Using the Metacognition and Reflective Inquiry Method as a Metacognitive Stimulant for Gifted Students

Abstract

Gifted students who underachieve or even dropout of education represent a valuable loss for society and an unrealized personal fulfillment. In literature many solutions are offered to tackle this problem, they all pursue the development of metacognition. Many students indicate that they do not perceive the usefulness of metacognition and fail to motivate themselves. The current study investigates the so-called metacognitive reflective inquiry (MRI) method (Anderson, Nashon and Thomas, 2009) as a potential tool to make gifted students aware of the usefulness of metacognition. Based on a procedure consisting of a pre-interview, followed by a specially designed project and a post-interview aimed at reflection, students showed more awareness of the usefulness of metacognition. Nevertheless, there was no control group, and only five participating students. Therefore, no firm general conclusions may be drawn.