Jennifer A. Livingston
© 1997 by Jennifer A. Livingston
"Metacognition" is one of the latest buzz words in educational psychology, but what exactly is metacognition? The length and abstract nature of the word makes it sound intimidating, yet its not as daunting a concept as it might seem. We engage in metacognitive activities everyday.
Metacognition enables us to be successful learners, and has been associated with intelligence
(e.g., Borkowski, Carr, & Pressley, 1987; Sternberg, 1984, 1986a, 1986b). Metacognition refers to higher order thinking which involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. Activities such as planning how to approach a given learning task, monitoring comprehension, and
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These processes help to regulate and oversee learning, and consist of planning and monitoring cognitive activities, as well as checking the outcomes of those activities.
For example, after reading a paragraph in a text a learner may question herself about the concepts discussed in the paragraph. Her cognitive goal is to understand the text. Selfquestioning is a common metacognitive comprehension monitoring strategy. If she finds that she cannot answer her own questions, or that she does not understand the material discussed, she must then determine what needs to be done to ensure that she meets the cognitive goal of understanding the text. She may decide to go back and re-read the paragraph with the goal of being able to answer the questions she had generated. If, after re-reading through the text she can now answer the questions, she may determine that she understands the material. Thus, the metacognitive strategy of self-questioning is used to ensure that the cognitive goal of comprehension is met.
Cognitive vs. Metacognitive Strategies
Most definitions of metacognition include both knowledge and strategy components; however, there are a number of problems associated with using such definitions. One major issue involves separating what is cognitive from what is metacognitive. What is the difference between a cognitive and a metacognitive
Metacognition is basically when you are aware and understand you own thought roccessIn the movie Princes bride, there is one scene where two characters named Westley and Vizzini and the ne character Vizzini shows a really great example of being metacognitive. In this scene, the one character Westley challenges Vizzini to a “Battle of wits”. When Vizzini agrees Westley takes out two wine glasses both full of wine and tell Vizzini that he had just put poison powder into one of the wine glasses and the challenge is for Vizzini to drink from one of the wine glasses that he believes doesn’t have poison in it. The only problem is there is a little bit of poison in both wine glasses and Westley thought ahead because he knew that he was immune to the
A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
Metacognition is the ability to understand the learning process of not only yourself, but the ones around you. Having this understanding allows you to convey information in a much more effective manner. Understanding the way I learn is important to the way I can approach problems and solutions. These issues and answers develop in many forms. Much like how an artist develops a process of completing a master piece, I can develop the tools to understand and learn in any situation, job, or
An important variable in a student’s reading ability is their knowledge and use of various reading strategies such as inferring, questioning and evaluating (Paris, Wasik, & Turner, 1991). Initially Dana should work specifically on monitoring/clarifying while she reads, she seems to understand when something doesn’t make sense and she should be taught how to fix her reading when it doesn’t such as backing up to re-read, cross checking and checking for
At the beginning, some of AB’s good reading behaviors included rereading when the text did not make sense and commenting about what he read. Some of AB’s reading behaviors that were not as effective included skipping words and substituting words that resulted in a loss of meaning. In these moments, AB would not go back and correct.
This activity supported Torionne’s need to realize that reading is a meaning-making process by checking her comprehension of the passage she read.
One strategy would teach Jason to connect a new vocabulary word with a keyword and then to make a mental picture of that keyword. For example, to learn the new word apex, Jason can picture an ape sitting on the top of a mountain. Another intervention would teach Jason to make mental pictures of what he is reading in addition to carefully studying any visuals included in text. An example of meta-cognitive strategies working on skills in comprehension monitoring, self questioning, paraphrasing and summarizing, sequencing and obtaining main ideas. A five step self questioning technique may be directly taught to Jason across multiple days to improve the comprehension of what he reads. The five question self statements apply to chunks of text, may be placed on a note card for use as a prompt, and include the following 1- what are you studying this passage for?; 2- find the main ideas in the paragraph and underline it or them; 3- think of a question about the main idea you have underlined; 4-remember what a good question should be like; 5- always look back at the questions and the answers to see how each susses I've question and answer provide you with more information. During the intervention, Jason writes and reviews responses to these questions, statements with corrective feedback by a
Academic reading is one of the most essential tools in college. It shows us (as students) that we can read for pleasure, but at the same time read to gain knowledge in subjects we did not know before. On page 41 in the book Curious Writer it shows a diagram of purpose and examples of questions that readers’ may have when reading I have used it before and it works because it lets the reader think in a more broader perspective, generate more questions, and find the answers to those questions (aside from the examples’ the book provides). Even when you read (pg. 43, topic Beliefs About Reading) sometimes the text it can make you question or rethink your original beliefs that the reader may have before.
themselves on the same mental level as the readers in order for them to understand the overall
Education is an essential indicator of success in the 21st century, students need to be acquiring skills that prepare them for the demands of the real world. Despite the mandating of high-stakes standardized tests, teachers can align their goals with higher order thinking to develop students’ cognition, problem solving abilities, and critical thinking initiatives. Cognitive development is a crucial element of a student’s success, which can be enhanced through metacognitive awareness. Implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy into instructional planning can guide educational practice such that students develop a range of cognitive skills. Essentially, the main goal of education is to prepare students for success in the real
Reading: Locates, understands, and interprets written information in prose and documents--including manuals, graphs, and schedules--to perform tasks; learns from text by determining the main idea or essential message; identifies relevant details, facts and specifications; infers or locates the meaning of unknown or technical vocabulary; and judges the accuracy, appropriateness, style, and plausibility of reports, proposals, or theories of other writers.( 134 USDOL)
She also has developed a comprehension checking mechanism by watching body language, quickly alter words or reference an online translator to reach shared understanding. Continuation of this process is encouraged to promote vocabulary building and word
This could be interpreted in an easier way to understand such as not just throwing words on a page. Learning how use metacognition is a major step in learning how to write good essays because it shows you are actually thinking and putting in the effort to show you took time to understand the topic being written about. “Students who succeed academically often rely on being able to think effectively and independently in order to take charge of their learning,” says Marcus Conyers who is a co-developer of graduate degree courses focused on applications of education, mind, and brain science. Many teachers have said that learning cognitive and metacognitive strategies offers them tools to “drive their brains”
The Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), established by Schraw and Dennison (1994) was used to measure metacognitive awareness of the participants. It contains 52 items which measures different aspects of metacognition. Items of MAI are in two sets: "Knowledge of Cognition" and "Regulation of Cognition". Seventeen objects of the MAI measure knowledge of cognition, and the remaining thirty five items measure regulation of cognition. The answers are based on true and false scale. The participants are supposed to reply the objects in 30 minutes. Different studies have supported the suitable reliability and validity of the instrumentThe validity of the this instrument has been reviewed and validated by Schraw and Dennison (1994) who performed
Generally Metacognition is defined as “how individual monitor and control their cognitive process” (Young & Fry, 2008). Metacognition refers to being able to reflect upon, understand, and control one’s learning. Previous accounts of metacognition have differentiated between two major components, including knowledge about cog¬nition and regulation of cognition (Brown, 1987; Flavell, 1987; Jacobs & Paris, 1987). Knowledge about cognition includes three sub processes that simplify the reflective aspect of metacognition: declarative knowledge (i.e., knowledge about self and about strategies), procedural knowledge (i.e., knowledge about how to use strategies), and conditional knowledge (i.e., knowledge