Fostgering creative thinking is one of the core purposes of 21st-century education. Although teachers play a crucial role in developing students’ creativity, few studies focused on intervention programs for fostering teachers’ creativity, and in particular on those programs that are based on metacognition and meta-creativity embedded within creativity-in action that covers teachers’ personal and professional behaviors. The present study examined the effects of creativity, metacognition and meta-creative (CMM) intervention on teachers’ creative thinking and their implementation of meta-creative processes. Participants were 115 teachers’ from nine elementary schools; among them 58 teachers were exposed to CMM intervention, and the other 57 teachers served as a control group. At the beginning of the study and at its end, all participants administered the Unusual-Uses tasks and a self-report questionnaire that assessed participants’ implementation of meta-creative processes. Results indicated that CMM teachers scored significantly higher on fluency and originality than teachers in the control group, but no-significant differences were found on flexibility. Furthermore, teachers in the CMM group implemented meta-creative processes to a larger extent than teachers in the control group. The study’s theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Fostering creative thinking and promoting metacognitive processes are two major goals of 21st -century education. Recent research has pinpointed the essential role of meta-creativity in the process of creative thinking. Nevertheless, the concept of meta-creativity has not been widely adopted. The purpose of the present study is, therefore, threefold: (a) to design an innovative meta-creative pedagogy for fostering students’ creative thinking; (b) to examine the immediate and transfer effects of this pedagogy on three components of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility, and originality; and (c) to explore students’ perceptions of the extent to which they implement meta-creative processes during creative problem-solving procedures. Four sixth-grade classes (N = 100) were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Two entire classes (N = 49) that were exposed to the meta-creative pedagogy served as the experimental group, while the other two classes were the control group (N = 51). Results indicated that on the immediate assessment of creative thinking, the experimental group scored significantly higher than their counterparts in the control group on fluency and originality, but not on flexibility. Regarding the transfer task, the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group on all three creativity components: fluency, flexibility, and originality. Furthermore, students in the experimental group perceived their implementation of meta-creative processes to a greater extent than their counterparts in the control group. These findings highlight the benefits of using a meta-creative pedagogy to foster students’ creative thinking. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Numerous studies highlight the benefits of incorporating creativity in teaching, but practical experience shows that putting these theories and policies into practice often lacks the necessary resources. The current study focuses on three aspects of creativity in teaching: (a) Theoretical - how do policy documents and educational researchers refer to creativity in teaching and what are their recommendations regarding its implementation in the education system? (b) Attitudes - what do teachers know and what are their positions regarding the integration of creativity in teaching? (c) Practical - whether and how teachers use creativity-based practices in their teaching. We conducted a descriptive analysis of 36 teachers' lesson plan performances and 11 interviews to answer the research questions. Findings revealed a gap between theory and practice: despite the teachers' positive attitudes about integrating creativity in teaching, many of them did not apply these contents. Ways to minimize this gap between theory and practice are discussed.

The integration of 21st-century skills (e.g., critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and metacognition) in teaching is essential for the quality of education and to prepare students for the challenges of 21st-century skills. One teaching method that can improve these skills among students is project-based learning (PBL). However, teachers themselves should be proficient in these skills to achieve this goal. The present study focuses on three skills: metacognition, creativity, and critical thinking, which are considered cognition-related 21st-century skills; integrating them in PBL settings may improve teaching and learning performances. This study aims to examine whether and in what way there are relationships between components of metacognition, creativity, and critical thinking in self-reported teaching performance (SRTP) in PBL settings. To examine the research questions, we analyzed 29 journals in which teachers described a project they had planned, which was carried out by students using a mixed-method design model. All participants were home-room teachers who teach various subjects. Their years of experience ranged from one to thirty-two years. We used an SRTP index we developed for this study. The index measures meta-cognition, creativity, and critical thinking of teaching in PBL settings. The results show significant associations between metacognition, creativity, and critical thinking and revealed that these correlations are reflected the most in projects engaging in environmental issues. These results emphasize the importance of metacognition, creativity, and critical thinking combinations in PBL settings and underpin the connection between 21st-century skills and environmental education.

The COVID-19 crisis has forced education systems around the world to switch hurriedly from learning in class to learning via online technology. One of the common platforms worldwide for teaching online was zoom. Working under uncertain conditions and facing rapid changes are characteristics of the twenty-first century. Coping adaptively with these challenges requires teachers to apply twenty-first century skills such as creativity and metacognition in their teaching. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether teachers integrate metacognition and creativity in their online lessons more than in classroom instruction. To examine the research question, we analyzed 50 lesson reports (25 for each learning environment) using a mixed-method design model. We used a performance assessment that was based on a creativity metacognitive teaching reports index. Teachers reported greater use of the 'debugging' metacognitive component in online lessons than in classroom lessons. Also, an online environment could provide a suitable platform for promoting students' learning process and encourage teachers to be more creative in terms of diversifying their teaching methods and developing student’s creativity. However, the originality component of creativity was less pronounced in online lesson reports. These results can contribute to the field of blended learning and to the literature dealing with the adaptation of teaching to learning environments in the twenty-first century in general and during pandemics in particular.

While much research has focused on young children's mathematics skills such as counting, subitizing, enumeration, and numerical cognition, much less is known at present on children's processing of more complex mathematical structures. The aim of the present study is, therefore, threefold: (a) to investigate young children's recognition of mathematical structures (ROMS) including multiplication patterns, arithmetic series and items presented in random orders; (b) to examine the differences between ROMS-verbal and nonverbal; and (c) to study the relationships between the different types of ROMS and mathematical reasoning. Participants were 113 Israeli children age 4–5 years old. Children's ROMS was assessed both verbally (describing cards that represent mathematical structures) and nonverbally (imitating the experimenter demonstration of mathematical structures). The verbal and nonverbal ROMS included the same mathematical structures. Results indicated that: (a) young children could focus not only on the exact number of objects, but also on; multiplication patterns and arithmetic series; (b) children's scores on the nonverbal ROMS were significantly higher than those on the verbal ROMS; and (c) the different types of ROMS explained 32% of the variance in mathematics reasoning, while children's age and mothers' education added an additional 15% to the explained variance. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the extent to which students with different levels of creativity also differ in their implementation of metacognitive and meta-creative processes. Participants included 221 students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 (104 girls, 117 boys; mean age = 10.5; SD = 0.84). Creativity was assessed using the Unusual Uses of a Cardboard Box Test (UUT; a segment of the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking; Torrance, 1974). A self-reported student questionnaire assessed metacognition and meta-creativity. Results indicate significant differences between students with high, medium, or low levels of creativity on the meta-creative measure but not on the metacognitive measure. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of an intervention in which mathematics e-book (EB) activities were supported by metacognitive scaffolding on kindergarten children's mathematics knowledge and mathematics reasoning. Participants were 60 Israeli children who studied in three intact kindergarten classrooms in the Arab sector (age 5–6 years old). The kindergarten students were randomly assigned to three research groups, 20 children in each group, as follows: (a) using a mathematics EB; (b) using the same EB supported with metacognitive scaffolding (EBM); and (c) a control group who studied with no EB and no metacognitive scaffolding. Results indicated that the EBM group significantly outperformed the EB and control group on both mathematics reasoning and mathematics knowledge; the EB group significantly outperformed the control group on mathematics reasoning, but the differences between the EB and control groups on mathematics knowledge were not significant. Educational implications of the study are discussed.

This quasi-experimental study examined training in two types of reading strategies: self-generated questions either connecting to prior knowledge (Extra-Text) or connecting between the text's parts (Within-Text). Immediate and long-term effects were assessed on ninth graders' science text comprehension, versus an untrained control group. The three student groups (N = 193) received the same study unit of scientific texts and accompanying tasks, either with/without training in self-generated questioning. PISA-based science literacy assessments (phenomenon identification, scientific explanation, and evidence utilization) were collected at baseline, immediately after intervention, and at 4-month follow-up. Results from both short- and long-term assessments indicated that those learners trained to generate questions about within-text connections reached significantly higher science text comprehension achievements than the other two groups - students trained to generate questions connecting to their prior knowledge and control students who received no support for generating questions. Findings may contribute to the design of support methods and teaching strategies for promoting literacy in general and scientific literacy in particular.

This article encompasses a systematic review of the research on ICT-based learning environments for metacognitively oriented K-12 mathematics education. This review begins with a brief overview of the research on metacognition and mathematics education and on ICT and mathematics education. Based on a systematic screening of the databases Web of Science and ERIC wherein three elements—ICT-based learning environments, metacognitive pedagogies, and mathematics—are combined, 22 articles/studies were retrieved, situated at various educational levels (kindergarten, elementary school, and secondary school). This review revealed a variety of studies, particularly intervention studies, situated in elementary and secondary schools. Most studies involved drill-and-practice software, intelligent tutoring systems, serious games, multimedia environments, and computer-supported collaborative learning environments, with metacognitive pedagogies either integrated into the ICT software itself or provided externally by the teacher, mainly for arithmetic or algebraic word problem-solving but also related to other mathematical topics. All studies reported positive effects on mathematical and/or metacognitive learning outcomes. This review ends with a discussion of issues for further theoretical reflection and empirical research.

The chapter “Cognition, Metacognition, and Mathematics Literacy” introduces the concept of mathematics literacy based on PISA and Chinese approaches. The chapter addresses the issue of how students’ math literacy can be promoted in the classroom, reviews cognitive-metacognitive pedagogies that have the potential for achieving it, offers examples of relevant tasks, and describes a quantitative study that compares math literacy of students who were exposed to a meta-cognitive pedagogy to a control group who studied ‘traditionally’, with no explicit metacognitive scaffolding. The theoretical and practical implications are described.

Aquatic motor activity (AMA) has been reported to affect motor and cognitive abilities. However, the neural mechanisms that may mediate this relationship have never been explored. The traditional functions of the cerebellum include involvement in coordination and balance. Recent studies have shown cerebellar activity during verbal working memory (VWM) tasks. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of AMA on VWM and changes in cerebellar activity. Twenty-four subjects were allocated to 1 month of AMA, on-land motor activity or nonmotor activity intervention. We examined the effects of intervention on VWM ability using the digit span task. Using magnetoencephalography, we measured changes in alpha power. Our results demonstrate that the AMA significantly improved VWM. Moreover, improved VWM was positively correlated with increased right cerebellar alpha power. These results support previous studies regarding the cerebellar region's role in VWM, and demonstrate that VWM can be improved by AMA.

This book addresses the point of intersection between cognition, metacognition, and culture in learning and teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and

?Como puede la educacion matematica fomentar las capacidades apropia¬das para las sociedades innovadoras? La educacion matematica es destacada mundialmente; sin embargo, todavia se considera un obstaculo para muchos estudiantes. Aunque exista un consenso casi total que los problemas matema¬ticos adecuados para el siglo XXI tienen que ser complejos, desconocidos y no rutinarios (CUN), la mayoria de los libros de texto siguen incluyendo unicamente problemas rutinarios basados en la aplicacion de algoritmos prefabricados. Ha llegado el momento de introducir metodos de ensenanza para mejorar la educacion matematica y la capacidad de los estudiantes de resolver tareas CUN. Las pedagogias metacognitivas pueden tener un papel clave en este proceso. Es¬tas pedagogias ensenan explicitamente a los estudiantes a “pensar en su pensa¬miento” durante el aprendizaje. Se pueden emplear para mejorar no solamente el desempeno academico (el conocimiento y la comprension del contenido, la capacidad de manejar problemas desconocidos, etc.), sino tambien resultados afectivos como la reduccion de ansiedad o el incremento de la motivacion. Esta relacion fuerte entre la metacognicion y los resultados escolares tiene implica¬ciones para la comunidad educativa y los administradores. Este libro esta disenado para ayudar a las personas que educan, desarrollan los curriculos y generan las politicas para preparar el estudiante de hoy para el mundo de manana.

A good metaphor for the way metacognition operates is the global positioning system (GPS). Most of the current studies provide hard data showing that at all ages learners who are exposed to metacognitive interventions are able to improve their metacognitive skills which in turn affect their mathematical reasoning. Studies based on meta-analysis, such as those conducted by Dignath and Buttner and Hattie, clearly indicate that self-regulation (SR) skills can be enhanced as a result of explicitly teaching those skills. These issues are used as the framework that focuses on meta-cognitive pedagogies that have been proven to be successful in enhancing students' mathematical reasoning. This chapter reviews the findings that show the positive relationships between metacognition and mathematics reasoning led researchers to look for pedagogies. It concludes that metacognitive pedagogies have the potential of improving the learning and performance of students and teachers alike, in K-12 classes and beyond, and for various mathematics topics.