Psychological Insights into Metacognition and Learning

Metacognition involves using strategies to accomplish cognitive activities and employing mechanisms to evaluate the efficiency of these processes (Flavell, 1979). Metacognition helps various individuals find ways by which they can think, study, and resolve issues in courses of action that would greatly assist them as they undergo those activities.

Self-regulation has been acknowledged as one of the critical components of any learning process and achievement (Baker, 2002). This paper shall particularly focus on the following topics: metacognitive skills, the possible subskills under the metacognition category, and literature on the correlation between metacognition and academic performance. 

Theoretical Background 

Metacognition is divided into two main components: two elements of metacognition were identified: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation (Flavell, 1979). Metacognition is therefore defined as the knowledge of one’s cognitive activities and the contexts that shape or affect the activities. This ranges from information about what a person is good at and what he or she cannot do, to and preferred style of learning. Metacognition comprises knowledge and regulation of one’s learning and thinking and embraces many skills. Here are some examples: 

1. Planning: During a particular task, a student anticipates how they shall handle it, what they want to achieve and options of the strategies to apply. For instance, when one opts to divide a big task into subtasks and then determine when to do each of them. 
2. Monitoring: However, while reading a difficult text, a reader from time to time wonders if he or she comprehends what is being read. Otherwise, they may carry on and choose to come back to a certain part and read it again or perhaps check specific words they have not encountered before. 
3. Self-Questioning: Some questions learners may ask themselves are for instance, ‘Do I comprehend this concept?’ or ‘What can I do when I fail to comprehend this portion?’ such actions facilitate direct participation in the learning process and ensure that a learner focuses on parts that require more attention. 
4. Error Detection: A student becomes aware during a mathematical problem-solving process that they have made an error and proceeds to look for the error and correct it. 
5. Adjusting Strategies: If a student realizes that the strategy they initially chose to use while studying is not productive, they change the method, for example, they start using flashcards or join a group to study with. 
6. Time Management: A professional organises time to accomplish work activities, to rest and to revise at a certain time to be in order with the challenges. 
7. Seeking Help: Such a student sometimes realizes that he or she does not understand the topic in question, and therefore approaches a teacher and requests an explanation or turns to such additional aids as tutoring or watching certain tutorials online. 
8. Reflecting: A professional, after the accomplishment of a project, can review the strengths and/or weaknesses of the project, the various obstacles encountered and ways of operation in subsequent similar projects. 
9. Setting Goals: The learner created specific measurable targets relative to individual study periods like, “Sociology theories: I will be able to explain at least three by the weekends.” 
10. Task Analysis: This is the assigning of the simple sub-goals that a person takes when in a complex task and then sorts the sub-goals in the order of their priority and timeline. 
11. Self-Instruction: Practical self-talk that keeps one’s mind on the task and serves as a guide, for example, when a person says to themselves, “I have to collect all the necessities and then I outline the points. ” 

These metacognition skills that are promoted during the learning process can therefore be trained and improved upon to improve learning, problem-solving abilities and overall cognitive efficiency. 

Read More: How Common Habits May Harm Your Brain: A Guide to Protecting Cognitive Health

Components of Metacognitive Abilities

Metacognitive abilities consist of several key components, including Metacognitive abilities, consist of several key components, including: 

• Self-awareness: on the personal level, it deals with the capacity to look at one’s thinking processes and learning approaches. 
• Self-regulation: cognitive operation flexibility is defined as the self-regulatory power over the individual’s cognition faculties. 
• Self-motivation: volitional processes that operate in the process of goal setting and implementation of daily learning tasks. 
• Self-evaluation: the capacity to evaluate the results of learning and modify the teaching approaches following them. 

Empirical Research 

There are many works dedicated to the analysis of the connection between metacognitive skills and performance. For instance, Schraw et al (2006) in their study established that metacognition could be used to predict college learners’ performance.  Metacognition training was introduced in another study by Dignath et al. (2008) and they concluded that it helped enhance the problem-solving abilities of the elementary school-going children. Pintrich (2002) looked at the effect of metacognition on students’ academic success and noted that metacognitive regulation was by far the most influential on student’s performance in middle school. Moreover, Borkowski et al. (2000) established that training in metacognition enhances college students’ reading ability. 

Benefits of developing metacognitive abilities 

1. Enhanced Learning and Retention

• People can have rich knowledge about their learning mechanisms towards the improvement of acquisition and understanding of materials. 
• One can create metacognition by questioning, summing up, or thinking over the learning process and use all these as a way of enhancing learning and retention. 

2. Improved Problem-Solving Skills

• Metacognition enables the subject to arrest and evaluate the strategies that he/she has adopted for solving a problem hence ensuring enhanced efficiency in his/her approaches. 

3. Greater Self-Regulation

• It is suggested that enhancing metacognition abilities can help increase people’s capacity to manage time and achieve goals and tasks. 
• This self-regulation covers emotional regulation such as coping with stress which is an aspect of wellness. 

4. Increased Academic and Professional Performance

• Metacognition assists the students and professional’s focalization of assets and deficits, as well as the manipulation of cognition modes for optimal performance. 
• Critical appraisal and adaptability are beneficial for achievement in the academic and occupational environment. 

5. Lifelong Learning

• Meta-cognition promotes the development of the right attitude to learning which is more of a process to be undertaken throughout one’s lifetime. 
• These abilities help to learn new things throughout the lifetime, which furthers the career prospects and overall well-being. 

Ways to Develop Metacognitive Abilities 

1. Self-Reflection

• Use participation self-screener as a tool by which learning experiences can be evaluated and learning outcomes and strategies for further actions planned. 
• Writing down ideas and events that are observed can be quite useful in analyzing cognitive mechanisms. 

2. Questioning Strategie

• Engage in questioning that includes what, why, and how questions when the learning is going on and after the learning event, to create awareness and deepen learning. 
• Promote independent thinking by asking questions and exploring new ideas, concepts, and ways of doing things. 

3. Mindfulness and Meditation

• Participate in mindfulness and meditation processes to improve self-monitoring, working on the skills of how to control the process of thinking and feeling.
• They enhance attention, control of emotions and prefrontal control, or executive attentional functions as some scholars have termed it. 

4. Goal Setting and Planning

• It is recommended to establish particular objectives for personal guidance that may have the SMART characteristic, that is, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, or time-bound. 
• Based on these goals, come up with sub-goals and specific action plans of how to achieve these goals including modifications that can be made depending on the outcomes. 

5. Feedback and Self-Assessment

• A person should get feedback from peers, supervisors, and instructors as this will help him or her to determine his or her strengths and areas of weakness. 
• Teach to and learn from self that is by using self-assessment tools and techniques in determination of one’s learning process. 

6. Teaching and Peer Learning

• Explain the topics to other people as it helps in understanding the topic and points out the weakness in the knowledge of a particular subject. 
• Discuss information with other students in your classes so you can learn from each other through group discussions, study groups, and collaborative projects. 

7. Use of Metacognitive Strategies

• Use metacognitive strategies to increase the special subject knowledge and to improve memory and knowledge for retention: summarizing the information, constructing a concept map, and using techniques of mnemonic aids. 
• To make the strategy familiar, it is recommended to practice each of them frequently.

To sum up, one can state that metacognitive skills are essential for knowledge acquisition and achievement. Thus, knowing how people learn and about the mechanisms that operate within the individual, can enhance problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making. To this end, there is a need to also conduct future research that can pave the way for understanding the correlation between the different aspects of metacognition and achievement in other settings as well as in diverse students.