Dr Shirley Larkin

About me:

I research metacognition, self-regulated learning and thinking skills. My research to date has focussed on primary age children.

 
I am particularly interested in how developing metacognition can enable people to learn in their own way, for their own purposes, throughout life. This goes beyond curriculum areas, attainment and test scores. However education research is often focussed on specific domains or stages and I am happy to supervise or collaborate on research in any curriculum area, for any age group which focuses on metacognition, self-regulated learning or broader thinking skills.

I tend to take an interpretivist or mixed methods approach to research, but I have a particular interest in the use of personal construct approaches and phenomenological approaches. My focus is often on what metacognition means to the individual, how those meanings develop, are facilitated or hindered and how metacognition is manifested in behaviour. In terms of classroom education I explore how teachers can create metacognitive learning environments in all curriculum areas. I am also interested in how teachers and other adults develop their own metacognition.

This is a podcast I recently did for the Department of Education, New South Wales, Australia for the Education for a Changing World programme
Podcast on metacognition: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/education-for-a-changing-world/resource-library/edspresso-episode-12--transforming-the-classroom-to-encourage-me

Interests:

• Metacognition across the curriculum and across ages and stages
• Creation of metacognitive learning environments
• Self-regulated learning and Thinking Skills approaches
• Personal Construct Theory; Phenomenology and Mixed Methods research, Interpretivist research.

Qualifications:

BA Hons English Literature;

BSc Hons Psychology;

Certificate in Education (Cert Ed.);

PhD;

PCAP