The Metacognition Is to become aware of our way of thinking and our cognitive strategies. It can be defined as"thinking about our thinking". In addition, it involves the control and supervision of our own cognitive processes When we learn.
This capacity can be developed and associated with intelligence And academic success. That is why it is an issue that is addressed and educational psychology mainly.
An example of metacognition is to realize that it costs us more to learn one text than another. We are also practicing metacognition when we change mental strategy to solve a problem seeing that the previous one did not work.
Definition of metacognition
Defining metacognition is not an easy task. Although the term is being increasingly used, there is a great debate about its conceptualization.
It seems that this is because different terms are used to describe the same phenomenon. For example, metacognition sometimes appears in the literature as"executive control"or"self-regulation."
In general, it refers to the ability of human beings to reflect upon and regulate their own cognitive experiences. This process seems to be within our executive functions, which are those capacities related to the supervision and regulation of cognitive processes.
In other words, Attention , the work memory , Planning, inhibiting behaviors, controlling emotions, etc.
The term metacognition is often associated with John Flavell, for his extensive research in this area. This US developmental psychologist first used the concept in 1979. Flavell explained that metacognition meant knowledge and control of cognition.
Thus,"metacognition"can be conceptualized as all processes that direct cognition. How to detect aspects about one's own thinking, think about one's own thinking and respond to it through control and regulation.
That is, it happens when we plan, regulate, evaluate and make changes in our learning behaviors looking for an improvement.
Elements of metacognition
Metacognition consists of three elements:
Metacognitive knowledge
It is what we know about ourselves and others as to how we process information. It includes both the knowledge we have about ourselves as students or thinkers, as well as the factors that influence our performance. This is called"declarative knowledge".
It also encompasses"procedural knowledge". That is, what we know about our strategies and procedures to do different tasks.
Finally, it includes"conditional knowledge", which is to know when and why to use declarative and procedural knowledge.
Metacognitive regulation
Which means the regulation of our cognitive experiences and learning. It is carried out through three skills: the proper planning and selection of strategies, the supervision of the own performance, and the evaluation of the obtained result.
In the latter one can reflect on the efficiency with which the task has been done. It may involve re-evaluation of the strategies used.
The metacognitive experience
It refers to the metacognitive exercise itself that we perform during a cognitive effort.
Examples of metacognition
There are innumerable examples of metacognition, although some are mentioned. We can say that we are practicing metacognition when:
- We are aware of our own learning process. That is, we can observe and analyze it from the outside.
- We realize the mental processes that we use every moment.
- We reflect on how we learn.
- We control the use of the most appropriate learning strategies in each case.
- We maintain motivation for an extended period of time until the task is completed.
- We are aware of those internal or external things that distract us and we strive to ignore them and fulfill the objectives.
- Be aware of our weaknesses and strengths in terms of the cognitive plane. For example:"I have trouble remembering the dates, although I have very good memory To remember images and other visual elements."
- Recognize if a certain task is going to be complex to understand.
- Know what strategy to use and if it is appropriate for the activity to be carried out. For example:"If I write on paper the key concepts of this text, I will memorize them better." Or,"Maybe I'll understand the subject more easily if I first read it quickly."
- We realize that a certain strategy is not being successful and we try to carry out a different one. It may also happen that we realize that there is another strategy that is better or more comfortable and efficient.
- Before doing any activity, we plan ourselves by asking ourselves what the objective is, what strategies we will use, and which ones we have done in the past that can serve us.
- We wonder about the process of the task that we have completed. If we could have used another strategy or if the result has been expected.
Benefits of metacognition
Metacognition is important in education as it has been shown to be essential for successful learning.
Students who often use their metacognitive skills achieve better test scores and do the work more efficiently. These students quickly identify what strategies to use for a task and are flexible to replace or modify to achieve their goals.
In fact, it has been observed that metacognitive knowledge can compensate for IQ and lack of prior knowledge.
In addition, a study by Rosen, Lim, Carrier & Cheever (2011) found that college students with high metacognitive abilities used the mobile phone less during class.
Other benefits of metacognition include:
- Helps learners become autonomous and independent learners, controlling their own progress.
- It is useful in a wide range of age. For example, from primary to forward.
- Metacognitive skills help expand what is learned to different contexts and tasks.
- Teaching metacognition skills at school is neither costly nor does it require changes in the infrastructure.
How to develop metacognition
There are multiple ways to develop metacognition and teach it in school. In general, it is important that we become aware of ourselves and our performance realistically.
It is true that each individual is developing his own metacognitive strategies, so a strategy is not always good for everyone. That is why exercises, rather than teaching learning strategies, are based on making students aware of their own thoughts and strengths.
The development of metacognitive skills helps to learn to apprehend. This means that the ability to recognize our own learning process is developed, thus increasing its effectiveness, its performance and control over it.
The objectives are to be able to plan, monitor and evaluate learning. In addition to knowing how to learn better and become aware of what is learned and how it is learned.
Some tasks that can be done to increase metacognition are:
- Try different ways to do the same activity. For example, at school, it is possible to learn a word with different strategies.
These can be: associate that word with another already known, form a sentence with it, relate the new word to the sound of another that is already used, associate the new word with a picture or picture, or make it rhyme with other words.
Each person will be more useful one strategy than another. Or, you will know how to use each of them according to the context or moment in which you are. That is, it is first important to know what strategies are used to learn something or reach a certain goal. Once you have practiced these strategies, try to identify which one is most useful to you at any given time.
- Another way to develop metacognition is to do self-assessment exercises after each topic. For example, try to reflect on your performance in a particular job or activity, being realistic. What could you have improved? Which part has been simpler for you? What has been the most complicated?
- When you perform some cognitive task try to break down in steps what cognitive strategies you have used to reach the goal. For example, when you are going to memorize the content of an exam, try to be aware of what strategies you are using, what things will get you deconcentrated or what you could try to change to make it better.
- Another strategy is the development of self-surveys to contrast what was learned in independent study tasks. These may include questions such as:
What are the main ideas of the text? Can I repeat parts of the text with my own words? Are there differences between my previous ideas about the content of the text and what I have learned in it? What understanding problems have I encountered? Have I found inconsistencies between the different parts of the text?
- Make conceptual maps. These are intended to represent relationships between different concepts. Thus dependencies, similarities and differences between concepts are manifested, as well as their hierarchical organization.
These serve to make us aware of our own learning processes and value relationships between concepts. Above all, among those who seemingly have no connection.
- Let the students ask the questions instead of the teacher. That is, before a work, exhibition or examination, try to think what you would ask if you had to check the existing domain of the subject.
On the other hand, teachers can tell their students to ask questions about a subject that they had to learn or read in advance. They can also reflect on the questions asked: if they are simple or distance from the learning objective.
References
- Page 1 The development of metacognition in the learning of sciences: strategies for the teacher and activities oriented to the student. Digital Collection Eudoxus, (8).
- Livingston, J. (1997). Metacognition: An Overview. Retrieved from University at Buffalo: gse.buffalo.edu.
- Metacognition. (S.f.). Retrieved on April 21, 2017, from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.
- Metacognition: The Gift That Keeps Giving. (October 7, 2014). Obtained from Edutopia: edutopia.org.
- Rosen, L.D., Lim, A. F., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N.A. (2011). An empirical examination of the educational impact of message-induced task switching in the classroom: Educational implications and strategies to enhance learning. Educational Psychology, 17 (2), 163-177.
- What is metacognition? (S.f.). Retrieved April 21, 2017, from Cambridge International Examinations: cambridge-community.org.uk.