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What's Metacognition and Why Does it Matter?

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Research shows that parents can have a powerful impact on their childrens' mindsets. The language you use and the actions you take show your children about what you expect. Giving process praise, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes as learning opportunities, and understanding the role of emotions in learning are all practices you can begin today.

Say This, Not That

The way we praise our children can have a profound impact on their mindset. Research on praise and mindsets shows that when we praise children for being smart, it promotes a fixed mindset. It sends a message that their accomplishments are trait-based, and tied to something innate. In contrast, praising kids for working hard promotes a growth mindset. It sends a message that the child's effort is what led them to success. Want more tips on what to say, and what not to say, when praising your kids? Say This, Not That!

Talk About the Brain

The brain is far more malleable than we once thought. Teaching our kids that they actually have control over growing their brains through the actions they take is empowering! Tell your children that when they work hard, that's the feeling of their neurons connecting. The dendrites are reaching out to other dendrites, trying to connect to make a stronger brain. What strengthens those connections is practice, asking questions, and actively participating in learning. When children learn that their brains physically change with effort, it leads to increased motivation and achievement. Show your kids this Brain Animation video to explain!

Accept Mistakes as Learning Opportunities

One of the best ways you can model a growth mindset is to speak candidly about the mistakes you've made, and what you've learned from them. Speak positively about your mistakes and struggles, and this will show your children that taking risks and making mistakes are a natural part of the learning process. Explain to your children that trying hard things is what helps us grow, and you can't be perfect when you try something hard!

Understand the Role of Emotions in Learning

When we get angry, scared, or feel threatened, our fight or flight response is activated. This can happen anytime, whether we're scared of a spider or scared of math! Our brains are wired to protect us when we feel threatened, and stress symptoms such as sweating, stomach cramps, and your mind going blank are completely normal. There are strategies we can use when the fight or flight response tries to take over, to help us learn. One of those strategies is called Square Breathing and it helps to break down the adrenaline that is flooding the bloodstream and preventing learning from occurring.

Want to Learn More?

Additional Reading:

Videos from the Greater Good Science Center:

You can find other videos and resources from the Greater Good Science Center at their Half Full Blog.

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Growth Mindset For Parents | Growth Mindset Parenting

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Research shows that parents can have a powerful impact on their childrens' mindsets. The language you use and the actions you take show your children about what you expect. Giving process praise, talking about the brain, accepting mistakes as learning opportunities, and understanding the role of emotions in learning are all practices you can begin today.

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EEF Report Metacognition and self regulated learning

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EEF Report Metacognition and self regulated learning

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Metacognitive strategies help pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate aspects of their learning. Explicit teaching of these strategies can have a considerable impact on student outcomes at both primary and secondary, especially for disadvantaged students.
However, it can be difficult to unlock the potential of metacognitive strategies in practice as metacognition can be difficult to identify. It also requires students to take greater responsibility for their own learning. In this article, we list 10 practical metacognitive strategies to embed in your classroom teaching to develop more independent, self-regulated and empowered learners.

We know that the students who take part in Third Space Learning's online one to one tuition lessons make better progress when they use metacognitive strategies to engage with their learning and take ownership of it; understanding what they are learning, why and what steps they need to take to strengthen and improve. It's for this reason that our extensive tutor training programme includes training on embedding and teaching metacognitive strategies to develop autonomous pupils who are able to reflect on and adapt their approaches.

Metacognition is the ability to examine the process of thoughts and feelings. This ability encourages learners to understand how they learn best. It also helps them to develop self-awareness skills that will help them in the future.

In short, metacognition is the process of thinking about your own thinking and learning. It differs from normal thought because it is intentional.

Here are some examples of metacognition:

A pupil learns about what things help him or her to remember facts, names, and events.

A pupil learns about his or her own style of learning.

A pupil learns about which strategies are most effective for solving problems.

Metacognitive strategies empower learners to think about their own thinking and learning more explicitly, usually by setting goals and monitoring and evaluating their progress towards their goals.

This awareness of the learning process enhances their control over it and enhances personal capacity for self-regulation and managing one's own motivation for learning.

Metacognition in the classroom can be divided into three phases, and different strategies can be utilised at different phases:

Planning;

Monitoring (or doing);

Evaluation (or reviewing).

There is a strong body of research from psychology and education demonstrating the importance of metacognition and self-regulation for effective pupil learning. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) found that the use of metacognitive strategies was a high impact and low cost intervention that can be worth the equivalent of 7 months' additional progress.
Read more: The most effective intervention strategies for schools
However, the EEF acknowledges that metacognition can be hard to define and describes it as an 'elusive' topic. It's also something that we, as humans, sometimes do and develop naturally so it can be tricky to identify concrete examples. However, it is the explicit instruction of these techniques that can have a huge impact on student progress, especially among disadvantaged students.

In order to support teachers looking to embed metacognitive strategies into their teaching, we've listed 10, categorised by the phase in which they can be used. All of the strategies are suitable for both primary and secondary learners.

Planning phase:

1. Break the problem down

Maths problems, especially multi-step word problems or problem-solving questions, can be overwhelming. Students might rush in and make mistakes.

Get learners to take a step back to 'unpack' the question to make sure they understand it. Ask them questions like:

Is this something you have done before?

Is it similar to something you have done before?

Is there anything you recognise?

What are the important elements of the question or task?

What resources do I need to answer this question?

Not only will it boost their self-confidence if they know they have solved a problem like this before, but it will also help them to make connections in their learning and activate prior knowledge.

Read more: Effective Questioning

2. Peer and partner work

Talking with their peers, asking reflective questions, and debating approaches to problem-solving helps learners to develop higher-order thinking and reasoning skills. Such conversations can create productive conflicts that help learners develop multiple perspectives, leading to deeper understanding.

Interacting with peers can be more effective in achieving successful learning than working only independently and can be as effective as working one on one with an adult.

Purposeful peer work allows learners to:

Examine their thinking process and the approach they used in order to identify different ways of solving a particular problem;

Explore diverse appropriate strategies or varying viewpoints;

Use active listening and reading strategies;

Think aloud;

Test out ideas and methods that are different from their own;

Debate or negotiate to reach a consensus in decision-making before presenting to the group.

In practice, this often means reducing teacher talk time. At the beginning of a lesson, a teacher will speak for a short time to set up a task, with learners then working independently to decide on an effective strategy and engaging in discussion and 'metacognitive talk' with their peers.

With younger students or those not yet confident with peer work, teachers can provide a structure for discussion, through questions, guidance and templates.

3. Goal setting

During the planning stage, learners should set themselves short-term goals or targets. This might look like a checklist or a success criteria.

Short-term goals:

Keep you on track - Breaking a learning task up into smaller, more easily attainable chunks, in the form of goals, will enable learners to keep track of their progress.

Make you more productive - Learners are less likely to procrastinate if they only have to focus on one small task at a time.

Monitoring (or doing) phase:

4. Questioning

Many learners are afraid to ask their teachers or their peers for help for fear of looking stupid or inattentive. However, it is important that a teacher creates a learning environment that encourages learners to ask for help and not to fear making mistakes.

This will avoid cementing any misconceptions or misunderstandings they may have into their long-term memory. Asking questions allows learners to not only consolidate their new and prior knowledge, but also enables students to figure out which topics they don't understand as well.

Asking questions allows learners to seek feedback and advice on how to improve or adapt their strategies so they can become better learners.

Questions might include:

What steps should I take first?

What do I already know about this topic?

How can I check that I am doing this right?

5. Monitoring progress

Learners need to be constantly monitoring their progress whilst completing a task. This might look like:

Referring back and assessing their progress towards their goals.

Self-questioning to ensure they are on the right track.

Checking methods and looking out for calculation errors which might affect the outcome.

6. Improving self-regulation

Self-regulation, or metacognitive regulation, can be defined as one's ability to manage thoughts, feelings, and actions whilst striving towards a goal. In other words, they are students who actively engage in the full metacognitive cycle and are aware of which phase they are working at.

How can we help learners to improve their self-regulation? It will look different for learners of different ages, and for different tasks, but here are two self-regulating strategies that learners can use:

Manage time effectively - Encourage learners to keep to deadlines and to adapt strategies based on how long the task is taking them.

Remove distractions - Help learners to remove different distractions and help them to reflect on its impact on their productivity.

7. Developing resilience

When working on a new or difficult task, learners can find it daunting. When learners are stuck, they should ask themselves metacognitive questions, such as:

What could I do differently?

Have I seen anything like this before?

What support will help me? (for example, books, resources, manipulatives, peers, teachers)

This will put them in a position to overcome obstacles along the way and, where possible, try different strategies before going to the teacher or teaching assistant for help.

Read more: Growth Mindset

Evaluation (or reviewing) phase:

8. Self-evaluating

After successfully completing a task, learners may not remember what they struggled with, and may not realise how much new knowledge they have acquired.

It is important that learners engage in self-evaluation so that the next time they complete a task, they can apply what they have learned and avoid making the same mistakes.

Teachers can encourage self-evaluation by asking learners to review their corrected homework, classwork and exams, engage with teacher feedback and perform self-marking against a success criteria.

Teachers can also ask students to self-question:

What did I learn about this topic that I did not know before?

What was easy for me?

What content was challenging to learn?

Do I understand it now?

Why did I make the mistakes that I did?

Where did I succeed?

Where did I go wrong?

[Self regulated] learners are proactive in their efforts to learn because they are aware of their strengths and limitations and because they are guided by personally set goals
BJ Zimmerman, Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner: An Overview

9. Test yourself

Learners can use self-testing to help them remember information and to control the learning process. Self-testing and retrieval practice allows learners to review what content they know well, identify what they need to practise more, and what they need to re-learn.

There are various ways in which teachers can encourage students to self-test, including:

Completing practice tests

Quizzes

Flashcards

Teaching peers

Read more: Formative And Summative Assessment

There are many metacognitive strategies out there and there will be some which are more effective than others - but this will be highly dependent on the individual using them!

If students spend time building their own individual armoury of metacognitive skills to draw upon, they can make the most out of their learning in the classroom.

Teachers can encourage learners to do this in many ways, such as:

Reflect on the pros and cons of the methods and strategies students have used;

Rank metacognitive strategies from the most to the least effective for them;

Recognise what mistakes they made when trying new metacognitive strategies and what they can improve on the next time they use this strategy.

Metacognitive strategies have benefits for students far beyond the class - they can be used in any learning activity and in any environment. This is why metacognition is so vitally important to students and should be embedded in all curriculums.

Looking to develop independent learning skills in your secondary school students? Read our blog to see why these are the secret to success!

What are metacognitive strategies?

Do you have pupils who need extra support in maths?
Every week Third Space Learning's maths specialist tutors support thousands of pupils across hundreds of schools with weekly online 1-to-1 lessons and maths interventions designed to address learning gaps and boost progress.

Since 2013 we've helped over 150,000 primary and secondary school pupils become more confident, able mathematicians. Learn more or request a personalised quote for your school to speak to us about your school's needs and how we can help.

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The 10 Metacognitive Strategies That Will Empower All Primary And Secondary Students

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Practical examples of metacognitive strategies that will help students to become more independent and effective in their learning inside and out of class.

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What is metacognition? (Exploring the Metacognition Cycle)

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What is metacognition and how can it help students learn?

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Metacognition: The Skill That Promotes Advanced Learning

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What are Metacognitive Strategies?

Metacognition is a term used for the methods that can help learners understand how they learn. In other words, metacognition means processes created for the learners to 'think' how they 'think'. Metacognition helps learners in becoming aware of their individual learning experiences and the activities they involve themselves in their paths toward professional and individual growth. Some examples of metacognitive activities include: planning how to perform a learning task, applying appropriate strategies and skills to solve a problem, self-assessment and self-correction as a result of evaluating one's own progress toward completing a task.

Metacognition is beneficial in student learning because it allows learners to reflect on what they know, who they are, what they wish to know, and how they can reach that point. Reflection is an important aspect of learning and teaching. Teachers must be reflective in their practice so that they can keep on growing, continue to meet their students' needs, and evaluate their own growth and skills. It is important to motivate students to practice reflection so that they can build their individual reflective practices and develop metacognitive skills to prepare for their future.

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What is the significance of metacognitive strategies in primary schools?

Metacognitive knowledge must be built at an early age when children are gaining their primary education (Norman, 2016). The process of Metacognition involves a primary student's planning, monitoring, evaluating and making changes to his individual learning behaviour. Although a typical metacognitive approach focuses on enabling a student rather than the instructor to take control of his own learning, in metacognition, the instructor plays an integral role in developing younger learners' metacognitive skills. For transforming primary students into metacognitive, self-regulated learners, the primary teachers must:

1. Set clear objectives of learning;

2. Monitor and demonstrate students' metacognitive skills; and

3. Continually encourage and prompt their students along the way.

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When this sort of cognitive strategy becomes a classroom habit you begin to see the implications for building background knowledge and metacognitive knowledge. This reciprocal relationship becomes apparent as children build their repertoire of study strategies.

How can we use metacognitive strategies in secondary schools?

The use of metacognitive strategies in secondary schools can help enhance secondary students' critical thinking skills, offer them new ways for organizing their thinking in educational tasks, help them distinguish truths and lies told in the media, and teach them about the importance of a growth mindset for success in education and life. The secondary school teachers can apply the following metacognitive strategies to help secondary school students think about their individual thinking processes:

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1. Engage secondary students in critical thinking and the metacognitive process.

2. Demonstrate the way to use metacognitive tools to achieve a learning task.

3. Teach goal-setting in a learning situation.

4. Teach students reflective thinking in a learning situation.

5. Offer opportunities for cognitive growth and higher-level thinking.

6. Highlight the necessity of a growth mindset and how they play a critical role in the development of cognition.

7. Use personal learning journals and reflective questions to change classroom culture.

8. Promote independent learning by equipping pupils with robust learning strategies such as graphic organisers.

9. Make metacognitive practices a school-wide priority.

10. Utilise the Universal Thinking Framework to help secondary school students plan their learning.

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How to develop metacognitive strategies in your classroom

Teachers can develop metacognitive skills in the classroom by offering students the opportunity to implement metacognitive strategies at prime stages of a task. This allows students to improve both their metacognitive abilities and self-awareness to choose an efficient thought process in the future. Somehow, this approach is very much similar to the cycle 'Plan, Do, Review' which has been used by a lot of high-performance sports teams. A useful way is to divide the strategies into the following stages:

Planning Before starting a Task - the mental modelling activity using writers block is a good example of this.

Through planning before starting a task, students are able to perform their effort more efficiently. Effective preparation involves:

1. Thinking about the same type of tasks;

2. Setting clear objectives;

3. Working out the total duration of a task through applying appropriate strategies.

4. Monitoring in the middle of a task

5. Reviewing after completing a task

After the task, students need to spend some time reflecting on what they did well and what they should do differently in future. By doing so, students would develop, progress and learn as much as possible from the experience.

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How do metacognitive strategies advance the learning process?

Imagine a sportswoman is training for a marathon and her target is to run 24 miles. But, it does not mean she is going to step out of her front door and take off with a steady run at top speed. She would create a plan. She would make a training schedule and she would run in different conditions for different periods of time.

Eventually, she would try and run at that marathon-length route. She may initially fail, or she may not fail. But, that trial run will serve as an opportunity for her to assess what she is doing right in her training regimen and what is not right. Then she would modify her training regimen to suit her needs. This is metacognition.

Students do not usually pause to assess if their routine to study or learn is effective. Metacognition can help them advance the learning process by helping them to assess what they are learning. Are they able to retain the information? Do they need to develop strategies to improve their understanding of a topic? When a student is metacognitive, he understands himself as a learner and then he makes strategic choices about how to study and learn with their knowledge in mind.

How do Metacognitive Processes enhance independent learning?

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Is Metacognition a skill or mindset?

Having knowledge of a task will help a student build that all important subject background knowledge. Successful learners invest time in developing procedural knowledge that helps them become independent learners. A metacognitive learner understands that they have control over the situation. Or in other words, with enough of the right sort of thinking any task can be accomplished. Having a range of metacognitive strategies available increases opportunities for learners to develop their independence.

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What is the research behind metacognition?

Metacognition or the concept of "thinking about thinking" and was proposed by John Flavell, who is largely considered as a founding scholar of the field of metacognition. According to Flavell, metacognition is related to one's own understanding of his cognitive processes (or his thinking). Flavell (1979) states that metacognition is the ability to control one's thinking processes in several strategies i.e. planning, monitoring, and adapting (Norman, 2016). Moreover, metacognition is a person's ability to reflect upon the processes tasks one performs and to choose and apply the most suitable strategies needed in one's intercultural interactions.

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Nelson (2021) mentioned that metacognition is a critical part of successful learning. It involves self-reflection and self-regulation of abilities, weaknesses, and the kinds of strategies one creates. Metacognition provides an essential foundation in culturally intelligent leadership as it affects how one thinks about a situation or problem and the strategies one selects to handle a problem or a situation.

A report has been published by The Education Endowment Foundation on metacognition and self-regulated learning. This report gives examples of strategies that can be used with students of all ages to encourage metacognitive and self-regulated learning in the classroom. These strategies are given below.

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Examples of Metacognitive Strategies

Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is a powerful tool that can enhance learning across various subjects and age groups. Here are nine examples of how metacognitive strategies can be applied in different classroom scenarios:

1. Mathematics (Primary): By using self-questioning techniques, students can solve complex problems. For example, a student might ask themselves, "What is the problem asking?" or "What strategy should I use?" This promotes self-regulation strategies and improves problem-solving skills.

2. Science (Secondary): Encouraging students to create concept maps linking ideas and concepts helps in understanding complex scientific theories. This method fosters connections between existing knowledge and new information, enhancing cognitive skills.

3. Literature (Primary): Teaching students to visualize the story as they read, imagining characters, settings, and events, can deepen comprehension and engagement with the text.

4. History (Secondary): Encouraging students to evaluate historical sources critically, considering bias and perspective, fosters a deeper understanding of historical events and contexts.

5. Language Arts (Primary): Implementing think-aloud strategies where students verbalize their thought process while writing helps them become more aware of their writing strategies, leading to improved writing skills.

6. Physical Education: Utilizing goal-setting and reflection in physical education encourages students to consider their performance, set realistic goals, and reflect on their progress, promoting self-regulation.

7. Art (Secondary): Encouraging students to reflect on their artistic choices and the emotions they want to convey helps them connect more deeply with their work and the audience.

8. Social Studies (Primary): Teaching students to make connections between their lives and the lives of people in different cultures fosters empathy and a broader understanding of the world.

9. Music (Secondary): Encouraging students to analyze their performance, identifying areas for improvement, and setting goals for future practice sessions can lead to significant growth in musical ability.

According to Dr. John Hattie, "Metacognitive strategies can have an effect size of 0.69, which is considered a high impact on student achievement." Furthermore, a study by Bryce et al. shows that explicit instruction in metacognitive strategies can significantly benefit disadvantaged students.

Example: In a cooperative learning environment, a group of secondary students working on a physics project might discuss their understanding of a concept, share different perspectives, and collaboratively decide on the best approach to solve a problem. This process of thinking about their thinking leads to a more profound understanding of the subject.

Key Insights:

Metacognitive thinking enhances learning across subjects.

It promotes self-regulation, critical thinking, and deeper understanding.

Strategies include self-questioning, visualization, reflection, and goal-setting.

Particularly beneficial for disadvantaged students, improving academic learning.

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FAQ's for Busy Teachers

1. What is metacognition?

Cognitive processes are the mental processes that involve one's mental state; this can include memory and attention, the activation of prior knowledge, and the use of cognitive strategies to solve a problem or complete a task.

2. What are the benefits of Metacognition?

Metacognition is the ability to monitor and control one's cognition, which is recognized in many scientific fields as the most important component of academic achievement.

3. Are metacognitive practices a learning strategy?

We describe metacognition as an overarching approach and also a mindset that can be adopted by both teachers and students.

4. What is metacognitive regulation?

Metacognitive regulation is the process of monitoring and controlling one's cognitive processes. It refers to how learners manage their mental activities to achieve the desired outcome.

5. What is the planning phase?

During the initial planning phase, learners think about the learning goal set by the teacher. They then consider how they will approach the task and which strategies they will use. You can see examples of how students can approach this here.

6. What is the central executive?

In psychology, the central executive is the part of the working memory responsible for sequential task management.

7. What is the Zone of Proximal Development?

The zone of proximal development is the range of skills that a learner can successfully accomplish with guidance from an instructor or a more capable peer.

8. What is metacognitive development?

Metacognitive development is the development of thinking processes. It's your ability to examine your own thoughts and make judgments about them.

9. What is a metacognitive approach?

A metacognitive approach typically involves students applying metacognitive strategies to respond to clear and explicit learning goals which have either been set by the teacher or identified by the student themselves.

10. What are the benefits of discussing strategies?

The strategy is crucial to the success of the student. Discussing strategies in class helps students understand what strategies are available to them, how they impact their learning and why they work.

11. What are the benefits of metacognitive teaching?

Metacognitive teaching is one of the best ways to teach by encouraging students to reflect on their own learning. It also has other benefits including promoting independent learning.

12. At what age can children become metacognitive?

Several studies have found that children as young as 18 months demonstrated error-correction strategies, and 5-year-olds who were aware of forgetting. Meanwhile, 3 to 5-year-olds exhibited a wide range of verbal skills.

13. What is a Personal Reflection Journal?

The Personal Reflection Journal is an ongoing process that enables learners to document and reflect on their learning process. Learners keep a journal that captures their thoughts, ideas, and reflections on their learning experiences.

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Education Endowment Foundation (2021) Retrieved from: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/metacognition-and-self-regulated-learning/

Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American psychologist, 34(10), 906.

Marulis, L. M., & Nelson, L. J. (2021). Metacognitive processes and associations to executive function and motivation during a problem-solving task in 3-5-year-olds. Metacognition and Learning, 16(1), 207-231.

Norman, E., & Furnes, B. (2016). The concept of "meta emotion": What is there to learn from research on metacognition?. Emotion Review, 8(2), 187-193.

References

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Metacognitive Strategies in the Classroom

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Introducing metacognitive strategies in your classroom: A teacher's guide for introducing metacognition into daily teaching practice, from research to practice.