Engineering Metacognition in Students

Engineering Metacognition in Students

What is metacognition?

Very simply, metacognition is the process of thinking about one’s thinking.

Metacognition and the classroom?

Metacognition has long been associated with philosophical thinking. However, the idea that metacognition is something we should engineer in our students is relatively new. This is because metacognition was never required for the traditional system of education, i.e. teacher directed, top-down, teaching-by-telling. Traditionally, therefore, there has been little opportunity or need for students to be thinking about their thinking. One might argue that compared with what is possible there has, over recent centuries, been little thinking going on at all outside students' requirements to learn facts, rules and routines. However, with the push towards quality teaching and learning the need for metacognition, and the explicit instruction of such, has arrived.

Quality teaching and learning?

The sort of quality teaching and learning I’m referring to here involves qualities including choice within learning, higher order thinking, inquiry, collaboration, well structured student-centered learning, critical thinking, problem solving and high levels of engagement. The teacher operates as an active facilitator. (The feet are rarely 'up'!). In addition, students generally perform well in assessment tasks which measure a range of criteria including understanding, reasoning, and problem-solving. Once students are immersed in this sort of learning – open, engaged, collaborative, learning in which students take ownership – then metacognition truly has a role to play.

It's not Reality TV!

Another reason for engineering metacognition is that our students today are very much part of the FaceBook, Reality TV, celebrity culture which is strongly peddled by today’s media, forces which massage the viewer’s brain into passivity and acceptance of 'whatever is being directed at them' - the opposite of critical thinking. Some guidance in how to think critically could provide some welcome relief to this generation!

Engineering metacognition with students

A student who is engaged in metacognition is thinking about her thinking, thinking about how much of a particular solution to a problem she actually understands, thinking about what specific aspects of a unit of work she needs to improve in. These metacognitive processes are easily fostered by embedding them into the program. For many students, engaging in metacognitive thought will be foreign. Therefore it helps to incorporate the principles of metacognition into the classroom on a daily basis. Verbal prompts can help.

A common teaching scenario

Allow me to paint a picture of a common classroom scenario: One or more students who are progressing well in their unit of work require help on a particular concept. The teacher responds by stopping all students and presenting that concept to the entire class. The students who already understand the concept being explained silently groan - "I already know this - why am I being tortured again by repeat information? Conversely, there are students who are not ready for this information. For these students, this new information puts them in 'overload'.

An alternative - "Hands up if you know that you know … "

An alternative to the above - which includes a metacognition prompter - is to stop the class briefly after the initial student request for information has been made and say something like this …

“Ben and Deb have just asked a great question and it relates to this problem on the board.
Put your hand up if you know that you understand this. Be honest. OK, five students.
Great, you five can listen for the next few minutes or you can continue working quietly.
​The rest of you watch here closely.”

The above announcement is far more profound than it appears at first glance and works on several levels:

1. It forces students to think about their current level of understanding with the current work. ‘Do I understand this aspect or not? Am I ready for this new information? Is it better that I don’t listen but continue to work from where I’m at?’ This is metacognition at work.
2. It offers students a choice – they can choose to listen or not to listen and their choice is based on their metacognitive thinking. The teacher has created a need to learn in those students who have chosen to listen.

The subsequent mini lesson is delivered to those students who actually need the information and who have agreed to listen to it. This is superior to a teacher deciding that all students will listen to the coming information and then proceeding with a ‘talk at them’ mode of delivery.
Similarly, when sensing it is time to reiterate a certain point, rather than automatically reiterating the point to the whole group, the teacher can say to the students:

“I’m about to explain a bit more about how this (idea/concept) works as it relates to the task on your worksheet. Who knows that they know this? OK, most of you. You folks can work ahead. So who am I talking to here – hands up. Great. Joel, Mary, Kahlil, Jordan and Abdul. Brilliant! So the 5 of you – pay attention here. The rest of you, no talking till I’m done please.”

The key metacognitive prompt here – after referring to a particular question, skill or concept – is asking a question such as:  ​​​

​“Who knows that they know this?”

When asking students more than 3 times per lesson to ‘put your hand up if you know that you know’, the process of evaluating their own learning becomes ingrained. Granted, this is little more than an introductory strategy for teachers to use when encouraging students into thinking metacognitively. But it is a valuable strategy nonetheless.

Metacognitive lesson journals The idea here is to ask students to write a paragraph about the day’s lesson, the week’s work, the current unit, etc. The journal can take the form of a regular (daily/weekly) journal, or journal entries can be a more random or better still, on the class online blog. Entries can be written into their workbooks, a separate journal book, an online blog post or could simply be submitted on blank paper. Some teachers have their students write on small, hand-held whiteboards (laminated A4 paper) and display their comments to the class. Journal entries can be responses to teacher initiated questions such as ‘What did I learn?’, ‘What did I enjoy?’, ‘What new thinking did I use?’, etc.

Do you actively encourage metacognition in your students? If yes, what strategies do you use? Has this article prompted you to strive for more metacognition? We'd love your thoughts below! (Your email address will not be required)

Source:

http://www.learnimplementshare.com/meta-cognition-in-students.html