Ever wondered how you think, learn and solve problems? It is this self-awareness that metacognition is concerned with.
Metacognition in education is a superpower of subtle but huge change.
It makes students know what happens to their own learning processes, how they learn, why they make mistakes, and how they can improve.
It is much more than just memorizing or grasping the concepts. It is reflecting on the way we learn the said concepts.
This is where we are going to learn what metacognition is in education, the benefits of metacognition, the disadvantages of metacognition and how to overcome these disadvantages.
Table of Contents
What is Metacognition in Education?
“Thinking about thinking” is a general understanding of metacognition.
Within the sphere of education, it is the procedure in which students can organize, follow, and review their knowledge and proficiency.
It helps the students to become an observer of developing their thought process in the process of accomplishing their learning activities and makes them utilize strategies to enhance their learning.
Metacognition takes place in two parts as defined by psychologist, John Flavell, first to coin the term in the 1970s:
- Metacognitive Knowledge: Realization of his/her cognitive potentials, learning activities, and strategies.
- Self Regulation in Metacognition: A skill that allows an individual to plan, monitor/observe and appreciate the learning process.
In less technical terms, metacognition in education has the meaning of instructing the students more on how to learn efficiently rather than what to learn.
It assists them in examining their learning methods, goals, assessing progress, and making corrective actions that would help them achieve improved results.
Benefits of Metacognition in Education
One of the most effective student success aids is metacognition. It enhances the learning process and learning outcome.
Below are the key benefits:
1. Improved Problem-Solving
Strategic problem solvers involved in metacognition will approach problems strategically.
They do not leap to conclusions.
They take time to comprehend the issue, remember moments of success and failure, select a suitable strategy, and reflect on whether their strategy is effective.
Through this reflective process of critical thinking, the ability to solve problems is improved in any subject- be it mathematics or literature.
2. Enhanced Reasoning Abilities
Students are naturally able to reason when they become aware of the way they think.
Metacognition promotes questioning in learners, assessing evidence and making logical conclusions.
It makes them critical thinkers with justifications to the answers and to learn by mistakes.
3. Increased Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is fostered by the metacognitive practices.
Students get the feeling of ownership of the learning process when they observe improvement as they self evaluate and reflect on the learning process.
This sense of self motivation in students and development causes them to have bigger goals and perseverance when the task is difficult.
4. Better Confidence
The ability to learn best increases the confidence of a student.
Students with metacognition strategies know that errors are inseparable with learning.
This perception will make them less anxious about exam stress or situations requiring problem solving. Thus, will enable them to be confident enough to deal with challenging subjects.
5. Better Transfer To New Learning
Learners with metacognition are dynamic.
They are able to use the strategies acquired in one subject to a different subject since they know how to execute the learning process.
To take an instance, the same planning method used by a student to organize an essay written in the English language can be used to organize a science report.
6. Greater Independence
Among the best merits of the concept of metacognition, one can single out the fact that it enables students to become self-reliant learners.
They do not totally rely on teachers or parents, but learn to understand that it is possible to need assistance, where they can find one.
And they also know how they can track their knowledge by themselves.
7. Lifelong Learning Habits
Metacognitive thinking fosters inquisitiveness and lifelong learning.
It assists them to adapt to new challenges outside the classroom be it acquiring a new skill, coping with a new workplace or to making complex life decisions.
Such practices as reflection, planning, and assessment are part of individual development.
Examples of Metacognition in Education
There are several ways in which metacognition in education can be applied in classrooms:
- Students who think ahead of the test think of what they need to cover and spend how much time it would take to cover the portion.
- Checking comprehension after reading: The process of stopping the reading after a paragraph and summarizing or bringing sense to the reading.
- Upon the completion of a project, thinking about what has worked and what needs improvement in the future.
- Having a self-questioning technique, “Have I mastered this idea?” or “Is this the most effective way to take care of this issue?”
- Keeping a learning journal: Writing about the progress of each day, challenges, and methods that have been the most effective.
This is helpful because in each scenario, the student is not merely drilling, but is actually reflecting on the manner in which he or she learns. This is what metacognition is all about.
Challenges of Metacognition in Education
Although this has numerous advantages, there are numerous issues associated with the implementation of metacognitive strategies in the classroom.
These include the following:
1. Difficult To Define
Metacognition is an abstract notion, which might be misunderstood or summarized.
Students and teachers can be confused about it with general reflection or critical thinking skills.
It is an internal thought process and may be hard to measure or even observe.
2. Requires Continuing Professional Development For Staff
The teachers should be specially trained on metacognition.
This requires continuing professional development to assist educators to learn to model, scaffold and assess the metacognitive strategies.
Without the appropriate guidance, teachers can fail to meaningfully incorporate it into the lesson plans.
3. Requires Careful Planning
Metacognitive teaching must be planned carefully in the curriculum.
Teachers should bridge the gap between academic subjects, and reflective exercises that may be a time consuming process.
Otherwise, metacognitive tasks can be experienced as imposed or out of place in relation to learning purposes.
How to Incorporate Metacognition in Education in Class?
Teachers are key toward development of metacognitive skills.
The following are some of the good classroom strategies:
1. Model Thinking Aloud
Here teachers demonstrate their own thinking process.
Say, by telling them how they worked out a math problem or by performing an everyday task, like analyzing a poem. It shows the students how one thinks.
An example of this is when one says, “I do not know what is meant by this word, let me reread the sentence so that I can find out what the problem is.”
This and similar times show real time active monitoring and problem solving.
2. Encourage Self-Questioning
Self-questioning cultivates the perception of understanding and cognition, hence students can be directed by the teachers to ask questions such as:
- What is already known about this topic on my part?
- What am I trying to find out?
- What am I going to do to resolve this issue?
- In which way can I verify whether my answer is correct or not?
The questions enable the learners to take charge of their learning.
3. Use Learning Journals
A reflective learning journal enables the students to note on their developments, plans and challenges.
It makes them self-assess and form patterns in their thinking and learning.
With the help of such journals, teachers can also know the perception of students in the learning processes.
4. Teach Goal Setting and Planning
It is important to teach students to set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) that will make them approach their learning intentionally.
Inspire them to schedule steps, set study timetables and check the progress.
Setting goals assists the students to relate effort to outcome, one of the metacognitive results.
5. Provide Feedback That Promotes Reflection
Feedback must be reflective as opposed to merely indicating the wrong or right answer.
For example, a teacher may ask, What made you come up with this answer? or, What would you do otherwise?
Reflective feedback would assist the students to examine the manner in which they think and optimize their strategies.
Concluding Comments
Metacognition consists of more than one teaching method. It is also a way of thinking, which offers power to learners.
Teachers can empower learners to be in control of their learning both academically and personally by getting them to realize how they learn.
It enhances reasoning, motivation, problem-solving techniques, independence, and develops a basis that promotes lifelong learning.
In spite of the fact that developing metacognition may be a difficult task, it is worthwhile over the long run.
This might be due to the effectiveness it has in developing success among learners.
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