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The world of education is beginning to wake up to the potential benefits of using metacognition to enhance learning in students. But is all the noise just a fad, that will disappear just as quick as it has appeared? This wiki article, compiled by the UKEdChat community, explores the what's, why's and how's of implementing metacognitive strategies in schools - edited by @digicoled, as well as using metacognitive strategies in leadership and business.
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Metacognition refers to the ability to reflect upon, understand, and control one's learning (Schraw & Dennison, 1994). Educational philosopher John Dewey believed that an individual actually learns more from ‘thinking about his experiences’ rather than from the ‘actual experiences’ themselves. Thus, this idea is not new but the practice of examining and reflecting on experiences, or metacognition, dates back to Socrates and continues to be explored by today’s neuroscientists.
Most simply defined, metacognition is most simply 'thinking about thinking', consisting of two components: knowledge and regulation.
Metacognitive knowledge includes knowledge about oneself as a learner and the factors that might impact performance, knowledge about strategies, and knowledge about when and why to use strategies.
Metacognitive regulation is the monitoring of one’s cognition and includes planning activities, awareness of comprehension and task performance, and evaluation of the efficacy of monitoring processes and strategies (Lai, 2011).
Metacognition also improves with appropriate instruction, with empirical evidence supporting the notion that students can be taught to reflect on their own thinking, so the role of the teacher in developing metacognitive skills is critical, and research has shown that young children are capable of rudimentary forms of metacognitive thought, particularly after the age of 3.
Being aware of how our minds work, including how our own biases can influence our reaction to situations, was a major consideration in Daniel Kahneman's 'Thinking Fast and Slow' award-winning book (Link to book on Amazon UK). There are a lot of parallels with metacognition within Kahneman's work, especially how we recognise two systems within our minds - one that thinks and reacts automatically to situations, and the other which is more considered, includes agency, and demands concentration. The connection here is being aware of our thought-processes, what strategies work for us when solving problems, and challenging our automated responses and biases to various challenges we all face.
Although @digicoled wrote an article showcasing 12 reasons why metacognition should be used in education, there are actually four main reasons which argue most strongly that metacognitive pedagogies should be used to enhance learning:
Being mindfully aware of your own decision, reactions and biases are a fundamental element of metacognition, and Daniel Kahneman (see above) provided a lot of considered attention to such awareness in our own minds when faced with certain situations in life. A study with primary school children came to positive conclusions and suggested that mindfulness-based interventions can develop metacognitive skills in individuals (reference). This makes sense, as being mindfully aware of your own thoughts, biases and decision-making processes are all major aspects of being metacognitively strong.
Through research and pedagogical practice, @digicoled (Hill, 2019) has compiled a collection of over 60 metacognitive strategies (taken from research and his own professional practice) that can be used in schools, colleges, universities or businesses to enhance the successful implementation of tasks. There is a collection of core activities, that can be used in any setting which helps individuals understand and learn about metacognition, along with activities which are more suited for younger or older learners accordingly. To successfully implement metacognitive strategies, teachers (or leaders) need to consider the 4p's of metacognition:
Metacognition is no quick fix. It's not a strategy that can be implemented and resulting in immediate positive outcomes. Plan Metacognition strategies with colleagues, and patiently implement them into daily practice with your students, persisting with subtle language and question changes over a prolonged period.
The Education Endowment Foundation (ref) highlight 5 questions that teachers and school leaders should consider before implementing this strategy in your learning environment:
In a LinkedIn article written by @digicoled, a metacognitive cycle was developed (adaptable for education) offering a 5-pronged process to help develop metacognition thinking:
Ultimately, learning starts with the individual learner (Me!), and then through a process of planning, doing, reviewing and acting on feedback, questions should be asked and answered within the thought-process to help for successful outcomes.
Social media individuals, groups and organisations interested in Metacognition in Education
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