Metacognition
Metacognition is the awareness of ones thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them. The term comes from the root word "meta," meaning "beyond" or "on top of". It involves thinking about ones thinking, including the processes used to plan, monitor, and assess ones understanding and performance. Metacognition includes a critical awareness of ones thinking and learning, as well as oneself as a thinker and learner. This concept revolves around students awareness of their cognitive processes, including their strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in their knowledge.
Metacognition encompasses various aspects, such as metacognitive knowledge, which involves analyzing thinking patterns, heightened self-awareness, and managing thoughts, and metacognitive regulation, which refers to the diverse strategies students employ to regulate their thoughts and emotions. It also describes the processes involved when learners plan, monitor, evaluate, and make changes to their own learning behaviors.
In practice, metacognition is used to regulate ones own cognition, maximize ones potential to think and learn, and evaluate proper ethical and moral rules. It is a general term encompassing the study of memory-monitoring and self-regulation, meta-reasoning, consciousness/awareness, and autonoetic consciousness/self-awareness. Ultimately, metacognition requires students to "externalize mental events," such as what it means to learn, awareness of ones strengths and weaknesses with specific skills or in a given learning context, planning whats required to accomplish a specific learning goal or activity, identifying and correcting errors, and preparing ahead for learning processes.
Metacognitive practices help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses as learners, writers, readers, test-takers, and group members, and they help students monitor their own progress and take control of their learning as they read, write, and solve problems in the classroom. More and more studies are suggesting that kids who are taught to use metacognitive strategies early on are more resilient and more successful, both in and out of school. Therefore, integrating metacognitive strategies into teaching practices can empower students to become more engaged, independent learners and ultimately drive their academic success.
