Self-assessment as a strategy for developing metacognition in science classes

Abstract

This paper presents a descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, in which a self-assessment activity was used as a tool for the interpretative analysis of the metacognitive knowledge and strategies adopted by students in Physics classes. The activity of self-assessment was carried out in 2009 by students of three classes of the second year of High School at the Federal Center for Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca (CEFET/RJ UnED NI) in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The analysis allowed us to associate the elements mentioned in the students’ texts with metacognitive knowledge. Thus, we suggest that writing a self-assessment can be both a strategy of cognitive self-regulation and monitoring, improving learning, and a tool for research on metacognition.

Keywords

• self-assessment
• metacognition
• learning
• teaching science