Metacognition

= Metacognition = **Metacognition** is often referred to as ** “thinking about thinking.” ** It can also be described as an individual’s knowledge of their own cognitive process as well as:
 * learning about how people learn
 * developing an awareness of one's own learning processes
 * monitoring one's learning strategies and assessing their effectiveness (this is called self-regulation, self-monitoring, or self-assessment)
 * consciously managing one's own motivation and attitudes toward learning
 * making adjustments to one's learning strategies when appropriate

** Metacognitive Knowledge ** involves a monitoring process in which individuals can make decisions in order to:
 * identify the task on which one is currently working,
 * check on current progress of that work,
 * evaluate that progress
 * predict what the outcome of that progress will be

The main idea behind metacognition is that the more students are aware of their thinking process (metacognitive awareness), the better their learning and achievement will be. That is why metacognition is often linked with intelligence. Metacognition is an important aspect of student learning because it allows the student to reflect and be aware of their strengths, weaknesses, learning and study strategies. Once an individual has knowledge about how they think and learn, they can then use that information in order to control their learning and thinking through metacognitive regulation to ensure the goal has been met.


 * Metacognitive Strategies** involve a regulation process in which individuals can make decisions in order to:
 * to allocate resources to the current task,
 * to determine the order of steps to be taken to complete the task
 * to set the intensity or the speed at which one should work the task

Metacognition can also be described as consisting of 3 basic elements, **planning, monitoring** and **evaluating** in order to complete a task.



During the **planning process** individuals ask themselves:
 * What in my prior knowledge will help me with this particular task?
 * In what direction do I want my thinking to take me?
 * What should I do first?
 * Why am I reading this selection?
 * How much time do I have to complete the task?

During the **monitoring process** individuals ask themselves:
 * How am I doing?
 * Am I on the right track?
 * How should I proceed?
 * What information is important to remember?
 * Should I move in a different direction?
 * Should I adjust the pace depending on the difficulty?
 * What do I need to do if I do not understand?

During the **evaluating process** individuals ask themselves:
 * How well did I do?
 * Did my particular course of thinking produce more or less than I had expected?
 * What could I have done differently?
 * How might I apply this line of thinking to other problems?
 * Do I need to go back through the task to fill in any "blanks" in my understanding?

Created by Angie Singh February 2, 2013

**Webliography**
[|Metacognition- William Pierce] [|Role of Metacognition in Teachi] [|ESPI- Metacognition] [|Metacognition- an overview] [|Metacognition-HEN]