What even is Metacognition? If I have made it this far into college without knowing what it is, why should I learn about it?
Well, my friends, that right there is an example of metacognition. Metacognition refers to awareness of one’s own knowledge—what one does and doesn’t know—and one’s ability to understand, control, and manipulate one’s cognitive processes (Meichenbaum, 1985).
Some more examples of metacognitive tasks include…
Identifying one’s own learning style and needs
Planning for a task
Gathering and organizing materials
Arranging a study space and schedule
Monitoring mistakes
Evaluating task success
Evaluating the success of any learning strategy and adjusting.
The point of metacognitive practices is to help students understand their strengths and weaknesses as learners, writers, readers, test-takers, group members, and leaders. There are different ways of thinking. It is what makes a Physics major different from a Biology major, or an English major. We train ourselves to think and apply knowledge in different ways.
Understanding your learning style
Visual Learner:
Write down lists and facts
Visualize new words
Use diagrams or charts
Read regularly
Auditory Learner:
Tape or record notes
Subvocalize when studying
Participate in discussions
Say new words out loud
Sing/talk to self when studying
Kinesthetic Learner:
Make models
Do lab work
Take frequent breaks
Jog or walk when memorizing
Stand up when reading
While it is important to know your main style of studying, research has shown that it is beneficial
to develop a toolbox of skills and techniques that can help you learn better. So combine walking and reading aloud to yourself, get a study group together to discuss if you’re used to working alone, or search YouTube for songs about the subject you’re struggling in.
If you take notes in class, you can improve your metacognition in class by using the Cornell style. This style of notes encourages you to think about how to separate information and find key details to tie ideas together.
The left side of the page is used for casual thoughts, ideas, ‘aha’ moments, and questions. This helps you understand your level of thinking about the topic without interrupting the notes. Some of the questions should be like “How does this tie into yesterday’s lesson?”, “Is this new information or repeated from last class?”, “Is this similar to anything I knew before?”.
The right side is all about information given to be studied later. Then at the bottom of the page, some space is left over at the end of the lecture for you to summarize and write down what you have learned. This is a key strategy for moving knowledge into the long-term memory part of your brain.
Another method of building metacognitive practice is to ask yourself questions before, during, and after the lesson, driving curiosity and finding what you do and do not understand of the material.
For some extra boost for helping understand the best study practices for your major, check these links below!
Learning like a biology student: Promoting Student Metacognition | CBE—Life Sciences Education
Learning like a computer science student: Metacognition and Computer Science
Learning like a foreign language student: 12 metacognition-modelling strategies for the foreign language classroom
Learning like a physics student: Students' Metacognitive Awareness and Physics Learning Efficiency and Correlation between them
Learning like a writing student: Teaching Metacognition to Improve Writing By Sara Islas My study to improve my students' writing through met
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