Description:

Purpose: In this project, the goal was to incorporate the results of their experiments into a computer-assisted program that would support the learning of science, social science, and advanced English vocabulary terms for at-risk middle school children. The research team proposed experiments designed to determine whether making errors during learning helps or hinders mastery of vocabulary words and to identify the most effective use of study time in order to ensure that students master an entire set of vocabulary words.

STRUCTURED ABSTRACT

THE FOLLOWING CONTENT DESCRIBES THE PROJECT AT THE TIME OF FUNDING

The researchers are carrying out a series of eight studies focusing on the learning of children involved in an educational study enhancement program designed to improve the academic performance of diverse inner-city sixth- and seventh-grade children at high risk for academic failure. The intervention is a flexible computer-based study program based on principles of cognitive science and designed to target and improve memory and learning of vocabulary items.

In the first two studies, the researchers are varying the students' learning experiences to investigate whether student learning is adversely affected when students make mistakes and whether those effects vary with the learners' degree of confidence in their own answers. In the third study, the researchers explore whether there are differing effects on learning when students make their own errors as compared to when they observe someone else making errors. In the fourth study, the researchers compare the role of the timing of feedback and errors on learning. The fifth and sixth studies focus on learning in instances in which students give erroneous answers that they are highly confident are correct and on the students' level of attention in these instances. In the seventh study the researchers are looking at the effects of different spacing patterns on learning. In the eighth study they are investigating how excluding items the students have already learned influences their long-term knowledge of those items.

Related IES Projects: The Effect of Metacognition on Children's Control of Their Study and of Their Cognitive Processes (R305H060161)

PRODUCTS and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Select Publications:

Journal articles

Metcalfe, J. (2006). Principles of Cognitive Science in Education. APS Observer, 19: 27.

Metcalfe, J., and Finn, B. (2013). Metacognition and Control of Study Choice in Children. Metacognition and Learning, 8(1): 19–46.

Metcalfe, J., and Kornell, N. (2007). Principles of Cognitive Science in Education: The Effects of Generation, Errors and Feedback. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 14(2): 225–229.

Metcalfe, J., Eich, T.S., and Castel, A.D. (2010). Metacognition of Agency Across the Lifespan. Cognition, 116(2): 267–282.

Metcalfe, J., Kornell, N., and Son, L.K. (2007). A Cognitive-Science Based Program to Enhance Study Efficacy in a High and Low-Risk Setting. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 19(4): 743–768.