Educational research supports the cultivation of higher order thinking skills. In the art classroom, students learn technical skills and fundamentals of design but also have the opportunity to cultivate higher order thinking while creating new ideas, solving problems, analyzing what is seen and translating concepts into a visual language. As an art educator I am continually seeking to engage more students in these challenging cognitive processes. In my thesis, meta-cognition is defined as the understanding of what we know and how we learned it. Introducing meta-cognitive practices helps students achieve awareness and control of their own learning. Reflective Inquiry is a meta-cognitive practice that encourages students to pause and consciously question the choices they are making during the design and construction of art. In this study I asked: how did students' artwork and their ability to understand their own intentions change with the use of reflective inquiry? In what ways will the introduction of the study of meta-cognition and reflective inquiry affect my practice as a classroom art teacher? I am also interested in what can be observed from the practice of verbal inquiry and from the written inquiries and reflective writings of students. By conducting action research through a qualitative study, I asked suburban high school students in an advanced sculpture course to examine their decision-making process through the study of meta-cognition and the use of reflective inquiry for a three week period. Students began with the examination of a practicing artist's mental process during a one-day visiting artist presentation and workshop. The study continued with sharing and recording their self-inquiry during the design and creation of sculpture. The phenomenological and written data gathered throughout this study showed that students thought deeply about the meaning of their artwork but had varying levels of awareness of the connection between their decisions and that meaning. This action research strengthened my teaching practice by allowing me to hear directly from students about their thought processes during art making. Not surprisingly, using a questioning method during individual conversations was an effective technique. Also, the motivational effect of having a visiting artist speak had a lasting effect on students' understanding of what artists can think about during art making. This study also suggests the great potential in having students formulate inquiries into their process, make manifest their intentions, and understand how their ideas develop.

Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is an awareness of and control over one's own thinking behavior. This guide for teaching metacognitive reflection in the classroom is divided into three sections that highlight the arenas where metacognition can occur: planning, monitoring, and evaluating. Within each section, 10 specific strategies are developed for immediate use in the classroom. Some of these strategies to enhance reflection include stem statements, think-aloud techniques, double-entry journals, self-administered checklists, and portfolio registries. The easy-to-implement lesson models teach students to: pose study questions for themselves; explore the consequences of their choices, decisions, and actions; reflect on how they learn; synthesize their thoughts and actions in a log or journal; and contemplate their reflective strategies for transfer and use. The practical applications in this guide enable teachers to enhance their ability to monitor student reactions, foster reflection of student work, and promote students' transfer of learning to novel situations. Contains a 94-item bibliography. (TJQ)

This book explores reflective practice as a source and resource for teaching, learning and research in Art and Design, Dance, Drama and Music. Many of the authors are both arts educators and researchers who reflect current trends in arts education, and consider the relationships between teachers, artists and learners across disciplines. The book offers a resource for individual and collective professional development which, by its nature, involves reflecting on practice.

Philosophers have warned of the perils of a life spent without reflection, but what constitutes reflective inquiry - and why it’s necessary in our lives - can be an elusive concept. Synthesizing ideas from minds as diverse as John Dewey and Paulo Freire, theHandbook of Reflection and Reflective Inquiry presents reflective thought in its most vital aspects, not as a fanciful or nostalgic exercise, but as a powerful means of seeing familiar events anew, encouraging critical thinking and crucial insight, teaching and learning. In its opening pages, two seasoned educators, Maxine Greene and Lee Shulman, discuss reflective inquiry as a form of active attention (Thoreau’s "wide-awakeness"), an act of consciousness, and a process by which people can understand themselves, their work (particularly in the form of life projects), and others. Building on this foundation, the Handbook analyzes through the work of 40 internationally oriented authors: - Definitional issues concerning reflection, what it is and is not; - Worldwide social and moral conditions contributing to the growing interest in reflective inquiry in professional education; - Reflection as promoted across professional educational domains, including K-12 education, teacher education, occupational therapy, and the law; - Methods of facilitating and scaffolding reflective engagement; - Current pedagogical and research practices in reflection; - Approaches to assessing reflective inquiry. Educators across the professions as well as adult educators, counselors and psychologists, and curriculum developers concerned with adult learning will find the Handbook of Reflection and Reflective Inquiry an invaluable teaching tool for challenging times.

"This book examines what it means to be present in one's teaching- how to mentally and emotionally connect to your students, your classroom, and your teaching. The author outlines the structure of reflection, its intentional practice, and its importance to presence. Rodgers also provides a detailed outline for teaching presence to new and preservice teachers"--

Planning strategies - Monitoring strategies - Evaluating strategies - Thoughtful lead-ins - Visualization - Predicting - Goal setting - Strategic planning - Think aloud - Recovery strategies - Tape recordings - Memoing - Tracking - Conferencing - Recorded observations - Human graph - Evaluating - How can I use this? - Anecdotes.

Why is metacognition gaining recognition, both in education generally and in science learning in particular? What does metacognition contribute to the theory and practice of science learning? Metacognition in Science Education discusses emerging topics at the intersection of metacognition with the teaching and learning of science concepts, and with higher order thinking more generally. The book provides readers with a background on metacognition and analyses the latest developments in the field. It also gives an account of best-practice methodology. Expanding on the theoretical underpinnings of metacognition, and written by world leaders in metacognitive research, the chapters present cutting-edge studies on how various forms of metacognitive instruction enhance understanding and thinking in science classrooms. The editors strive for conceptual coherency in the various definitions of metacognition that appear in the book, and show that the study of metacognition is not an end in itself. Rather, it is integral to other important constructs, such as self-regulation, literacy, the teaching of thinking strategies, motivation, meta-strategies, conceptual understanding, reflection, and critical thinking. The book testifies to a growing recognition of the potential value of metacognition to science learning. It will motivate science educators in different educational contexts to incorporate this topic into their ongoing research and practice.