cluster four
Case Studies
Early Childhood:  Air
Elementary School:  Reading About Pirates Middle School:  King Washington
High School:  I Don t Understand
Module 12: Metacognition
Outline and Learning Goals 214 What Is Metacognition and Why Is It
Important? 215 Special Cases of Metacognition 216 Factors Affecting the Development
and
Use of Metacognition 218 Applications: Learning Strategies 219 Summary 226 Key
Concepts 227 Case Studies: Reflect and Evaluate 227
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C L U S T E R
EARLY CHILDHOOD MIDDLE SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
cognitive processes
Module 13: Transfer of Skills and Knowledge Outline and Learning Goals 229 What Is
Transfer and Why Is It
Important? 230 Do We Readily Transfer What
We Learn? 231 Teaching Principles That Facilitate
Transfer 235 Summary 240 Key Concepts 240 Case Studies: Reflect and Evaluate 240
Module 14: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Outline and Learning Goals 242
Thinking Skills and Dispositions 243 Critical Thinking 244 Problem Solving 248 Summary
254 Key Concepts 254 Case Studies: Reflect and Evaluate 255
4
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206
Prepare:
As you read the case, make notes:
1. WHO are the primary participants in the case?
Describe them.
2. WHAT is taking place?
3. WHERE is the case taking place? Is the environment
a factor?
4. WHEN is the case taking place? Is the timing a factor?
Barb Carson, a veteran elementary school teacher of 15 years, is in her sixth year of teaching full-day
kindergarten at Roosevelt Elementary. She loves working with the kindergarteners and was surprised to
see how much this age group could achieve when given the right amount of support and encouragement.
This morning the children are seated on the floor around Barb s
rocking chair, listening attentively as she reads a story about the wind
from an oversize book with colorful pictures. She begins by showing
the children the cover of the book and asking them what they think
the story is about. She enthusiastically discusses their suggestions
and then ends the suspense by turning to the first page and
beginning the story. As she nears the end of the story, she asks
Dominique to summarize what has happened in the book. Then Barb
spreads out a set of simple sentence cards on the floor, each with a
picture depicting a main event from the story. She tells the students
that they are going to play a game
in which they mix up the story and try to put it back in order. She calls
on Jose to pick the card that describes the first event in the story.
Jose struggles to figure out the words on each card, and Barb
reminds him that he can also use the pictures as a clue. Jose
successfully picks the first card, and Barb then invites Maria to find
the next event in the story. One by one, Barb calls on students to
help put the story back in order, reminding the whole group that they
need to watch carefully and help if someone has trouble figuring out
what comes next.
When the class has finished this activity, Barb sends the
students back to their seats, clustered around four tables. During the
story session, a parent volunteer had placed materials for an
experiment on a large table at the front of the classroom and put a
prediction sheet at each child s seat.
 We just read a story about the wind, Barb says.  What is the wind
made out of?  Air! several children shout at once.
 Okay, Barb replies.  We are going to do an experiment to see
what happens with air, some water, a cork, and a plastic cup.
The children squirm with delight. They know these classroom
experiments are usually fun.
 Let s put on our scientist hats today, says Barb as she walks
over to the front table, drops a cork in a clear bowl of water, and
holds up a plastic cup.  See if we can figure out what will happen to
this cork if we trap it under this plastic cup while it is still in the water.
Take a minute and draw a picture on your prediction sheet to show
me what you think will happen to the cork. Barb walks around the
room, looking on as the children draw pictures on their sheets. When
it seems that most children have finished, she calls on Tony.
 Tony, tell us about your prediction, she says.
Tony holds up his drawing and explains,  I drew the cork way
down near the bottom of the bowl, under the plastic cup.
 Did anybody else draw the cork down on the bottom of the
bowl? Several children raise their hands.  Does anyone have a
different prediction about what will happen to the cork?
Shelby raises her hand.
 Yes, Shelby. Tell us about your prediction.
1
Air
Early Childhood
2
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 I drew the cork floating near the top, right under the cup.
Several other students nod that they made the same prediction.
 How do we find out what will really happen to the cork?
 We test it! reply several students.
 Yes, we test our predictions. Scientists, look up here and
pay close attention. Barb places the cup over the cork, and it
sinks down closer to the bottom of the bowl.
 What happened? she asks.
 The cork got pushed way down, Tony replies.
 Why do you think that happened, Maria? asks Barb.
Maria pauses to think for a few seconds and then replies,
 Well, the cup was pushing down and that pushed the water
down more.
 It was the air, interjects Jose.  There was air in the cup and
the air pushed the water down more. Barb continues to ask
questions to clarify what the students are thinking and to help
them make connections between the experiment and things they
learned earlier in the week about properties of air. When she
feels that they all have a clear understanding of the outcome of
the experiment, she has the students record the result by
drawing a picture in the  Now I Know column on their prediction
sheet.
After lunch, Barb challenges the children to create kites that
will fly really high during  Kinder garten Kite Day, a special event
later in the week when parents and siblings are invited to fly kites
with the students in the field behind the school.  How can you
make your kite aerodynamic? Barb asks. Kiontee smiles
because he remembers that aerodynamic is Barb s  million-dollar
word of the week. She likes to use accurate terms when
possible during her lessons and has found that the students feel
very important when she sprinkles a few challenging words into
her lessons for them to remember. For the next few minutes the
children brainstorm ideas about how to design kites that will
really catch the wind. After they have come up with a long list of
possibilities, Barb teaches them how to evaluate critically the set
of ideas and narrow down their choices. As the children settle
down to work on their own designs, they seem to lose all track of
time, becoming completely absorbed in their plans for making the
greatest kite ever.
3 1. What kinds of learning behaviors and attitudes does Barb model for her students?
2. How would you describe the level of challenge that Barb
includes in her curriculum? Does the level of challenge fit with
your image of a kindergarten classroom?
3. How do you think Barb s students would describe their experiences in her classroom?
EARLY CHILDHOOD MIDDLE
SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Assess
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208
Prepare:
As you read the case, make notes:
1. WHO are the primary participants in the case? Describe them.
2. WHAT is taking place?
3. WHERE is the case taking place? Is the environment a factor?
4. WHEN is the case taking place? Is the timing a factor?
AI an McPherson is a second-grade teacher at an elementary school that has entered into a PDS (Professional
Development School) partnership with a local university. The PDS Alliance provides collaborative research, training,
and professional development opportunities for public school teachers, university faculty, and teacher education
students, with the ultimate goal of improving public school education for all children. Recently, Ian participated in a
focus group exploring evidence-based practice in teaching. As a follow-up activity, teachers were encouraged to keep
a journal of classroom activities and then go back and assess areas they wanted to improve through the use of
evidence-based practices. Here is an excerpt from Ian s journal: Yesterday I began the morning reading session by
assigning my students three short story booklets to read followed by questions to complete. I instructed the students
to color the
Reading About Pirates
Elementary School
pictures in the stories when they were finished so they would be able to remain busy.
Once the students understood what they were supposed to be doing and began working industriously, I
called my first reading group back to our designated reading table. As the students collected
themselves at the reading table, I made certain that everyone else was working constructively at their
desks, and then I took my seat at the reading table as well. As I began my reading lesson with the
group of students at the table, I was interrupted by Kiana, who said she was tired and couldn t work.
I had seen this behavior before.
Kiana s reading skills were on par with her classmates, but she often lacked the motivation to
stay on task at her desk
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B
C
during our morning reading group rotations. After making sure
she wasn t ill, I told her to continue working and that we d all take
a break together in a little while to have morning snack. I tried to
sound caring but firm, and Kiana returned to her seat to begin
work on her storybooks.
As I continued my session with the reading group, I involved
each of the students in the group by asking direct questions,
giving students turns to read short passages out loud, and making
sure everyone understood what we were reading. As we worked
with our reading selection about pirates and buried treasure, we
analyzed it to look for vowel-pairs that we had talked about in
class last week. At the end of the reading group lesson, I
reviewed basic skills in using a dictionary. We discussed
alphabetical order and letter position, and we practiced strategies
like looking at the bolded word at the top of the page to quickly
orient yourself to where you are in the dictionary. I then had
students complete a worksheet in which they searched for certain
words and wrote down the dictionary page number where each
word could be found. One of the students commented that finding
the words was kind of like a treasure hunt and indeed it was.
The word list included words like gold, silver, jewel, chest, and
map. This activity enabled the students to move from talking and
working in a group to working alone. This prepared the students
to work on their own again when they returned to their seats after
the reading group was concluded.
As I neared the end of our reading group session, I was
disappointed to see that several of the students who were
supposed to be doing independent seat work were off task. They
weren t being noisy or disruptive, but it was clear that they were
not doing their work either. Kiana was doodling, Randy was
slouched in his seat ready to take a nap, and Kelsey was
fidgeting with the key chain collection attached to her bookbag.
Later in the day, Ian looked back over what he had written about
the morning work. He saw things that he thought were successful, as
well as areas that could be improved. As he reviewed his notes, he
identified the reading tasks assigned for independent seat work as an
area for improvement. He tried to better define his own expectations
about how the reading session should run, and then he began to
make a list of the ways he could have been more effective in working
with his reading group as well as ways he could have improved the
learning experience for the children working independently at their
desks. He wasn t sure he had really hit on a plan that would work any
better than what he was already doing, so he stopped in to speak with
Linda Ariano, a second-grade teacher in the classroom next door. Ian
and Linda brainstormed possibilities together. When he left to head
home, Ian felt optimistic about his plans for the next morning. He
wouldn t really be sure he was on the right track until he had an
opportunity to test his ideas with the class, but he felt he had two or
three options for adjusting the morning routine that were worth a try.
EARLY CHILDHOOD MIDDLE
SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Assess
1. In what areas do you think Ian did an effective job with his morning session?
2. What areas would you suggest he try to improve?
3. Ian kept a classroom journal. Do you think keeping a journal
about your teaching would be useful? Why or why not?
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210
Prepare:
As you read the case, make notes:
1. WHO are the primary participants in the case?
Describe them.
2. WHAT is taking place?
3. WHERE is the case taking place? Is the environment
a factor?
4. WHEN is the case taking place? Is the timing a factor?
Tom Radcliffe looked out into the sea of faces in his second-period eighth-grade social studies class. He
knew his students were paying attention to his lecture on the Revolutionary War period because of the
way he started the class. He began by asking Carrie Johnson,  Who was the first president of the United
States?
 George Washington, replied Carrie, amazed that he had asked
her something so easy yet worried that she wasn t off the hook yet.
 Why do we care? asked Tom.
Carrie hesitated and then said,  I don t know.
 Clayton, is knowing that George Washington was the first
president going to make you rich? Tom asked.
Clayton, a slightly disheveled student in the third row, sat up.
 No, not unless I get to be on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and that
is the final question to win the million, Clayton responded, to mild
laughter from his classmates.
 Not likely, chimed in Clayton s friend Brad.
 Is knowing that George Washington was the first president
going to make you a better friend, Cathy? Tom asked a girl in the
front row.
 No, Cathy replied.
 Is knowing that George Washington was the first president
going to make you more popular with the ladies? Tom asked,
pointing to Chuck, an outgoing basketball player.
 No, but I don t think I need any help in that category, Chuck
joked. Cathy rolled her eyes.
 Okay, so why do we care?
When the class sat there stumped, Tom said,  Knowing that fact
all by itself may not really mean very much. But what if you knew the
characteristics that made Washington a great man and a great
leader? What if you understood how he handled power? How many
of you knew that George Washington had the opportunity to be king
and turned it down? A couple of hands went up; most students
looked surprised.
 How many of you would have given up a chance to be king?
He had them hooked, and he knew it. The questions Tom asked in
order to launch this topic stirred up a little controversy and got
everyone interested. He proceeded with his lecture, confident that the
students now really wanted to know more about George Washington.
A week later, Tom gave a test on the social studies unit. His
students did well on the questions about big ideas related to George
Washington, but they missed much more than he had expected when
it came to details. The next day he did a  notes check, asking
students to pull out their notebooks and flip to their notes from the
previous week. Their notes were very sparse and in some cases
nonexistent.
 Come on, guys. How come no one took good notes? He heard a
variety of responses.  I was too busy listening.
 I already knew about George Washington so I didn t think I
needed to write anything down.
 You didn t tell us what we should be writing down.
Middle School
King Washington
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B
+
EARLY CHILDHOOD MIDDLE
SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
 I didn t realize that stuff was going to be on the test.
Tom paused dramatically and said,  I am getting ready to give
you some absolutely free advice that countless hordes of people
would spend at least five bucks to hear me share. The students
smiled. He turned and wrote in great big letters on the board, TAKE
GOOD NOTES!  The process of taking notes helps most people retain
information better even if they never go back and look at those
notes. If they actually do look over the notes the next day, they get
another little boost in memory. And if they go back to review those
notes again five days later, they get an additional memory boost.
Over the next few days, Tom made a point of teaching his
students different note-taking strategies. He encouraged them to take
thorough notes by giving an unannounced  notes quiz in which the
correct answer was something they could easily copy down directly
from their class notes if they had taken the time during his lecture to
write down the information. As a culminating activity for the unit on
events surrounding the Revolutionary War, Tom presented his
students with the following scenario:
You are to be a colonial delegate to the Second Continental
Congress in May 1775, just a few weeks after the battles at
Lexington and Concord. In preparation for the Congress session,
develop a list of talking points to express your opinion about how
the colonists should respond in light of recent events, giving
particular attention to the Intolerable Acts. On Wednesday we will
convene our own Continental Congress, and you will have the
opportunity to come together to decide the course of history.
1. What did Tom do well as a teacher in the opening scenario about George Washington?
2. What mistakes did Tom make?
3. What changes did Tom institute after seeing how his students
performed on the exam? How might these changes make a
difference for his students?
Assess
%
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212
Prepare:
As you read the case, make notes:
1. WHO are the primary participants in the case?
Describe them.
2. WHAT is taking place?
3. WHERE is the case taking place? Is the environment
a factor?
4. WHEN is the case taking place? Is the timing a factor?
M s. So Yoon Park is a first-year teacher in her second month at Sunnyside High School. She
recently completed a lesson with her tenth-grade algebra class that left her feeling very frustrated. That
evening, she e-mailed the following message to a mentor teacher to get some advice: Mr. Kim,
Today did NOT go as well as I had hoped. My assignment was to teach the class to change repeating
decimals into fractions. I began by instructing the students to open their books to the section and take out
some paper for notes. I went through a review of terminating decimals and fractions on the board. The
students did not have any questions about the review. I continued with the problems on the board by
writing a repeating decimal and asking the class how to change the decimal to a fraction. A few students
had some suggestions, but they realized that a correct fraction could not be found with previous methods
they had learned in converting fractions and decimals. I taught them a step-by-step process that would
change the repeating decimal into a fraction. I had the attention of the class, and I was confident in my
abilities.
I went through the example and then asked if there were any
questions. The entire class looked at me with confusion. I did not
know what was confusing them, so I asked questions about each
step in the example. This helped me target the problems, and I
changed the approach I used to explain the process. I used different
vocabulary, related steps to previous lessons, and asked students
more detailed questions for each step. I believe a few students
caught on to the idea, but the majority of the class was still saying  I
don t understand.
I answered individual questions from students raising their
hands, and I also had students answer some questions in hopes they
had an explanation their peers would understand. As I continued to
show examples, many students still did not comprehend the lesson,
and I was running out of ideas to help them. I felt like the students
were losing all interest in learning the strategy I was trying to teach. I
was afraid that their minds were shutting down because they began
to show very little skill even in the individual steps which involved
previously learned material, such as subtracting equal amounts from
each side of an equation. My students were becoming frustrated, and
the classroom became unsettled with chatter and distractions. I was
frustrated, too, but I tried not to let it show because I did not want to
add my own aggravation to the already tense feeling in the room.
I realized that I was failing as a teacher, and I did not know what
to do. There were still many questions from the students and I wasn t
sure what to do next. I noticed that the students were more focused
on finding shortcuts or quick ways to solve the problem to lessen the
amount of work they had to put into the solution. My students had
missed out on the strategy being taught because they were so
focused on finding a way to skip steps. I had not anticipated that they
would dislike putting in the effort to complete the few lines of actual
work for each problem.
I did not expect the students to be so confused with new
material. New ideas and processes are taught in school all the time,
and I really expected that the students could
High School
I Don t Understand
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EARLY CHILDHOOD MIDDLE
SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
transfer some of what we had done previously to help them
approach these math problems. I am sure no other teacher has
ever felt so out of control, unprepared, and unorganized as I did
while teaching this class. I was not prepared for students to give
up, and I was not ready to manage an entire class confused by
the lesson topic. I thought I had prepared a successful lesson, but
I failed to really teach my students today. You seem to handle
your own lessons so well. Do you have any suggestions about
what I could have done differently? I need help!
So Yoon
Mr. Kim replied:
So Yoon,
Don t be so hard on yourself. Based on what you described to
me, it sounds like you really made an effort to get through to the
class. Although you didn t think the lesson would be a particularly
difficult one, many students shut down their minds when they see
something totally new. . . .
Assess
1. So Yoon is worried that her entire lesson was a failure. Is there
anything that she did well during the lesson?
2. What should the teacher do when the majority of the class does
not understand the material presented in the lesson?
3. Are you surprised that the class was not able to apply
previously taught material to the decimal lesson? Why or why not?
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