What is metacognition?
Is knowledge and understanding of our own cognitive processes and abilities and those of others, as well as regulation of these processes. It is the ability to make your thinking visible.
Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge that we hold about our own thinking, and the thinking of other people. We are usually able to report metacognitive knowledge if we are asked about our own thinking and it includes things like:
Understanding that having a strategy might help you to solve a problem more efficiently or that having an essay plan may help to keep your argument on track.
Knowing that it is more difficult to concentrate in a room that is noisy than one which is quiet.
Knowing that you are good at remembering people’s faces but not their names, while your friend is good with names, not faces.
There are three types of metacognitive knowledge that each play a role in learning and problem-solving:
Declarative knowledge: “knowing what” – knowledge of one’s own learning processes, and about strategies for learning
Procedural knowledge: “knowing how” – knowing what skills and strategies to use.
Conditional knowledge: “knowing when” – knowledge about why and when various learning strategies should be used.
Self-regulation on the other hand, refers to a set of activities that help learners to control their learning. Research has shown that metacognitive regulation supports performance in a number of ways, including understanding where to direct attention, using strategies more reliably and efficiently, and developing awareness of difficulties with comprehension. At the heart of self-regulation are three essential skills:
Planning involves working out how a task might be approached before you do it. For example you might make predictions before reading, select a strategy before tackling a problem, or allocate time or other resources before commencing work.
Monitoring refers to the pupil’s on-task awareness of progress, comprehension and overall performance. Stopping every so often to self-test and check for understanding is a good example of monitoring. Monitoring ability is slow to develop and even adults find it difficult but it can be improved with training and practice.
Evaluation requires the student to review the outcomes and efficiency of the learning experience. Evaluation includes revisiting goals and conclusions, deciding how to improve next time, and examining learning from another person’s perspective to diagnose problems
Why is metacognition important?
Metacognitively able students are aware of a range of strategies to help them to learn, know that they can direct their thinking & essentially are active rather than passive learners (at least some of the time!) – engage with material that is to be learned, with stimulating situations, actively question and plan.
Cognitive vs. Metacognitive Strategies.
Metacognition is referred to as "thinking about thinking" and involves overseeing whether a cognitive goal has been met. This should be the defining criterion for determining what is metacognitive. Cognitive strategies are used to help an individual achieve a particular goal, while metacognitive strategies are used to ensure that the goal has been reached.
Metacognition and Cognitive Strategy Instruction.
Cognitive Strategy Instruction (CSI) is an instructional approach which emphasizes the development of thinking skills and processes as a means to enhance learning. The objective of CSI is to enable all students to become more strategic, self-reliant, flexible, and productive in their learning endeavors.
- Here I left you the link of a video about Metacognition. I hope you like it.