1.8C Problem 3
How Do You Monitor Your Learning?
Metacognitive
Metacognitive knowledge and Regulation
Metacognition- cognition about cognition or thinking about thinking
Artelt and Schnedier- metacognition consists of:
o Knowledge- about our own info-processing capabilities cognitive
tasks you face, strategies needed to cope with tasks
o Skills- involving applying strategies
Metacognition is higher-order knowledge about thinking, ability to use
knowledge to manage own cognitive processes
Eg. knowing when to skim, what time of day most productive, where to focus,
if you understood, making plans, using strategies, if you studied enough, etc.
Metacognition involves appreciating value of using cognitive strategies, and
strategic application of:
1. Declarative knowledge- knowing what: about yourself as learner, factors
influencing learning and memory, skills/strategies/resources needed to
perform task
2. Procedural knowledge- know how to use the strategies
3. Self-regulatory knowledge- knowing the conditions, when and why to apply
procedures and strategies
Three essential metacognitive skills:
Planning- deciding how much time to give a task, strategies to use, where to
start, resources to gather, what order to follow
Monitoring- real-time awareness of “how I’m doing” “is this making sense” “am I
going to fast” “should I be note-taking”
Evaluating- making judgements about the processes and outcomes of thinking
and learning
(Mnemonic- Penguins Make Ecstasy)
Metacognition most helpful when tasks challenging, but not too hard
Individual Differences in Metacognition
o Difference in ability to use metacognitive strategies
Some result of development
o Children grow older, exercise executive control over strategies
o MC strategies start development around 5-7 years
Knowing and doing are not the same
o Differences caused by biology or learning experiences
Learning Strategies
Good learning strategies help students learn, these strats can be taught
How we first learn influences how we remember info and apply knowledge later
Must be:
1. Cognitively engaged
2. Focus attention on relevant aspects
3. Invest effort, make connections, elaborate, translate, invent, organise, retrieve
into, process deeply
a. More practice and process, better learning
4. Metacognition- regulating and monitoring their own learning
Being Strategic About Learning
Learning strategies- kind of procedural knowledge, knowing how to do
something
Some general and taught in school, others subject specific, others invented by
individual
Can be: cognitive- summarising, identifying the main idea, metacognitive-
monitoring comprehension or behavioural- timer to work until time’s up
Ways to accomplish task, intentionally applied when usual methods aren’t
working, and strategic effort is needed
, Skilled learners have many strategies that can be applied nearly automatically,
have higher GPAs
Important principles for students:
1. Exposed to different strategies, both general and specific
2. Taught SR (self-regulatory) knowledge about when, where, why to use various
strategies
3. Desire to employ these skills: several learning strategy programs inc
motivational training
4. Believe they can learn new strategies, effort will pay off, can get smarter
applying these strategies
5. Background knowledge, useful schemas in area being studied
Examples of Learning strategies
o Deciding What’s Important
Learning starts with focussing attention on what’s important
Students often focus on seductive details as they are more
interesting
Finding central idea hard if lack knowledge in the area and the new
info provided is extensive
o Summaries
Should teach students to summarise
Ask them to:
Find topic sentence for each paragraph
Identify big ideas covering several points
Find supporting info for big ideas
Delete redundant info
o Begin with short, easy, organised reading before harder passages
o Underlining and highlighting
Most frequent but ineffectively used strategies in college students
Highlight too much
Ask yourself: why highlight this, why is it important? -stimulates
deeper processing and retrieval practice
How Do You Monitor Your Learning?
Metacognitive
Metacognitive knowledge and Regulation
Metacognition- cognition about cognition or thinking about thinking
Artelt and Schnedier- metacognition consists of:
o Knowledge- about our own info-processing capabilities cognitive
tasks you face, strategies needed to cope with tasks
o Skills- involving applying strategies
Metacognition is higher-order knowledge about thinking, ability to use
knowledge to manage own cognitive processes
Eg. knowing when to skim, what time of day most productive, where to focus,
if you understood, making plans, using strategies, if you studied enough, etc.
Metacognition involves appreciating value of using cognitive strategies, and
strategic application of:
1. Declarative knowledge- knowing what: about yourself as learner, factors
influencing learning and memory, skills/strategies/resources needed to
perform task
2. Procedural knowledge- know how to use the strategies
3. Self-regulatory knowledge- knowing the conditions, when and why to apply
procedures and strategies
Three essential metacognitive skills:
Planning- deciding how much time to give a task, strategies to use, where to
start, resources to gather, what order to follow
Monitoring- real-time awareness of “how I’m doing” “is this making sense” “am I
going to fast” “should I be note-taking”
Evaluating- making judgements about the processes and outcomes of thinking
and learning
(Mnemonic- Penguins Make Ecstasy)
Metacognition most helpful when tasks challenging, but not too hard
Individual Differences in Metacognition
o Difference in ability to use metacognitive strategies
Some result of development
o Children grow older, exercise executive control over strategies
o MC strategies start development around 5-7 years
Knowing and doing are not the same
o Differences caused by biology or learning experiences
Learning Strategies
Good learning strategies help students learn, these strats can be taught
How we first learn influences how we remember info and apply knowledge later
Must be:
1. Cognitively engaged
2. Focus attention on relevant aspects
3. Invest effort, make connections, elaborate, translate, invent, organise, retrieve
into, process deeply
a. More practice and process, better learning
4. Metacognition- regulating and monitoring their own learning
Being Strategic About Learning
Learning strategies- kind of procedural knowledge, knowing how to do
something
Some general and taught in school, others subject specific, others invented by
individual
Can be: cognitive- summarising, identifying the main idea, metacognitive-
monitoring comprehension or behavioural- timer to work until time’s up
Ways to accomplish task, intentionally applied when usual methods aren’t
working, and strategic effort is needed
, Skilled learners have many strategies that can be applied nearly automatically,
have higher GPAs
Important principles for students:
1. Exposed to different strategies, both general and specific
2. Taught SR (self-regulatory) knowledge about when, where, why to use various
strategies
3. Desire to employ these skills: several learning strategy programs inc
motivational training
4. Believe they can learn new strategies, effort will pay off, can get smarter
applying these strategies
5. Background knowledge, useful schemas in area being studied
Examples of Learning strategies
o Deciding What’s Important
Learning starts with focussing attention on what’s important
Students often focus on seductive details as they are more
interesting
Finding central idea hard if lack knowledge in the area and the new
info provided is extensive
o Summaries
Should teach students to summarise
Ask them to:
Find topic sentence for each paragraph
Identify big ideas covering several points
Find supporting info for big ideas
Delete redundant info
o Begin with short, easy, organised reading before harder passages
o Underlining and highlighting
Most frequent but ineffectively used strategies in college students
Highlight too much
Ask yourself: why highlight this, why is it important? -stimulates
deeper processing and retrieval practice
