Assessing and developing metacognitive skills — from Faculty Focus by MaryEllen Weimer
Excerpt:
Metacognition is easily defined: “[It] refers to the ability to reflect upon, understand and control one’s learning,” (Schraw and Dennison, p. 460) or, even more simply, “thinking about one’s thinking.” Despite straightforward definitions, metacognition is a complicated construct that has been the object of research for more than 30 years.
Research supports theories that separate metacognition into two major components: knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition. Knowledge of cognition “describes an individual’s awareness of cognition at three different levels: declarative (knowing about things), procedural (knowing about how to do things), and conditional (knowing why and when to do things).” (Cooper and Sandi-Urena, p. 240) Regulation of cognition relates to how learners control their learning. Relevant regulatory activities include planning, monitoring, and evaluating.