Extend NZ/NZEXT101/Teacher for Learning/Metacognition

“	Metacognition asks the question "What do I know about how I learn and think that will help with this new situation?".	”
—Howard Pitler

Metacognition

Students need to assess the demands of the task, evaluate their own knowledge and skills, plan their progress, monitor their progress, and adjust their strategies as needed.

Self-directed learning and actively taking the time to reflect on one’s own learning is described as metacognition. Developing metacognitive skills through deliberate practice and embedded checkpoints fosters intellectual habits that are valuable for learning retention and across disciplines.

These checkpoints should occur at the beginning of the learning when students are encouraged to practise task assessment and planning. Metacognition should continue through the evaluation of the outcomes and enable teachers and learners to adjust their approaches accordingly.

A very important factor for developing this flexible mindset is rooted in students’ self-efficacy. It is extremely useful for teachers to stress the importance of developmental approaches so that our learners can fully appreciate that intelligence is not fixed.

Strategies to promote metacognition

• Be explicit; indicate what you do not want; provide performance criteria.
• Provide opportunities to peer and self-assess; practise; and give feedback.
• Ask your students whether the answer they provide is reasonable given the problem.

Here are some helpful prompts to ask your learners:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• How does this topic make me feel?
• Does this topic relate to something I already know?
• How can I apply this topic in another context?

One activity that can be done at the end of class is Stephen Brook’s critical incident questionnaire (CIQ).

Other metacognitive strategies that lead to self-directed learners are note-taking (see 'Strategies for organising information'), one-minute paper (see 'Feedback and practice'), reflective writing, and a retrospective post-assessment.