Effects of self-explanation as a metacognitiveAbstract: This study examined how a metacognitive strategy known as self-explanation influences word problem solving in elementary school children. Participants were 79 sixth-graders. They were assigned to one of three groups: the self-explanation group, the self-learning group, or the control group. Students in each group performed a ratio word problem test and a transfer test. The results showed that students in the self-explanation group outperformed students in the other two groups on both the ratio word problem test and on the transfer test. In addition, high explainers who generated more self-explanations relating to deep understanding of worked-out examples outperformed low explainers on both ratio word problem and transfer tests. The self-explanation effect is discussed.Key words : metacognitive strategy, self-explanation, mathematical word problem test, transfer test, elementary school children.Many researchers have focused on metacognitive strategies that facilitate knowledge construction as a way to get students to learn with greater understanding (Flavell, 1979;Palincsar & Brown, 1987;Schoenfeld, 1987). It is well known that there is a variety of metacognitive strategies, for example, self-questioning, asking questions, answering questions, summarizing, note-taking, 1 This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), No. 15330141, and by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), No. 17203039, from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science. The authors extend their sincere thanks to the students who participated in this study, their teachers, and a school principal. After the final test period, students in the self-learning group and the control group were informed that self-explanations would help them to solve both ratio word problems and transfer problems.
Based upon its historical and economic backgrounds, we hypothesized that Kansai (Osaka area) people culturally share the value of self-denigrating humor, as an interpersonal strategy for constructing friendly relationships with others. If this value has been ingrained in the contexts of their daily lives, Kansai people would particularly appreciate blunder-telling behavior, because it is an everyday life-interpersonal strategy of self-denigrating humor for constructing relationships. To test this, we administered a questionnaire study on Kansai and Kanto people (a comparison group). As expected, Kansai people showed more favor towards blunder-telling behavior than Kanto people (Study 1). Also, we discovered that, only Kansai people deeply incorporated the value of blundertelling behavior as a part of the self (Study 2). These results appear to support our hypothesis; even in their daily life-contexts, Kansai people uniquely put a high value on self-denigrating humor for constructing relationships.
The present study first aimed to construct a coactivation model that integrates cognitive and motivational variables that determine an individual's conscious humor experience. It then aimed to test the model's reliability, validity, and generalizability. As part of the study, 16 (out of 48) four-frame cartoons were randomly presented to 201 (42 male and 159 female) high school students and 302 (185 male and 117 female) undergraduate and graduate students (age range was 15 to 23, M = 18.15, SD = 1.79) who were instructed to rate items related to the variable humor. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the generalizability of the model to predict the humor experience to a great extent within different population samples was shown. Furthermore, the theoretical prediction of the coactivation model was supported. The results are discussed from the viewpoint of future research that could demonstrate the possible application of the coactivation model.
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