Metacognitive Reflections

Metacognitive (post-instructional) reflections are conscious reflections which indicate that students: (a) had some beliefs, assumptions, or understandings that are contradictory to what was presented during instruction, (b) are conscious that they had such beliefs, assumptions, or understandings, and (c) are declaring that they are abandoning, modifying, or changing those and assimilating/accommodating the conceptions presented during instruction. Examples:

I thought that the organ that thinks is the heart but not the brain. Because, I usually hear people saying: ‘a fool without a heart that can think’ (10 years old, 5th grade boy, Mekelle-Ethiopia).

I used to believe that fishes are created from the water in which they live. I never realized that they get reproduced by sexual means (11 years old, 5th grade boy, Mekelle-Ethiopia).

I used to hear about malaria. I thought we catch malaria when it is cold or when we sleep around moist locations, but I didn’t know that it is transmitted by mosquito. I thought we catch malaria from the moisture (13 years old, 6th grade girl, Mekelle-Ethiopia).

I used to believe that diseases are transmitted only via breathing. But now I understand that diseases can also be transmitted by water, food, contact and vectors (11 years old, 6th grade girl, Mekelle-Ethiopia).