Metacognition - Strategies, Skills And Metacognitive Knowledge

Do you recall how you learnt to ride a bicycle? Parents or brothers or sisters guide us step by step to pedal, maintain balance, etc., after which they let us ride the bicycle on our own. Even when you fell, you must’ve risen up and thought about what made you lose your balance.

Education must follow a similar approach, wherein teachers provide a certain degree of autonomy after a certain point in time. However, that’s rarely the case with the traditional educational system, which necessitates teacher-centric learning. In contrast, innovative pedagogical approaches emphasise metacognition in education, helping to elevate student learning.

Examples of metacognition

Here are some of the in-class strategies that you can implement in different subject areas:

• In mathematical class activities, you can identify individual student learning problems when they apply formulas to solve the problem. Likewise, you can monitor their ability to construct sentences with proper words.
• Refer to the previous instances to ensure whether students succeed in solving the math problem or not. Furthermore, enquire about the strategies that they implemented.
• Highlight the words that students used to express their points of view in class discussions, presentations, and debates.
• Encourage students to ask questions in case they have doubts, which helps them to self-assess their thoughts.
• Establish a motivating learning environment wherein they will feel confident enough to come up with appropriate strategies.

Strategies for Metacognition

1. Learning or Thinking Journals

Journaling or diary writing is a fluffing hobby that enables people to reflect on their deepest thoughts and feelings. However, when students use it as a learning tool, it becomes an excellent medium to track their learning progress.

Therefore, you can encourage students to maintain a journal where they document their weekly learning, doubts, questions, achievements, etc., such as:

• I learnt the basics of algebra this week.
• What was the most difficult topic in science?
• What was the easiest one to learn?
• How many hours did I spend on an assignment?
• What is the estimated amount of time to finish studying for the upcoming test?
• Am I adequately prepared for the test?
• These are the topics that have been covered, and these are the ones that still need revision.
• What learning strategy should I use?

Students can use notebooks, diaries, mobile applications, mind maps, etc. to journal their learning and write their ideas and plans of action.

2. KWL Charts

A KWL chart is a graphic organiser that students can use to streamline information before, during, and after a lesson. It consists of the following columns:

• K (Know): This column pertains to the learner’s pre-existing knowledge, highlighting everything that they already know regarding a particular topic or concept.
• W (Want to Know): This column allows students to write down questions and point out things that they are eager to learn about.
• L (Learnt): Finally, students fill the L column with all the new information that they have learnt after completing their research or learning activity.

Teachers can incorporate the KWL chart by introducing a topic and asking them to list out things that they know about it. In the second step, they can encourage learners to ask questions about things that they want to learn.

Next, they can conduct learning activities, including researching and reading, to help them learn more about the topic. In the final step, students can recollect and record whatever they have learnt on the L chart.

3. Essays

Essays and descriptive answers require students to think critically and reflect on their ideas and perceptions to write individualised responses. Therefore, when you include essays as part of regular classroom sessions, it helps to facilitate effective self-assessment. Besides, essays require students to analyse arguments, recognise underlying assumptions, and evaluate evidence to support their claims. Consequently, it contributes to strengthening their analytical and critical thinking abilities, which is central to metacognition in education.

4. Independent Learning

Teachers are an indispensable and significant part of the education process; however, they must prioritise independent learning through the following:

• Inquiry-based learning: Introduce topics in the classroom and motivate students to find answers independently.
• Project-based learning: conduct projects and assignments and divide students into groups so they can work together.
• Brainstorming Sessions: Conduct brainstorming sessions where students can pair up in groups and generate ideas for a problem.

5. Mnemonics

Students often encounter issues remembering formulas, words, dates, etc.; that is where you can employ mnemonics. Also, these are memory aids that serve to help students retain and recall information effectively. For example, some of the following mnemonics are quite useful:

• Acronyms: Creating a word or phrase from the first letter of a list of items; for instance, VIBGYOR (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red) is quite popular.
• Keyword Method: Developing mental images that connect keywords to the information that you want to recall.
• Breakdown Method: breaking down information into smaller and more manageable chunks.

6. Exam Wrappers

An effective way to improve the assessment procedure is by employing a continuous feedback system through the LMS software. Furthermore, you can use the tool to develop exam wrappers, which are worksheets with crucial questions such as:

• How difficult or easy was the exam on a scale of 1 to 10?
• What strategies did you use to prepare for the exam? Did it work?
• What did you discover about your learning style and preferences?
• What are areas of improvement that you would like to concentrate on?

Additionally, you can provide exam wrappers before and after the tests as part of the feedback mechanism. Consequently, it will help to get insights into students’ ongoing progress and their overall cognitive abilities.

How do you implement metacognition in the classroom?

The four stages of ‘’ You, Plan, Do, and Review’’ are critical parts of the lesson delivery and metacognition.

• Students refer to their prior knowledge regarding a specific topic and the methods that they have employed previously.
• Plan: Teachers must establish clear and specific learning objectives, helping students assess and prepare their learning strategy. It is crucial to set a stipulated time to complete an assignment or activity and employ corrective measures accordingly.
• In the third stage, students execute particular activities and self-evaluate their success simultaneously. Teachers play the role of mediators and facilitators, providing timely guidance whenever students encounter challenging issues.
• Review: In the last stage, students review whatever they have studied so far or evaluate their assignments, projects, etc. Also, they will review the strategies that they employed, which worked in their favour, and the ones that did not.

Advantages of Metacognition in Education

• Incorporating metacognition in education helps to create self-directed learners as they become adept at monitoring their progress.
• Their self-motivation increases, allowing them to explore different strategies that cater to their learning styles.
• It helps students to improve their understanding and connect their learning to real-world contexts.
• Metacognitive strategy is not age-specific; therefore, teachers can use it accordingly for primary or higher educational students.
• It boosts their critical-thinking abilities, helping them to develop unique solutions to various problems.
• It makes them aware of their thoughts, instincts, and emotions and makes them receptive or tolerant towards others simultaneously.