Understanding graphs – does metacognitive questioning help students develop and refine their mathematical ideas?

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What questions were used to foster metacognition?

The metacognitive questioning approach was aimed at developing the students' thinking individually and collaboratively in the group context. The researcher had already been involved in the development of a teaching approach called IMPROVE which was designed to encourage metacognitive discourse throughout the curriculum. This entailed students working in small groups and asking probing or prompting questions of themselves and each other. The questions used in the IMPROVE programme around which discussion was developed focused on four key areas:

comprehending the problem - 'What is the problem all about?'
using appropriate strategies - 'How should I go about this?' 'Why would this be/not be a suitable strategy?'
constructing connections between previous and new knowledge - 'What are the similarities and differences between this problem and others you have tackled in the past?'
reflection - 'Does this answer make sense?' 'Where did I go wrong?'

To help students further in understanding the graph tasks the students were guided by the acronym DATA which represented the four stages:

Describe the x-axis and the y-axis
Address the units and the ranges of each axis
Tell the trend(s) of the graph or part of the graph
Analyse specific points on the graph

The researcher believed that by engaging in open questioning and encouraging responses using mathematics terms teachers could change students' behaviours in mathematics.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What sorts of conceptual problems did the students have? How did the intervention affect students' mathematical understanding? What was classroom discourse like and how did it differ between the two samples? What classroom activities did the intervention involve? What questions were used to foster metacognition? How was the study designed and carried out? What are the implications of this work? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Understanding graphs – does metacognitive questioning help students develop and refine their mathematical ideas? This digest found in Thinking skills Mathematics Send to a friend Word doc 80KB Printer friendly Collate for later What questions were used to foster metacognition? The metacognitive questioning approach was aimed at developing the students' thinking individually and collaboratively in the group context. The researcher had already been involved in the development of a teaching approach called IMPROVE which was designed to encourage metacognitive discourse throughout the curriculum. This entailed students working in small groups and asking probing or prompting questions of themselves and each other. The questions used in the IMPROVE programme around which discussion was developed focused on four key areas: comprehending the problem - 'What is the problem all about?' using appropriate strategies - 'How should I go about this?' 'Why would this be/not be a suitable strategy?' constructing connections between previous and new knowledge - 'What are the similarities and differences between this problem and others you have tackled in the past?' reflection - 'Does this answer make sense?' 'Where did I go wrong?' To help students further in understanding the graph tasks the students were guided by the acronym DATA which represented the four stages: Describe the x-axis and the y-axis Address the units and the ranges of each axis Tell the trend(s) of the graph or part of the graph Analyse specific points on the graph The researcher believed that by engaging in open questioning and encouraging responses using mathematics terms teachers could change students' behaviours in mathematics.