Daniel Bolaños - University of Oulu
October 2014
Manuscript 3: Metacognition and problem-solving in CSCL
A collaborative approach to learning has been shown to provide positive outcomes in terms of knowledge
acquisition and participation, all the while being carefully designed by a strict instructional design that
contemplates hard to perceive variables in the students such as working perseverance and group sense of
satisfaction toward the task. Attention has been placed on the role the teacher has to fill in order to guide
and facilitate the learning process and provide learners with necessary tools and strategies to develop their
understanding further. Likewise, the use of technological tools as a means to support learning through the
facilitation and widening of interactional types among students has been delved into deeply, allowing
current state of research to be rich in standpoints from where to elaborate on more specific aspects of
collaboration. One of them relates to the impact of different metacognitive strategies and levels of
socialization in problem-solving and concept acquisition. Exploration is still part of the agenda to
establish meaningful relationships among variables relate to this issue.
Problem-solving skills are usually associated to cognitive domains, stating that an effective strategy in
tackling problems has to do with previous knowledge about the task at hand, understanding, and
processing of variables included in the situation. Particularly in mathematics, problem-solving strategies
usually deal with a further division of the process of working with a specific task: analyzing the elements
of the problem, grasping underlying elements to the math rationale, implementing selected strategies to
establish clear relationships among variables, and verifying that the acquired result actually corresponds
to what the problem was asking for, and if the selected strategies were effective. Metacognition lies in the
heart of problem-solving at different levels, allowing the learner to effectively assess suitability of
employed tools and selected roles, and control cognition through planning accurately in regards to time
and effort allocation. Seen as a whole, the process of metacognition comprises elements that the learner
has to know beforehand (located in the declarative memory), that the learner is able to elicit and shape
(part of the procedural memory), and that the learner can subjectively perceive as she cycles among tasks
(such as feelings of familiarity, difficulty, confidence, etc.). Metacognition and cognition are related in
processes of monitoring and control prior knowledge and its suitability to the current task, and how to
modify (or keep) the current strategy to reach set objectives more effectively. Whereas cognition includes
aspects related to performing the task, metacognition deals with understanding how to perform it and
evaluating its effectiveness. Evidently, an effective metacognitive set of practices deals with the learner
by herself, but it could be shaped by external input, particularly if it relates to the content being worked
with.
In collaborative work, it is assumed that positive outcomes can be reached if metacognition is effectively
shared among participating learners. This involves several relevant aspects of collaboration, such as
reaching a co-constructed solution, providing transactional responses, developing others´ shared ideas
further, monitoring solutions to the problem jointly, and withdrawing and rejoining communal discussion
individually at ease. This stands in contrast to an individual view of metacognition in collaborative work,
where the individual remains unaffected by others´ advances and suggestions.
Specifically,
metacognition at a group level requires from the participants the creation of a shared goal on which to
monitor the team´s cognitive activity. Further, it needs to be updated constantly through effective
collaborative monitoring, depending on the depth and progress of understanding and solving the problem
at hand.
The article reviewed pertains to establishing a parallel between socially shared metacognition and
individual perception of difficulty upon solving mathematical problems. In particular, importance is
given to how socially-shared metacognition can be effective toward decreasing individual perception of
difficulty when it aims to steer the discussion about how to tackle and solve the problem, rather than just
exchanging ideas about how to solve it. Effective metacognitive regulatory messages should relate to
earlier discussion done on the subject, should have the intention of promoting or changing problemsolving processes, and should be explicit in providing reasons for it. Messages were analyzed according
to their nature, and individual metacognition and its communal effects were studied through them. A
visible conclusion is the importance of making thinking visible by the learners, by wording explanations
clearly and acknowledging relevant ideas and questions. Likewise, making feelings visible is also
important for reassuring others and providing reasons to "feeling on the right track" in regards to solving
the problem.
It is interesting to point out how an effective interaction among the group members in regard to sociallyshared metacognition depends on previous knowledge on the task at hand. Whereas there can be at least
one member that has knowledge enough about the domain, and is capable of steering her peers via
metacognitively regulating comments, if there are no members with knowledge enough from before, or
there is no logic of group support with individual metacognitive efforts, there will be no decreasing in
feeling of difficulty. A question arises here: doesn´t the none-realization of the lack of previous
knowledge already constitute a lack of effective metacognitive skills? And in parallel to this, and
drawing from Vygotsky´s theory of the zone of proximal development, it would be perhaps useful to
arrange groups in such a way that participants have similar levels of understanding of the knowledge
domain and effective metacognitive strategies. This way, observed variations in perceived degrees of
difficulty would not be affected by varying levels of prior knowledge and metacognitive skills. A
relevant exploratory study, it opens further research possibilities to broaden on a topic already regarded as
relevant in the field.
Hurme, T-R., Merenluoto, K., & Järvelä, S. (2009). Socially shared metacognition of pre-service primary
teachers in a computer-sùpported mathematics course and their feelings of task difficulty: a case
study. Educational Research and Evaluation, 15(5), 503-524.
Video by Tarja-Riita Hurme