Growth of Metacognitive Awareness in Kindergarten Children through Writing

Jacobs, G. M. (2004). A Classroom Investigation of the Growth of Metacognitive Awareness in Kindergarten Children through the Writing Process. Early Childhood Education Journal, 32 (1), 17-23.

Background

Research shows that metacognition is an important element in the reading and writing processes, and students’ metacognitive knowledge can be developed gradually.

Aims

The aim of this study was to explore the growth of metacognitive awareness in kindergarten children as they engaged in the writing process. It examined children’s thinking about their thinking and the writing strategies used.

Sample

The participants comprised a class of 16 kindergarten children. One of the children had behaviour problems and one had learning disabilities. Three were receiving help for speech and language problems.

Method

The research was conducted during the daily writing workshop time throughout the school year. Each session began with group writing time, followed by individual writing. The sessions ended with two or three children sharing their writing in the author’s chair.

Data collected consisted of audio and video recordings of interviews. The children were asked the following questions:

Tell me what you were thinking about while you were writing.
Why do you think you thought about that?
How do you think that idea came into your mind?
How did you decide what to write about? <.li>How did you know how to write down what you were thinking about?

Other sources of data came from anecdotal records of observations of each child, a writing folder of the child’s writing and a checklist of writing strategies.

Findings

Data from the twice monthly interviews conducted with each child showed that the participants were exhibiting metacognition. The children provided appropriate answers to the questions which revealed that they were thinking about their thinking. They used the word “thinking” or “thought” at least once and some children used “mind”, “idea”, “remembered” and “reminded” in their answers. The children also started to ask some of the interview questions when they shared their stories in the author’s chair. Using a set of predictable questions helped to promote metacognitive thoughts.

The data collected also showed growth in the children’s writing in both quantity and quality. The children started with expressing themselves primarily through drawing and copying words at the beginning of the year. By the end of the school year, many of the children were able to write simple stories on their own.

Implications

To nurture metacognitive thoughts in children, the author highlighted the need to provide a meaningful and natural environment in which children are encouraged to think about their thinking in context.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.