Poster #1 - Exploring Metacognitive Monitoring in Kindergarten: Observing Information-Seeking Behaviors in Mother–Child Reminiscing and Deliberate Memory Tasks

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

A rich literature has documented improvement across the elementary school years in the use and effectiveness of strategies for remembering (Ornstein et al., 2008). Although children exhibit strategy-like behaviors in preschool and kindergarten, the association between deliberate strategy use and recall is not strong until first grade (Schneider, 2011). This may be due, in part, to differences in individual-level factors that are thought to support children’s deliberate memory skills, such as metacognition (Blair & Diamond, 2008; Kuhn, 1999). In younger children, information-seeking behaviors, such as asking questions, have been examined as components of metacognitive monitoring, or children’s detection of a comprehension or compliance issue when presented with an ambiguous task (Revelle et al., 1985; Flavell et al., 1981). Although children enter formal school with considerable variability in metacognitive skills (Roebers, 2014; Schneider, 2015), limited research has been focused on associations between metacognition and the development of children’s deliberate memory skills over time.
A total of 99 children entering kindergarten (average age = 5.68 years, 55% female) were assessed longitudinally for information-seeking behaviors and deliberate memory skills; Cross-task associations were then explored. On the Object Memory Task (Baker-Ward et al., 1984), children were instructed to “work to remember” 15 common objects, and their strategy use was coded during a 2-minute study period. Information-seeking behaviors were measured by the total number of times children asked the research assistant “What is this called?” as well as the latency to pose this question in the face of an ambiguous goal (i.e., working to remember an unknown object). In a Parent–Child Reminiscing Task (Reese et al., 1993), dyads discussed jointly-experienced events and children’s information-seeking behaviors were measured as the number of self-initiated, open-ended memory questions that children posed (e.g., “Who else was there?”). Finally, children took part in a Free-Recall with Organizational Training (FRT) Task (Moely et al., 1992) to assess deliberate recall and strategic sorting. Children completed a baseline trial using 16 individual line-drawings from 4 conceptual categories, followed by a training trial, in which they were taught to sort the 16 drawings by category. Then, on a final generalization trial they were given a new set of stimuli, and their recall (items recalled) and strategic efforts (Adjusted Ratio of Clustering (ARC) scores, which range from -1[below chance sorting], to 0 [chance], to 1 [perfect categorical sort]) were again assessed.
Findings highlight the association between children’s information-seeking behaviors and their performance on the FRT task over the kindergarten year (Figure 1.). Results suggest that children’s information-seeking behaviors in the object memory task were related to their spontaneous (baseline) strategy use in both the fall (β =.34, p < .01) and winter (β = .35, p < .01) of kindergarten. Moreover, children’s information-seeking in the parent-child reminiscing task was related to their ability to take advantage of training and use organizational strategies during the fall generalization trial (β= .27, p< .05). These and other results will be presented to further highlight the role of early metacognitive monitoring in children’s deliberate strategy use.

Authors

• Olivia K. Cook, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Catherine Ricci, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Miranda L. Denham, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Keadija C. Wiley, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Peter A Ornstein, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Jennifer L Coffman, University of North Carolina at Greensboro