The development of metacognitive course for undergraduate pre-service science education teachers

Abstract

Promoting metacognition in learners is demanded by both the nationaland global levels. Teachers including pre-service science teachers (PST) must havemetacognition first and then integrate metacognition in their teaching. The major gapfound in the teacher preparation context in Thailand is the lack of metacognitive-based course for PSTs. Therefore, this study aimed to: a) Phase 1: Review of the current situation of PST preparation in Thailand

Phase 2: Development of metacognitive-based course for PST(MCPS) in the Rajabhat University context

Phase 3: Investigation of the impact of MBMC course on the participating PSTs’ metacognition

and Phase 4: Exploration of the PSTs’ development and implementation of metacognition in science teaching by integrating metacognition in the real classroom context. The participants of this study were 22 PSTs from oneRajabhat university. The research methodology was a mixed-method research. Data collection involved open ended question for exploring PSTs’ prior experience about metacognition, Metacognitive Self-report (MS), Metacognition Interview protocol(MIP), Pre-service science teachers’ metacognition survey (PMS). The descriptive statistics was used to analyze quantitative data and thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The results revealed that a majority of PSTs had no or a few experiences on metacognition. The MBMC designed in this study was qualified regarding its content validity. In addition, (MCPS) , to some extent, was effective in developing PSTs’ metacognition. However, the low level of metacognition in PSTsat phase 1-3 of (MCPS) showed an urgent need to develop metacognition in PSTs in a teacher preparation program. PSTs with high level of metacognition, to some extent, could integrate metacognition in their lesson plans as well as teaching practice in real classroom contexts. However, there are several factors impeding the implementation of metacognition in PSTs’ teaching practicum as the rigid format of lesson plans required by the university and schools, low understanding of metacognition held by the university supervisors and cooperating teachers in practicum schools.