METACOGNITIO

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A R NE L A V I L A

A B E J E L E NS U

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WHAT IS METACOGNITION?

Metacognition is defined as "cognition about cognition", or "knowing about knowing". It comes from the root word "meta", meaning behind. It can take many forms; it includes knowledge about when and how to use particular strategies for learning or for problem solving. There are generally two components of metacognition: knowledge about cognition, and regulation of cognition

“If you teach a person what to do, you are preparing that person for the past. If you teach a person how to learn, you are preparing that person for the future.”

- Cyril Houle

The most important goal of education is to teach students how to learn on their own.

It is vital that students acquire the skills of how to learn; and that these skills enable them to learn not just while they are in school but for a lifetime. This entails a deeper awareness of how ones processes information, the ability to evaluate his own thinking and to think of ways to wake his own learning process more effective. ALL THESE ENVOLVES METACOGNITION.

The term METACOGNITION was coined by John Flavell. For him METACOGNITION is consist of both Metacognitive Knowledge and Metacognitive Experiences or Regulation.

Metacognition, simply put, is “thinking about thinking” or “learning how to learn”

It refers to higher order of thinking which involves active awareness and control over the cognitive processes. Favell further divides, metacognitive knowledge into three categories; knowledge of person variables, task variables and strategy variables.

Person Variables – this includes how one views himself as a learner and thinker. Knowledge of person variable refers to knowledge about how human being learn and process information, as well as individual knowledge of one’s own learning processes.

Task Variables – knowledge of task variables includes knowledge about the nature of the task as the type of processing demands that it will take place upon the individual. It is about knowing what exactly needs to be accomplished, gauging its difficulty and knowing the kind of effort it will demand for you.

Strategy Variable  –  knowledge  of  strategy  variable involves awareness of the strategy you are using to learn a topic  and  evaluating  whether  this  strategy  is  effective.  If you think your strategy is not working, then you may think of  various  strategies  and  try  out  one  to  see  if  it will  help you  learn  better.  Terms  like  meta-attention  and metamemory are related to strategy variable.

Meta-attention – is the awareness of specific strategies so that you can keep your attention focused on the topic or task at hand.

 

Metamemory – is your awareness of memory strategies that work best for you.

JEANNE ELLIS ORMROD INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING IN THE PRACTICE OF METACOGNITION;

Knowing the limits of one’s own learning and memory capacity

Knowing what learning tasks one can realistically accomplish within a certain amount of time

Knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not

Planning an approach to a learning task that is likely to be successful

Using effective learning strategies to process and learn new material

Monitoring one’s own knowledge and comprehension. In other words, knowing when information has been successfully learned and when it’s not

Using effective strategies for retrieval of previously stored information

Knowledge is said to be metacognitive if it is keenly used in a purposeful manner to ensure that a goal is met.

WILLIAM G. HUITT BELIEVES THAT METACOGNITION INCLUDES THE ABILITY TO ASK AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF QUESTIONS;What do I know about this subject, topic, issue?

Do I know what do I need to know?

Do I know where I can go to get some information, knowledge?

How much time will I need to learn this?

What are some strategies and tactics that I can use to learn this?

Did I understand what I just heard, read or saw?

How will I know if I am learning at an appropriate rate?

How can I spot an error if I make one?

How should I revise my plan if it is not working to my expectation/satisfaction?

METACOGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT

Researches showed that metacognition awareness was evident in preschoolers and in student as young as eight years old. Children already may have the capacity to be more aware and reflecting of their own learning. However not many have been taught and encouraged to apply metacognition. The challenge then to future teachers like us is to integrate more activities that would build our student’s capacity to reflect on their own characteristics as learners, the tasks they are to do and the strategies that they can use to learn.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF TEACHING STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP METACOGNITION:Have students monitor their own learning and thinking.

Have students learn study strategies

Have students make predictions about information to be presented next based on what they have read.

Have student relate ideas to existing knowledge structures.

Have students develop questions; ask questions themselves, about what’s going on around them.

Help students to know when to ask help.

Show students how to transfer knowledge, attitudes, values, skills to other situations or tasks.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOVICE AND EXPERT LEARNERSASPECT OF LEARNING NOVICE LEARNERS EXPERT LEARNERS

Knowledge in different subject areas

Have limited knowledge in the different subject areas

Have deeper knowledge in different subject areas because they look for interrelationship 

between things they learn.

Problem solving Satisfied at just scratching the surface; hurriedly gives a solution to the problem

First try to understand the problem, look for boundaries and create a mental picture of the 

problem

Learning/Thinking Strategies Employ rigid strategies that may not be appropriate to the task at hand

Design new strategies that would be appropriate to the task at hand.

Selectively in Processing Attempt to process all information they receive

Select important information to process; able to breakdown information to manageable 

chunks.

Production of output Do not examine the quality of their work, nor stop to make revisions

Check their errors and redirect their efforts to maintain quality output