Metacognition and meteorology: Using reflective thinking strategies to help novice weather forecasters adopt effective forecasting strategies

This dissertation contains two papers that investigate the use of metacognitive learning and thinking strategies with university-aged students learning science. The first paper reviews studies that have focused on the instructional implications of using metacognitive teaching and learning strategies in the classroom. Metacognition has been researched extensively in specific domains (such as reading) and with predominately young children. Lately, the value of metacognitive strategies has begun to be investigated in other cognitive domains (such as math and science) and with older students. The review paper ends with a suggestion for further research, extending the scope of metacognition to even broader areas.; The second paper reports a case study of eleven students' use of metacognitive processes in a technology-enhanced introductory meteorology course. The study analyzed how novices engaging in metacognitive activities monitored and changed personal conceptions about weather processes and how they used those conceptions to write forecasts. Among the eleven students, several different metacognitive approaches to forecasting were employed. Several students changed their metacognitive approaches during the study. The journaling activities, interviews and other metacognitive thinking prompts probably contributed to improvements of metacognitive processes. Some suggestions for further research and practice in the area of metacognition with college-aged students learning about science are also included.