McGuire Want to dramatically transform student learning? Teach Them Metacognitive Skills!

24/F 3:30 PM Rockefeller

Type_Presentation: 90 Minute Concurrent session

PresentationTitle: Want to Dramatically Transform Student Learning? Teach them Metacognitive Skills!

ProgramStrand_Primary: Brain Compatible Teaching/Learning

ProgramStrand_Secondary: Learning and Study Strategies

Presentation_description:

Most students think that memorizing information just before an examination is equivalent to learning the material, and spend considerably less time studying than is commensurate with their grade expectations. This interactive session will discuss metacognitive learning strategies that have an immediate and dramatic impact on student learning and performance.

A. Purpose of the Workshop

Learning centers spend a considerable amount of resources on academic support services such as tutoring and Supplemental Instruction. However, the best tutoring services and collaborative group learning will be inefficient if students do not understand their individual learning styles and preferences, intuitively understand the learning process, and have specific metacognitive strategies that they are motivated to implement on a regular basis. When students know how to learn, they use resources wisely and experience greater success. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss metacognitive strategies that have worked extremely well at Louisiana State University, and to share the data that demonstrate the impact of metacognitive sophistication on student performance and retention.

B. Learning Objectives

After participating in this session the participants will be able to:

1. Design and implement activities that will help students determine their own characteristics as learners, such as learning style, personality style, and hemisphericity preference

2. Help students begin the transformation from passive learners who memorize information to active learners who are effective problem solvers who think critically

3. Motivate students to take responsibility for their own learning

4. Incorporate activities based on cognitive science principles and learning strategies concepts into large and small group presentations, as well as individual consultations

C. Significance to the Field and Relevance to Conference Attendees

Many students come to learning centers to gain access to tutors, but have little interest in working to gain a deep understanding of the principles taught in their courses. Most students have no concept of the difference between memorizing information and understanding concepts at a level that allows them to use the concepts to think critically and successfully solve problems. When learning center faculty and staff teach students about Bloom’s taxonomy and provide them with information to understand the difference between the learning level at which they are operating (typically recall), and the minimum level required to think critically and solve problems in their college courses (usually application or higher), the learning center plays a significant role in transforming the learning culture on the campus. Teaching students to be independent, self-directed learners is the goal of all learning centers. The information in this presentation provides strategies for learning centers to do just that!

D. Presentation Outline

I. Characteristics of Many of Today’s Learners

II. Types and levels of learning

III. Relevant Cognitive Science Findings

IV. General Learning Strategies Based on Cognitive Science Findings

V. Factors Influencing Student Motivation to Use Learning Strategies

VI. Strategies for Expanding the Sphere of Influence of the Learning Center

VII. Wrap Up

E. Active Learning Strategies to be Used in Presentation and Handouts to be Provided

Participants will engage in a variety of activities designed to teach the learning process as well as strategies to engage students. Reflection questions and small group discussion will be used to help participants identify key barriers to student learning on their respective campuses. Activities such as think-pair-share and role playing will be utilized to help participants develop a greater appreciation for the importance of metacognition in enhancing student learning.

In addition to receiving the presentation as a handout, attendees will receive copies of handouts used by the Center for Academic Success to assist students in experiencing an extreme academic makeover. Additionally, a handout with suggestions for additional reading will be presented.

F. Presenter's Experience with the Topic

Saundra McGuire has presented educational workshops or keynote addresses at over 120 institutions and conferences. Examples include The College of Wooster, The University of California at Davis, Virginia Union University, Kean University in New Jersey, Morgan State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Mississippi, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) annual meetings and summer institutes. She served as a mentor at the 2007 NCLCA Summer Institute and at the 2006 Winter Institute. She has presented workshops to a variety of learning center administrators, faculty, and staff, including those at Daytona Beach Community College and the University of Washington. Some of the comments from workshop attendees are shown below.

“Outstanding! Best session I have ever attended at SACS!”

“Superb! Most informative, filled with insights”

“I will be talking about this for a long time and I’ll be utilizing the skill suggestions and techniques for the duration of my academic term”

“I will definitely share the info with my colleagues!”

PresenterBio: Dr. Saundra Yancy McGuire is the Director of the Center for Academic Success, Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, and Associate Dean of University College at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She received her B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA; her M.A.T. from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; and her Ph.D. in Chemical Education from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where she received the Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Professional Promise. Prior to joining LSU in August 1999, she spent eleven years at Cornell University, where she served as Director of the Center for Learning and Teaching and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, and received the coveted Clark Distinguished Teaching Award.

Dr. McGuire is the author of numerous publications, including the Problem Solving Guide and Workbook, Study Guide, and Instructor's Teaching Guide for Russo/Silver's Introductory Chemistry, Third Edition. She is the recipient of numerous awards. Her most recent awards include the 2007 Diversity Award from the Council on Chemical Research; the 2006 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, awarded by President Bush in an Oval Office Ceremony; the 2005 National Service Award and the 2002 Dr. Henry C. McBay Outstanding Chemistry Teacher Award, both presented by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE); and the 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007 Teaching in Higher Education Conference Outstanding Presentation Award. Additionally, she was designated a 2003 YWCA Woman of Achievement in the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is married to Dr. Stephen C. McGuire, and they are the parents of Dr. Carla Abena McGuire Davis and Dr. Stephanie Niyonu McGuire, and the grandparents of Joshua Bolurin, Ruth Anaya, Daniel Tabansi, and Joseph Olufemi Davis.