| By Pooja K. Agarwal |
| Think about a time you wanted to raise your hand during class to ask a question, but you didn’t. Why did you hesitate? Now, consider some of your students who also hesitate to ask questions. It might be because they’re experiencing “impostor syndrome,” or feeling embarrassed when other students seem to be doing just fine.I’ve previously shared tips and research about fostering metacognition (thinking about thinking). Here’s what’s new: Emerging research reveals that we need to help students make appropriate decisions based on their metacognition, too. Keep reading for insights from Dr. Lisa Son, one of the world’s experts on metacognition and impostor syndrome. |
Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D. (she/her)
Founder, RetrievalPractice.org
Cognitive Scientist & Associate Professor
Author, Powerful Teaching and Smart Teaching
Follow me @RetrieveLearn
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| Guide decisions during learning |
| Metacognition, or thinking about one’s own thinking, is critical during the learning process. For example, you could ask your students, “On a scale from 0–100, how confident are you that you understand today’s lesson?” Research demonstrates that including this simple reflection question (what we call a “judgment of learning”) can result in more durable long-term learning. Click here to download our free Practice Guide PDF on metacognition. As cognitive scientist and educator Dr. Lisa Son explains in Smart Teaching Stronger Learning, metacognition includes two key components: Monitoring: the process of reflecting on learning or knowledge Control: the process of using reflections to guide behaviors and decisions Monitoring and control depend on one another: If a student’s metacognitive reflections are accurate (monitoring), then they have a good chance of asking for help from the teacher when needed (control). However, if a student’s reflections are inaccurate, they may avoid asking for help, hurting their chances at successful learning.Passive study strategies like re-reading or reviewing notes often lead to inaccurate monitoring and overconfidence. On the other hand, retrieval practice improves monitoring and students’ confidence better reflects their learning. Control strategies and students’ decisions to ask for help are impacted by the way they feel in a social environment like a classroom. If students are worried that they lack knowledge or aren’t qualified to be in the class—feeling like an impostor—then they might do what they can to hide any weaknesses they see in themselves. Here are Dr. Son’s tips on how you can support students’ decision making and control during their metacognitive process and reduce feelings of being an impostor: Ask students to record their thinking strategies. For example, a student could journal about how they worked to solve a math problem or how they decided on a sentence structure, and what aspects were challenging along the way. Provide ungraded retrieval practice. Students need safe opportunities to make mistakes and confront a fear of failure. Help students know that failure is a normal and necessary ingredient for successful learning. Model your own learning process. Talk about how you developed your area of expertise, even if it was years or decades ago. This helps to emphasize that effort—not natural talent—leads to learning. If students aren’t asking questions, it doesn’t mean they understand the lesson. It could mean they’re feeling like an impostor. Engage students in monitoring their learning and discuss the importance of mindful decision making throughout the learning process. |