Metacognitive strategies empower students to think about their own thinking. This awareness of the learning process enhances their control over their own learning. It also enhances personal capacity for self-regulation and managing one’s own motivation for learning. Metacognition is identifying and acknowledging the processes used to plan effectively, monitor progress and evaluate one’s understanding of a topic or a series of concepts.
We often assume that students know how to learn. In fact the study of metacognition actually arm students with a range of strategies and techniques to ensure they have the skills to learn. It is a fantastic conversation to have with teachers, students and parents and can often lead to rewarding and insightful conversations within your Learning Community about what individual strategies work for different students or families.
Metacognition is itself a continual learning process and one that should be discussed regularly in the classroom. This conversation about metacognition is one that should be had at a full school level and maybe something that schools Incorporate into their full school pedagogical approach.
I am aware that the brain works in 20 minutes cycles. Therefore I intentionally design learning activities that can be segmented into short 20 minute tasks. I have this conversation with my students.
There are two real good examples of schools implementing this that come to mind. The first was where a school had metacognition skills and exercises inserted regularly throughout their school diary. The second example is where a school incorporated metacognition skills and workshops into their monthly year group meetings. This was done exclusively in Yr 7 and then revisited regularly as the students progressed through the school.
Research
Metacognition Graphic
Metacognition Infographic
