Metacognitive elements that emerge from a didactic intervention in the teaching of Physics

Abstract

Students entering Higher Education have shown gaps in their training, especially in the field of Exact Sciences. In this perspective, metacognition can be a way to contribute to the learning of these students. The aim of this article is to present the analysis of metacognitive thinking actions carried out in a didactic intervention, based on the metacognitive elements: person, task, strategy, planning, monitoring and evaluation. It is a qualitative research that was developed, with 16 students, enrolled in the discipline of Physics 1 from different engineering courses, at a university located in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul/RS. The theoretical approaches are supported by studies already carried out on metacognition and applied to the teaching of Physics. With regard to data collection instruments, these were collected in different ways, namely: metacognitive questionnaires; field diaries for records of systematic observation of the teacher/researcher; audio recording of students, in small groups, during activities. Data were analyzed and organized following the metacognitive elements proposed by Flavell (1971) and Brown (1978) and interpreted by Rosa (2011). For each metacognitive element, beacons were established, which are actions that refer to each one of the elements. With the analysis performed, it was possible to verify, in greater or lesser depth, the metacognitive elements that emerged during the application of the guide-script, as some students have not yet clearly expressed or written their metacognitive thinking because this process is long and needs a relationship of trust between student and teacher. It can be inferred that it was possible to understand metacognition as an ally to the promotion of teaching and learning processes and it was found that the metacognitive elements (person, task, strategy, planning, monitoring and evaluation) need to work together, as they influence each other in the sense of assisting in the activation of metacognitive thinking. Leading the student to reflect throughout the learning process, promoting metacognitive thinking, is to teach him to be strategic, to increase his awareness of operations and decisions in the face of a challenge or choice to be made, being autonomous.