Ten Metacognitive Teaching Strategies
Helping Students Learn How to Learn
Definition
meta = ‘about’ and cognition = thinking
Metacognition: Purposefully thinking about one’s own thinking strategies – when people are able to “learn to think” and “think to learn”
Metacognition is the regulatory system people use to understand and control own cognitive (brain) performance. It involves people being very aware of how they learn, what strategies meet their needs, evaluating the effectiveness of strategies and then implementing the best plan of action to optimally learn.
Learn more about: Ten Metacognitve Teaching Strategies
Learners with Strong Metacognitive Skills
- Know the limits of their own memory for a task and elicit help where required
- Do frequent self-assessments of their knowledge to ensure they can figure out how well they are learning something
- Self-monitor frequently and use a variety of strategies to learn
- Undertake careful rehearsal of a skill in order to gain confidence and competence
- Plan effectively at many levels and see the big picture of learning
There is a need to teach for metacognitive knowledge explicitly….we are continually surprised at the number of students who come to [university] having very little metacognitive knowledge; knowledge about different strategies, different cognitive tasks, and particularly accurate knowledge about themselves. (Pintrich, 2002)
Metacognition Resources:
Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI)
The MAI consists of 52 questions that cover these two components of cognition. They found through their research there was strong support for both of these factors and that they were also related as had been suggested by previous researchers.
Handout: Metacognitive Awareness Inventory
Approaches to Learning
This handout contains 21 statements you could pose to students to start them thinking about how they think and think about how they learn. Ideally we hope to have students utilizing deep approaches to learn rather than surface approaches. Strategic approaches are somewhere in between the two but don’t really result in longer term and meaningful learning
Handout: Approaches to Learning - Deep Strategic Surface
Strategies to Help You Be a Successful Student: Learning and Studying Tips
Metacognitive strategies are techniques that help people become more successful learners. This handout has our 14 top metacognitive strategies for learners. These strategies are desinged to help your learners focus and rethink the way they study and learn.