COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP MODEL: EFFECT ON METACOGNITIVE SKILLS

Classrooms comprise of students with individual differences even in metacognitive abilities. The term metacognition refers to ‘the individual’s own awareness and consideration of his or her cognitive processes and strategies’ (Flavell, 1979). It is also defined as ‘thinking about thinking’. The teachers have to develop a keen sense of observation and make note of the metacognitive ability of the children in classrooms. The specially selected methods and models of instruction allow the teacher to focus on the most important behavioural characteristics and needs of the individual students. Promoting students’ metacognitive ability is critical to improve their academic performance and success in life. The Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989) is a model of instruction that works to make thinking visible through the six phases of teaching: Modelling, Coaching, Scaffolding, Articulation, Reflection, and Exploration. In this study, the researchers adopted experimental method with pretest-posttest non-equivalent groups design. The sample comprised of 76 students of standard eight. The experimental group (N=38) was taught through the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model and the control group (N=38) through the existing activity oriented method practiced in the schools which follows the curriculum designed by the Board of Secondary Education in Kerala State. The scale of metacognitive skills was administered before and after the experiment in order to measure metacognitive skills in mathematical problem solving of the students in the experimental and control groups. The findings of the study showed that Cognitive Apprenticeship Model is more effective than the existing activity oriented method in developing metacognitive skills of secondary school students. The school curriculum is suggested to be modified to suit the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model and thus provide opportunities to the students to articulate reflect and explore themselves so that the students develop metacognitive skills.