplish the quest. During this stage, students should be aware of:

- How they know where to receive their quest

- How they know where to go to embark on their quest

- How they know how to engage their character with the environment and other characters to complete the quest

- How they know where to go and what to do to signify the completion of their quest.

Stage 7: Students reflect on their experiences in World of Warcraft. Reflections need to be posted to Posterous. Reflections should respond to the following questions:

- What sorts of regulatory steps do they take when encountering a challenge?


 * Is it an internal regulation?
 * Is it an external regulation?

Stage 8: Subscribe to the Posterous blogs from students from our class and partner school

Stage 9: Students must read and comment on at least three reflections from student from our sister school. In doing so, students should note similarities and differences between the experiences of students from our partner school and their own experiences.

Stage 10: Participate in a math lesson on calculating the mean and standard deviation. Sample Lesson on Calculating Standard Deviation

Stage 11: Watch their partner complete exercises on calculating the standard deviation. The student performing the calculations should talk through their processes.

Stage 12: Analyze and deconstruct why you did each step. Reflect on Posterous about the problem-solving process.Reflections need to be posted to Posterous. Reflections should respond to the following questions:

- What sorts of regulatory steps do they take when encountering a challenge?


 * Is it an internal regulation?
 * Is it an external regulation?

Stage 13: Read and comment on at least three reflections from students from our partner school.

Stage 14: Reflect on the WoW problem-solving experience and the math problem-solving experience using Posterous

Stage 15: Read and comment on at least three WoW and math problem-solving experiences from our partner school.

Stage 16: Write a 2 - 3 page paper outlining how you think and learn when approached with a problem-solving situation.


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Instructor Resources
World of Warcraft Guide

Developing "New Literacies" for 21st Century Informal Learning Environments

Edurealms

WoW in School

Study Guides and Strategy

Teaching Metacognition

Metacognitive Skills

Metacognitive Learning Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities

How to do almost anything with Posterous

Vicarious or observational learning is where students collaboratively observe tutoring sessions while problem solving. In this process information is gained by watching the process and experience of another student. Craig, Chi, & VanLehn found that “. . . collaboratively observing tutoring while problem solving is a useful tool for improving learning outcomes in classroom settings when compared with traditional worked examples” (2009). Having students watch each other problem-solve in WoW and while working on math problems can facilitate learning metacognitive skills and problem-solving. Just as in the 2009 study mentioned, watching the student struggle, but ultimately learn may be encouraging to students (Craig, Chi, & VanLehn).

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