Fostering metacognitive skills in young children

This research report is on fostering young children's metacognitive skills. The study was conducted at a private early childhood education center in a Midwestern city in the United States in 2020. The design of the study was a mixed approach including Time Series experimentation, naturalistic observation, and interviews. Children aged 3-4 years were exposed in alternate weeks to pre-read-aloud prompts which engaged them in their own thinking about the story that was about to be read to them. The children tried to make predictions about the story before the story was read. After the story was read, the children were assessed on their abilities to think about what their thoughts and predictions were before the story was read aloud to them. Data were collected for a total of 11 weeks from two large groups of 20 children each, and one small group of 6 children. Comparison of the data revealed systematic differences between the treatment and non-treatment weeks. During the treatment weeks, more preschoolers experienced thought loop-backs, indicating some connection to their predictions. The results are discussed and implications for further research are drawn.