Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to better understand the role metacognitive skills play within classroom settings to increase students’ writing through Socratic Seminars. A predominant question guided this study: Can improving student metacognition through the repetitive use of questioning techniques in Socratic Seminars lead to improved writing skills? This question, along with four additional research questions guided the research. There is a need for more activities that promote metacognition due to its correlation with academic achievement, critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and perceived self-efficacy (Keus, 2020). The significance of this study was to examine a method of impacting student learning through improving metacognition and the implementation of Socratic Seminars in middle schools to improve writing. Data exposed an increase in metacognitive skills through the frequent utilization of reflecting and questioning during Socratic Seminars. In addition, the interviews and work samples revealed that the students could justify their answers more frequently. Although most students exhibited high participation, the ClassDojo Point Distribution chart showed no relationship between high participation and an increase of writing in highly scored writing samples. In conclusion, it was discovered that students who frequently used metacognitive actions and writing sample scores increased after the implementation of Socratic Seminars.

Date

10-29-2024

Committee Chair

Sulentic Dowell, Margaret-Mary

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Available for download on Wednesday, October 29, 2025

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