Thinking about 'Thinking about Thinking' i.e. Metacognition in Schools

Metacognition - What, Why and How?

I am improving my conceptual understanding of Metacognition this month so that we can better incorporate it into teaching and learning at our school. This paper - ‘An Analysis of Research on Metacognitive Teaching Strategies’, helped me. 

What is in the paper?

Here is a brief summary of my main takeaways: 

• Metacognition is thinking about thinking. This includes building knowledge of strategies, of tasks and of ourselves.

  

• Building Strategy Skills involve 3 processes - Planning, Monitoring and Reflecting on Thinking.

  

• Key teaching strategies that support Metacognitive skill-building are Modeling i.e. thinking aloud, Diagramming i.e. making the process visual, Practice (Guided and Independent), Checklists, Reviewing Answers and Reflecting on Goal attainment. 

  

• All of these require a learning environment that has an engaging curriculum, explicit strategy instruction, assessment during learning, opportunities for practice and sharing.

Why it matters:

Metacognitive strategy instruction has strong evidence from research to support its effectiveness.

Teaching Metacognition helps students ‘Learn how to learn’. It helps them see learning as a life-long, continuously improving process. This awareness along with a metacognitive thinking toolkit empowers them to learn more effectively and transfer learning to new situations.

4 ways to promote Metacognition in your School:

1. Make the processes visual

   1. Use visual flowcharts to show the process. 

      1. Here is a sample visual of Goal-Plan-Do-Check, a thinking frame that can help students plan projects, solve problems or anything that requires self-direction.

      2. Processes can be visualized for subject specific needs as well. See the Scientific Method here for Science and the Writing Process here for Language.

   2. Use checklists to help students monitor and reflect on their progress

      1. Here is a checklist that can be used to support self-regulation

      2. Here is a checklist that can be used to help students stay on task

2. Verbalise thinking

   1. Promote talking and thinking aloud: Teachers can make thinking visible to students by thinking along during class. This can be applied to almost anything - making decisions, solving problems, creative thinking processes and self-awareness. Students should be given opportunities and encouraged to do the same by sharing their thinking and reasoning, and not just answers.

   2. Plan for structured reflection: It is essential to make reflection an integral part of learning. Reflection can be structured by setting time for reflection at the end of an activity,  task, day or project. It can also be structured with the graphic organisers mentioned above. 

3. Use Gradual Release of Responsibility

   1. Explicit Teaching: Teach Metacognition explicitly - what the strategy is, why it is useful, how to use it

   2. Practice: Students need to be given opportunities to practice what they have learned

      1. Guided: 

         1. Teacher as guide: Start by providing opportunities with scaffolds from the teacher during the process

         2. Peer/ Group as guide: Move to practising with peers where they can support each other during the process

      2. Independent:

         1. Finally, opportunities to apply and practice learning independently gives learners the confidence and skill they need to continue using it themselves

4. Help Teachers use Metacognitive strategies themselves

All of the above are useful for leaders who are trying to support teachers with this. Leaders can model these processes in their communications, meeting spaces and professional development initiatives.

For example, in our school we do the following

1. We make takeaways and reasons behind discussions EXPLICIT on our meeting minutes

2. We use thinking frames like Goal-Plan-Act-Reflect, Desirability-Feasibility-Viability, Stop-Start-Continue, etc to guide our discussions

3. We plan Professional development in a ‘Gradual release of responsibility’ manner so that we can provide more structure to teachers that need it and more freedom to others

We can use Metacognitive strategies to build a community of self-directed learners!