Poster #22 - Grow to Learn: A Metacognition-Driven Early Childhood Teachers’ Science Professional Development

• In Event: Poster Session 05

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the proximity to natural resources, rural early childhood educators are underprepared to teach basic plant science concepts (Harris & Hodges, 2018). Therefore, the purpose of the study is to enhance rural ECE teachers’ science teaching efficacy and children’s learning outcomes using a metacognition-driven teachers’ experiential professional development (PD) program – Grow to Learn (GTL).

Research Questions

RQ1. What differences exist in teachers’ metacognitive awareness pre- and post-PD (controlling for teachers’ education)?
RQ2. What differences exist in teacher-reported children’s cognitive skills and learning motivation pre- and post-PD (controlling for children’s age)?
RQ3. What children’s learning outcomes did teachers observe during the PD implementation?
RQ4. What are teacher-reported teaching practices that supported children’s learning?

Methods
Participants

Twenty-seven teachers and 120 children were recruited from predominately rural areas of a Northwest state in December 2020. However, due to Covid-19, only 11 preschool and kindergarten teachers and 76 children (Mage = 4.13 years) completed the study in spring 2021.

GTL Design

Each teacher attended a workshop and received a curriculum, sweet pea seeds, planters, picture cards, and question cards. Teachers were required to grow sweet peas with children and teach four topics: germination, building trellises, photosynthesis, and flowering and fruiting, which coincided with the sweet pea’s growth trajectory. Metacognitive knowledge (i.e., knowledge about the person, tasks, and strategies) – is manifested in GTL as monthly reflection journals and explicitly teaching teachers basic plant science of sweet peas and metacognitive strategies (e.g., problematizing, modeling, questioning, and visual concept map [Marulis et al., 2019]).

Measurements

Teachers’ metacognitive awareness was measured by the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory for Teachers (MAIT, Balcikanli, 2011; αdeclarative-knowledge = .85; αprocedural-knowledge = .82; αconditional-knowledge = .84; αplanning = .81; αmonitoring = .80; αevaluating = .79). Teacher-reported rating scales replaced children’s in-person assessments due to Covid-19. Children’s cognitive skills and learning motivation were measured by Children’s Independent Learning Development checklist (αcognition =.96, αmotivation =.96 [Whitebread et al., 2009]. Qualitative data were collected from teachers’ journal entries.

Analysis, Results, and Discussion

Multilevel repeated measure ANCOVA (children clustered within classrooms) was used to answer RQ1 and RQ2 (Table 1). Only teachers’ procedure knowledge was statistically different between pre and post-test with a large effect size and an average 1.21 points increase post-PD. Both children’s cognitive skills and motivation were statistically different before and after the PD program, with an average of 2.17 points increase in cognitive skills and an average of 1.99 points increase in motivation post-PD.

Thematic analysis was used to answer RQ3 and RQ4. Emerged themes are such as “Actively engaging children”, “Prompting children to make predictions”, “knowledge gain”, and “social-emotional skills” (Figure 1).

The finding suggests that an experiential PD program designed based on the principle of metacognition could improve teachers’ awareness of their pedagogical knowledge (DiPaola & Wanger, 2018). Also, children’s learning motivation and cognitive skills could be improved when they are prompted to think metacognitively while engaging in hands-on science activities (Hessels-Schlatter et al., 2017). In conclusion, the combination of science education and metacognition could yield meaningful, authentic science learning opportunities.

Author

• Shiyi Chen, University of Idaho
  Presenting Author