1. MEtacognition Sangeeta Agnihotri
Innovative Practice & Theories in Clinical Education
Teaching and Learning for Clinical Contexts
14 February 2017

2. Metacognition: Contents
The father of the buzzword
Challenges for the psychologist
Definitions
Student metacognitive strategies
The processes
The variables
Bibliography
Evidence for this in education
Any questions

3. John H. Flavell
“50% to 66% of the world’s population engage in metacognition”
- John Flavell, 1979
American developmental psychologist
Emeritus Professor at Stanford University

4. “Thinking about thinking”
What is Metacognition?
“Thinking about thinking”
Our ability to know what we know and what we do not know; how I think; and what helps me learn.

5. Three variables Influence metacognition:
1. The Learner: learner characteristics can be subdivided into
Self-perception (strengths and weaknesses in learning & processing information)
Verbal skill & ability
Motivation
Learning task variables
Context (situational variables, most important being task difficulty)
2. The Task: What is the nature of the task? What are the processing demands needed to complete the task
3. The Strategy: Flexible use of strategies to complete a given task
e.g.“I know that I (learner variable) have difficulty with word problems (task variable), so I will answer the computational problems first and save the word problems for last (strategy variable).”
Knowledge about one's own cognitive system; essential skill for learning to learn
The term "metacognition" is most often associated with John Flavell, (1979).
According to Flavell (1979, 1987), metacognition consists of both metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences or regulation. Metacognitive knowledge refers to acquired knowledge about cognitive processes, knowledge that can be used to control cognitive processes.
Flavell further divides metacognitive knowledge into three categories: knowledge of person variables, task variables and strategy variables
For example, knowledge that it will take more time to read, comprehend, and remember a technical article than it will a similar-length passage from a novel. for example, using a glossary to look up unfamiliar words, or recognizing that sometimes one has to reread a paragraph several times before it makes sense

6. Three processes
PLAN: appropriate selection of strategies & allocation of resources for the task
MONITOR: self-awareness of understanding
EVALUATE: assess one’s understanding & performance

7. What do the professionals think?
Students without metacognitive approaches are essentially learners without direction or opportunity to review their progress, accomplishments, and future directions.
O’Mally, Chamot, Stewner-Mazanaares, Russo, & Kupper, 1985
When metacognitive strategies are explicitly taught they can support students information retrieval.
Lenz, Ellis, & Scanlon, 1996
As students learn, practice, and independently use metacognitive strategies, these strategies often become integrated into these students’ learning repertoires.
Mercer & Mercer, 1993
Quote 1 page 56

8. What do I think?
For some students, their inability to efficiently retrieve information previously stored in memory negatively impacts their ability to accurately express what they know.

9. Teacher action Teacher modeling of problem solving steps
Think-pair-share
Goal setting
Journal Writing
Activation of Prior Knowledge
Cues and Questions
Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34,
Teacher Strategies

10. Metacognitive strategies
Planning
Brainstorming/peer instuction
summarising
Task-specific graphic organizers
Think Aloud Problem Solving-- Self-questioning
Note taking
Role Play
concept mapping
Socratic dialogues
Debate
Pre-testing
monitoring

11. Student Metacognitive Strategies
Which statement best describes you? Assess yourself.
Novice: starting to learn & understand
Apprentice: some knowledge, need guidance
Practitioner: self-sufficient but can become unstuck
Expert: good understanding & competent to teach

12. Self regulation

13. Bibliography
Garrrett, J et al. (2007). Assessing Students’ Metacognitive Skills. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
O‟Mally, J.M., A. U.Chamot, G. Stewner-Manzanares, L. Kupper & R. P. Russo (1985a). Learning strategies used by beginning and intermediate ESL students. Language Learning 35.1,
Lenz, B. K. Ellis, E. S. & Scanlon, D. (1996). Teaching learning strategies to adolescents and adults with learning disabilities. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed, Inc.
Mercer, C.D. & Mercer, A.R. (1993). Teaching students with learning Problems. NewYork Macmilan Publishing Company.

14. Thank You…
Any Questions?