Things can only get meta – a case study of metacognition techniques in teaching inference
Written by: Stephen Lockyer
3 min read
Inference is the powerful tool that allows those who can use it to assume from ‘Max panted as he held the bone’ that Max is a dog and not an exhausted palaeontologist. It is an essential skill for children almost from the first time they start reading, as direct answers to questions are buried under description, synonym and tone. Understandably, it was a large part of the focus in the 2017 Key Stage 2 SATS (having been introduced into the English curriculum in Year 1), with inferential questions making up 44% of the questions in the reading paper.
Yet nationally, only six in ten of these questions were answered correctly. There is clearly much work to do in the teaching of inference, and part of my role of enrichment leader at a primary academy trust was to embed the core skills of inference within the teaching. Although it takes all the years of work in primary to contribute to results, we focused on Year 6 (10- and 11-year-olds). I took the approach of teaching this using meta
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This article was published in February 2018 and reflects the terminology and understanding of research and evidence in use at the time. Some terms and conclusions may no longer align with current standards. We encourage readers to approach the content with an understanding of this context.
I agree with prior knowledge being an important part of children’s learning, this really helps them to relate to certain topics.