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.