Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze two parallel processes in the Israeli educational system: first, the idea of school autonomy, exploring its origins and its pedagogical implications and effectiveness; and second, the development of the progressive education evident mainly in the cognitive domain of twenty-first century skills (21st CS), focussing on fostering “deep knowledge” and children’s thinking skills. The manuscript explores the various “waves” of progressive pedagogies that have taken place in the Israeli school system over the years, describing and analyzing the processes that characterize them. Design/methodology/approach Based on a historical perspective, the paper describes chronologically the main developments related to school autonomy and 21st CS policy initiatives, based on a literature review and analysis of policy documents. Findings The review indicates that the Israeli educational system is still caught in the “centralization trap,” inhibiting major changes in the patterns of central control and degrees of freedom granted to school-level educators. As for school pedagogy, it is evident that most of the changes in pedagogy suggested by the numerous policy documents over the years have not resulted in sustainable, system-wide change. In both issues a large disparity is evident between declarations about innovative pedagogies and school autonomy and their actual implementation. Originality/value The review reflects the idiosyncratic articulation of policy plans conducted by the Ministry of Education, producing discrepancies and incongruences at the school level. Some implications of the “declarative culture” created are further discussed.

Before participating in the teachers’ workshop, I used to address HOT in my teaching intuitively. But now I realize that doing so without explicitly addressing metacognition means that I had accomplished only a very small part of the job. (a participant in a teachers’ professional development workshop) Since the early days of studying metacognition, metacognitive training and instruction were shown to have positive effects on children’s performance in diverse fields. As we shall see in what follows, metacognition has both domain-general and domain-specific features. Therefore, it makes sense to study metacognition in general contexts as well as in the context of specific school disciplines and even in the context of more specific learning goals. Accordingly, the goal of this chapter is to present an overview of the role of metacognition in teaching higher order thinking (HOT) in science classrooms. 

One of the central unresolved conceptual issues that concerns researchers of personal epistemology is the characterization of the intersection between personal epistemology and metacognition. The contested and diverse nature of both constructs makes untangling their connections a complex yet vital task. The purpose of this article is to advance the discussion regarding this intersection by offering a theoretical approach that may serve as a basis for analyzing epistemic thinking and aligning it with current views of metacognition. Based on a synthesis of theoretical and empirical studies, we argue that epistemic thinking is a multifaceted construct with both cognitive and metacognitive aspects. Furthermore, we propose that epistemic metacognition includes several aspects such as metacognitive skills; metacognitive knowledge about persons, strategies and tasks; and metacognitive experiences. The theoretical, methodological, and instructional implications of this approach are explored.

One of the central unresolved conceptual issues that concerns researchers of personal epistemology is the characterization of the intersection between personal epistemology and metacognition. The contested and diverse nature of both constructs makes untangling their connections a complex yet vital task. The purpose of this article is to advance the discussion regarding this intersection by offering a theoretical approach that may serve as a basis for analyzing epistemic thinking and aligning it with current views of metacognition. Based on a synthesis of theoretical and empirical studies, we argue that epistemic thinking is a multifaceted construct with both cognitive and metacognitive aspects. Furthermore, we propose that epistemic metacognition includes several aspects such as metacognitive skills; metacognitive knowledge about persons, strategies and tasks; and metacognitive experiences. The theoretical, methodological, and instructional implications of this approach are explored.

This study explores the challenges involved in scaling up projects and in implementing policies across the whole school system in the area of teaching higher order thinking (HOT) in Israeli science classrooms. Eight semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with science education experts who hold leading positions pertaining to learning and instruction on the state level of the following school subjects: elementary and junior- high school science and technology; high-school physics; high school chemistry; and high school biology. Some of the challenges that the interviews revealed are common to many types of educational change processes. The interviews also revealed several challenges which are more specific to the educational endeavor of teaching HOT according to the infusion approach across large numbers of classrooms: challenges involved in weaving HOT into multiple, varied, specific science contents; challenges involved in planning a reasonable and coherent developmental sequence of thinking goals; the fact that content goals tend to have priority over thinking goals and thus to disperse of the latter in policy documents and in implementation processes; and finally, the considerable challenges (pedagogical and organizational) involved in developing educators’ sound and deep professional knowledge in the area of teaching HOT and metacognition on a large, nation-wide scale. The data shows that wide-scale implementation of thinking in Israeli science classrooms often develops as an evolutionary rather than as a revolutionary process. The implications for designing large scale implementation programs aimed at fostering students’ reasoning are discussed.

This study explores the challenges involved in scaling up projects and in implementing policies across the whole school system in the area of teaching higher order thinking (HOT) in Israeli science classrooms. Eight semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with science education experts who hold leading positions pertaining to learning and instruction on the state level of the following school subjects: elementary and junior- high school science and technology; high-school physics; high school chemistry; and high school biology. Some of the challenges that the interviews revealed are common to many types of educational change processes. The interviews also revealed several challenges which are more specific to the educational endeavor of teaching HOT according to the infusion approach across large numbers of classrooms: challenges involved in weaving HOT into multiple, varied, specific science contents; challenges involved in planning a reasonable and coherent developmental sequence of thinking goals; the fact that content goals tend to have priority over thinking goals and thus to disperse of the latter in policy documents and in implementation processes; and finally, the considerable challenges (pedagogical and organizational) involved in developing educators’ sound and deep professional knowledge in the area of teaching HOT and metacognition on a large, nation-wide scale. The data shows that wide-scale implementation of thinking in Israeli science classrooms often develops as an evolutionary rather than as a revolutionary process. The implications for designing large scale implementation programs aimed at fostering students’ reasoning are discussed.

The goal of this study is to map the current state of research in the field of metacognition in science education, to identify key trends, and to discern areas and questions for future research. We conducted a systematic analysis of 178 studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the years 2000?2012 and indexed in the ERIC database. The findings from this analysis indicate that the field of metacognition in science education is in a state of growth and expansion, and that metacognition is increasingly integrated into research addressing the core objectives of science education. In contrast to the findings of previous reviews, conceptual understanding of science was found to be one of the central aims of current metacognition research. The studies employ a wide range of instructional practices for fostering learners? metacognition. The most prominent practice is the use of metacognitive cues and prompts in the course of instruction. Several research gaps are identified: first, the development of learners? metacognitive knowledge is receiving less empirical attention than the development of their metacognitive skills; second, there is a lack of studies that employ controlled research designs that can provide causal evidence regarding the effectiveness of metacognitive instruction for science learning; third, there is an insufficient number of studies of metacognition among young learners in preschool and the early years of elementary school; and fourth, there are very few studies of teachers? knowledge and professional development regarding metacognition. The implications of these research gaps are explored and suggestions for future research are raised.

The goal of this study is to map the current state of research in the field of metacognition in science education, to identify key trends, and to discern areas and questions for future research. We conducted a systematic analysis of 178 studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the years 2000?2012 and indexed in the ERIC database. The findings from this analysis indicate that the field of metacognition in science education is in a state of growth and expansion, and that metacognition is increasingly integrated into research addressing the core objectives of science education. In contrast to the findings of previous reviews, conceptual understanding of science was found to be one of the central aims of current metacognition research. The studies employ a wide range of instructional practices for fostering learners? metacognition. The most prominent practice is the use of metacognitive cues and prompts in the course of instruction. Several research gaps are identified: first, the development of learners? metacognitive knowledge is receiving less empirical attention than the development of their metacognitive skills; second, there is a lack of studies that employ controlled research designs that can provide causal evidence regarding the effectiveness of metacognitive instruction for science learning; third, there is an insufficient number of studies of metacognition among young learners in preschool and the early years of elementary school; and fourth, there are very few studies of teachers? knowledge and professional development regarding metacognition. The implications of these research gaps are explored and suggestions for future research are raised.

This study examines epistemic thinking in action in order to shed light on the relation between students? personal epistemologies and their online learning practices. The study is based on observations of the learning behaviors of 6th-grade students (n = 38) during two online inquiry tasks. Data were collected through think-aloud protocols and retrospective epistemic interviews. The study examines how absolutist and evaluativist epistemic perspectives come into play in two key online inquiry strategies?evaluation of website trustworthiness and critical integration of multiple online sources. The study explores students? epistemic thinking on the cognitive and metacognitive levels and examines epistemic metacognitive knowledge about both persons and strategies. The findings demonstrate that epistemic thinking plays an important role in online inquiry learning. Participants? epistemic metacognitive knowledge regarding online learning strategies correlated with their epistemic cognition. Evaluativists significantly outperformed absolutists in the integration strategy but no significant differences were found in the evaluation strategy. Furthermore, there was evidence for considerable variability in students? epistemic thinking. The complex role of students? epistemic thinking in online learning is analyzed and discussed.

This study examines epistemic thinking in action in order to shed light on the relation between students? personal epistemologies and their online learning practices. The study is based on observations of the learning behaviors of 6th-grade students (n = 38) during two online inquiry tasks. Data were collected through think-aloud protocols and retrospective epistemic interviews. The study examines how absolutist and evaluativist epistemic perspectives come into play in two key online inquiry strategies?evaluation of website trustworthiness and critical integration of multiple online sources. The study explores students? epistemic thinking on the cognitive and metacognitive levels and examines epistemic metacognitive knowledge about both persons and strategies. The findings demonstrate that epistemic thinking plays an important role in online inquiry learning. Participants? epistemic metacognitive knowledge regarding online learning strategies correlated with their epistemic cognition. Evaluativists significantly outperformed absolutists in the integration strategy but no significant differences were found in the evaluation strategy. Furthermore, there was evidence for considerable variability in students? epistemic thinking. The complex role of students? epistemic thinking in online learning is analyzed and discussed.

This chapter describes a comprehensive research program addressing metastrategic knowledge (MSK), i.e., general conscious awareness of the thinking strategies applied during instruction and knowledge of their general characteristics. A series of three consecutive studies investigated the effects of explicit instruction of MSK. The findings of all three studies showed dramatic developments in students’ strategic and metastrategic thinking following instruction. The effect of the treatment was preserved in delayed transfer tests. Explicit teaching of MSK had a particularly strong effect on low-achieving students. The findings show the significance of explicit teaching of MSK for teaching higher-order thinking to all students and in particular to LA students. The final sections of this chapter report two additional studies concerning teachers’ knowledge in the context of teaching MSK. These studies showed that teachers’ initial metastrategic knowledge was lacking and insufficient for teaching purposes. Following professional development, considerable progress was made in teachers’ knowledge of MSK and in their pedagogical abilities to use this knowledge in the classroom. These findings show that a professional development course can indeed help teachers make considerable progress with respect to the knowledge that is required for applying MSK in the classroom. MSK, which is the metacognitive component applied in this chapter, consists of knowledge about tasks (referring to task characteristics that call for the use of a strategy or “when” to use a strategy) and knowledge about strategies (referring to “why” and “how” to use a strategy).

Over the past decade there has been a major move to position ‘thinking’ (however thinking is defined and enacted) as a more explicit outcome within the curriculum of many nations, with implications for teachers’ professional development, assessment, and examination requirements. This paper analyses approaches to this challenge taken by Israel, New Zealand and Northern Ireland. Each short case study considers: the political context in which the developments emerged; the ways in which thinking has been framed within the national curriculum, assessment and examination system; and the successes and challenges of the approaches taken to embedding change. Comparing and contrasting three different national systems provides important insights into the priorities, commitments and resources allocated to supporting a focus on thinking as a valued curriculum goal and outcome. In particular, it highlights the need for greater coherence between curriculum, professional development, pedagogy and assessment policies generally. Given the increasing international emphasis on the importance of developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills as a response to 21st century learning challenges, the paper reflects on what more may need to be done to leverage and sustain change.

Over the past decade there has been a major move to position ‘thinking’ (however thinking is defined and enacted) as a more explicit outcome within the curriculum of many nations, with implications for teachers’ professional development, assessment, and examination requirements. This paper analyses approaches to this challenge taken by Israel, New Zealand and Northern Ireland. Each short case study considers: the political context in which the developments emerged; the ways in which thinking has been framed within the national curriculum, assessment and examination system; and the successes and challenges of the approaches taken to embedding change. Comparing and contrasting three different national systems provides important insights into the priorities, commitments and resources allocated to supporting a focus on thinking as a valued curriculum goal and outcome. In particular, it highlights the need for greater coherence between curriculum, professional development, pedagogy and assessment policies generally. Given the increasing international emphasis on the importance of developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills as a response to 21st century learning challenges, the paper reflects on what more may need to be done to leverage and sustain change.

The aim of the present study is to explore the effects of Meta?strategic Knowledge (MSK) on scientific inquiry learning. MSK is a subcomponent of metacognition defined as general, explicit knowledge about thinking strategies. Following earlier studies that showed considerable effects of explicit instruction of MSK regarding the strategy of variables control, the present study explores whether similar effects are found in two additional scientific thinking strategies: Define Research Questions and Formulate Research Hypotheses. Participants were 119 eighth?grade students from six classes of a heterogeneous school. Equal numbers of low?achieving and high?achieving students were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The findings showed dramatic developments in students? performance following instruction. The effect of the treatment was preserved in a delayed transfer test. Our findings show that explicit teaching of MSK had a stronger effect for low?achieving students than for high?achieving students. The implications of the findings for teaching and learning in the context of scientific inquiry are discussed.

The aim of the present study is to explore the effects of Meta?strategic Knowledge (MSK) on scientific inquiry learning. MSK is a subcomponent of metacognition defined as general, explicit knowledge about thinking strategies. Following earlier studies that showed considerable effects of explicit instruction of MSK regarding the strategy of variables control, the present study explores whether similar effects are found in two additional scientific thinking strategies: Define Research Questions and Formulate Research Hypotheses. Participants were 119 eighth?grade students from six classes of a heterogeneous school. Equal numbers of low?achieving and high?achieving students were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The findings showed dramatic developments in students? performance following instruction. The effect of the treatment was preserved in a delayed transfer test. Our findings show that explicit teaching of MSK had a stronger effect for low?achieving students than for high?achieving students. The implications of the findings for teaching and learning in the context of scientific inquiry are discussed.

The concept of metacognition refers to one’s knowledge and control of one’s own cognitive system. However, despite being widely used, this concept is confusing because of several reasons. First, sometimes it is not at all clear what is cognitive and what is metacognitive. Second, researchers often use the same term, namely, “metacognition” even when they refer to very different aspects of this complex concept. Alternatively, researchers may use different terms to indicate the same metacognitive elements. Another foggy matter is the interrelationships among the various components of metacognition discussed in the literature. This conceptual confusion regarding the concept of metacognition and its sub-components calls for in-depth theoretical and conceptual clarifications. The goal of this article is to portray a detailed example of a conceptual analysis of meta-strategic knowledge (MSK) which is one specific component of metacognition. This specific example is used to draw a general model for conceptual analyses of additional metacognitive components. The approach suggested here is to begin with a clear definition of the target sub component of metacognition, followed by a systematic examination of this sub component according to several dimensions that are relevant to metacognition in general and to that sub component in particular. The examination should include an analysis of how the details of the definition of the target sub-component refer to: (a) general theoretical metacognitive issues raised by prominent scholars; (b) definitions formulated and issues raised by other researchers who have investigated the same (or a similar) sub-component and, (c) empirical findings pertaining to that sub-component. Finally, it should be noted that since metacognition is a relational rather than a definite concept it is important to situate the context within which the conceptual analysis takes place.