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Capturing Evidence of Metacognitive Awareness of Pre-service STEM Educators Using ‘Codifying’ of Thinking Through e-Portfolios (Research-to-Practice)

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Conference

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana

Publication Date

June 15, 2014

Start Date

June 15, 2014

End Date

June 18, 2014

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

K-12 and Pre-College Engineering Division Poster Session

Tagged Division

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

24.255.1 - 24.255.11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--20146

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/20146

Download Count

395

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Paper Authors

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Patrick Rowsome University of Limerick

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Diarmaid Lane University of Limerick

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Diarmaid is a Lecturer in Technology Teacher Education at the University of Limerick. His research interests are in the areas of freehand sketching, cognition and spatial visualization. He is currently Director of Membership of the Engineering Design Graphics Division (EDGD).

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biography

Seamus Gordon University of Limerick

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Head of Department
Design and Manufacturing Technology

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Abstract

Using indicators to identify evidence of student’s metacognitive regulation during open-ended design tasksOne of the main aims of modern engineering curricula is to equip student’s to be autonomous andcapable of managing their own thinking during the design process. The underpinnings of autonomouslearning are viewed as metacognition which involves knowledge of one’s cognition and self-regulation of learning. Development of such cognitive abilities help to support students’ strategies tosolve problems and communicate effectively.This raises a question of students when they engage in an engineering design task; can evidence ofstudent’s metacognition from open-ended design tasks be identified and assessed? In an engineeringworkshop, 130 student teachers had to capture and present evidence of their thinking during thedesign process through an electronic portfolio. They were challenged to solve an open-ended designbrief using manufacturing and materials processing skills while compiling an electronic portfolio toevidence their thinking during the task. The students were asked to use indicators to label instances oftheir innovative thinking as a means of gaining an insight into their metacognition through theelectronic portfolio. This was not compulsory but the majority of student’s used these indicatorsthroughout their portfolio.Using quantitative and qualitative data analysis of the indicators in electronic portfolios, the findingsshowed there were a high percentage of students using indicators where they had, explored and solvedproblems. It also showed that there was a high percentage of reflective dialogue during the use ofthese indicators, which has been shown to develop awareness of one’s metacognitive strategies. Thishas prompted further need for investigation into of the use of indicators to force internal dialogue toaid the development of metacognitive abilities in a quest to develop more autonomous students.

Rowsome, P., & Lane, D., & Gordon, S. (2014, June), Capturing Evidence of Metacognitive Awareness of Pre-service STEM Educators Using ‘Codifying’ of Thinking Through e-Portfolios (Research-to-Practice) Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--20146

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