Thinking About Thinking: Metacognition

Early mention of metacognition, which means thinking about thinking, was made by Flavell (1979). Since then, metacognition has received continuous attention as a key factor in problem-solving.

Mayer (1998) proposes that having metacognitive knowledge is one of three essential ingredients of problem-solving (together with skill and will). Meanwhile, metacognitive ability is included by Sternberg (1999) as one of five key contributors to intelligence. Sternberg's incremental view of intelligence would suggest that metacognitive ability is an expertise that can be taught and learned. Viewing metacognitive ability as a component of intelligence concurs with the writing of Resnick (1987), who stated that research in psychology suggests that important general metacognitive skills apply across different situations, including:

keeping track of one's own understanding of the issue under consideration
organising one's attention
organising the available resources
reviewing one's own progress.

(Resnick, 1987, p. 17)

Some people will discover metacognitive strategies by themselves (perhaps through trial and error), but others will not (Westwood, 1997). After drawing together the results of a number of studies, Pressley and Ghatala (1990) concluded that metacognitive monitoring is poor in early childhood, and still far from ideal in adults. Winne (1997) cautioned that expecting people to develop strategies such as metacognition through a process of trial and error is inefficient. Rather, educators of children and adults should give people the chance to understand, practise and use metacognition.

However, simply teaching people about metacognitive strategies does not mean that they will choose to adopt those strategies. People need personal proof that such strategies generate desired outcomes more effectively than their previous methods of approaching problem situations (Zimmerman, 1990). Mayer (1998) proposed that metacognition can be taught, but that it must be done in realistic problem-solving contexts. If relationships between real life and the learning situation, or between different learning situations, remain implicit, it could well mean that knowledge is not generalised across different situations (Poell, van der Krogt, & Wildemeersch, 1998). Pressley (1995) argued that self-regulatory strategies such as metacognition cannot be developed with one or a few experiences but must be part of a lifelong developing expertise associated with expert, scaffolded teaching.

In summary, it appears that the relevant research and literature agree that metacognitive strategies are an essential component of people's ability to engage with problem solving and situations that require the learning of new skills. Furthermore, by making clear the rules and steps that improve performance, metacognitive instruction also conveys the message that people are capable of applying such strategies and therefore altering their perceptions of their own self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Schunk, 1989). Knapper and Cropley (2000) added that it is extremely important that people are able to articulate or explain their metacognition, as this brings reflection into conscious awareness and permits communication within a community of learners and workers.

Comment
Metacognition helps people view a situation from a larger perspective and contributes to both their personal mental health and wellbeing and their understanding of their work or their study.

References
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman.

Flavell, J. H. (1979). 'Metacognition and cognitive monitoring.' American Psychologist, 34, 906-911.

Knapper, C. K. & Cropley, A. J. (2000). Lifelong learning in higher education. (3rd ed.). London: Kogan Page.

Mayer, R. (1998). 'Cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational aspects of problem solving.' Instructional Science, 26, 49-63.

Nickerson, R. S. (1994). 'The teaching of thinking and problem solving.' In E. C. Carterette & M. P. Friedman (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition: Thinking and problem solving (2nd ed., pp. 409-449). California: Academic Press.

Poell, R. F., van der Krogt, F. J., & Wildemeersch, D. A. (1998). 'Solving work-related problems through learning projects.' International Journal of Lifelong Education, 17, 341-351.

Pressley, M. (1995). 'More about the development of self-regulation: Complex, long-term, and thoroughly social.' Educational Psychologist, 30, 201-212.

Pressley, M. & Ghatala, E. S. (1990). 'Self-regulated learning: Monitoring learning from text.' Educational Psychologist, 25, 19-33.

Resnick, L. B. (1987). Education and learning to think. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Schunk, D. H. (1989). 'Social-cognitive theory and self-regulated learning.' In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.), Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theory, research and practice (pp. 83-110). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Sternberg, R. J. (1999). 'Intelligence as developing expertise.' Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24, 359-375.

Westwood, P. (1997). Commonsense methods for children with special needs. (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.

Winne, P. H. (1997). 'Experimenting to bootstrap self-regulated learning.' Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 397-410.

Zimmerman, B. J. (1990). 'Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An overview.' Educational Psychologist, 25, 3-17.