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Metacognition

Know thy self!

Metacognition is the awareness, analysis and understanding of one's own thought processes. It involves observing, evaluating, and regulating cognitive activities, such as problem-solving and learning. Such skills enable learners to better plan, assess, and improve their own learning strategies.

Metacognition - A brief overview

Metacognition is the knowledge and control of one's own cognitive processes.
  • The term "metacognition" was first coined by John Flavell in the 1970s.
  • A literal translation of the term metacognition is 'above thinking' or 'over cognition' or 'higher thinking', all of which denote the intellectual overview gained by observing one's own cognitive processes.
  • A more meaningful translation of the term is 'thinking about thinking' or 'learning about learning'.
  • So metacognitive knowledge is knowledge about cognitive processes, such as learning, attention, memory, and problem-solving.
  • Metacognitive experiences or regulation is the ability to use metacognitive knowledge to control one's cognitive processes.
  • When applied to learning the term self-regulated learning is used to decribe the ability to use metacognitive knowledge to control and develop our learning processes.
  • Metacognition is a higher order thinking skill since it involves analysis and evaluation of the learning processes we observe before we create a plan of action to address anything we wish to improve.
It includes the ability to:
  • Know one's own strengths and weaknesses as a learner.
  • Identify the learning goals of a task.
  • Plan and select appropriate strategies for completing a task.
  • Monitor one's progress and adjust strategies as needed.
  • Evaluate one's performance and make changes to improve.
  • By developing metacognitive skills, students can become more aware of their own learning process and take steps to improve their performance.
  • Metacognition is important for all learners, but it is particularly important for students who wish to develop a greater sense of their own academic, disciplinary or professional practice.
  • Reflect on our experiences, abilities and understanding of ourselves as practitioners.

Metacognition - External videos

Metacognition - External podcasts

What Is Metacognition? Mindfulness, Meta-Awareness, and Other Metacognitive Strategies - Exploring Kodawari

8 Oct 2021

Note the first 12 to 13 minutes address metacognition as a tool for developing learning skills and self-awareness | Metacognition is an amazing tool for both students and teachers. When solving tasks and processing new information, metacognitive knowledge tells us what learning strategies are most likely to work. When teaching, you should encourage students to evaluate how their minds work and explain what learning strategies gave them the best outcomes in the past. As learners, we should regularly make an evaluation of our cognitive processes, especially our weaknesses, and practice the particular strategies that are most successful. Whether you are teaching students or a learner yourself, metacognitive strategies give you the ability to control your learning and progress.

An Overview of Important Ideas about Metacognition from a University of Alberta Podcast - The Metacognition Channel

27 Oct 2020

In this 24-minute episode I go over a number of ideas that are important to me regarding metacognition and teaching and learning, albeit quite quickly. In future podcasts I will be 'drilling in' on some of the ideas in this episode and exploring them in more depth. However, this episode is an excellent introduction to my views on a number of what I think are very important issues.