Problem 2 – Woolfolk, Ormrod
METACOGNITION
- knowledge or awareness of self as a knower, thinking about thinking
- Knowing what one’s own learning and memory capabilities
- Knowing what learning tasks one can realistically accomplish
- Knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not
- Planning a viable approach to a new learning ask
- Tailoring learning strategies to circumstances
- Monitoring one’s present knowledge state
- Knowing effective strategies for retrieval of stored information
Involves 3 kinds of knowledge:
- Declarative knowledge: knowing what to do
- Procedural knowledge: knowing how to use the strategies
- Self-regulatory knowledge: knowing the conditions, when and why
o Metacognition is the strategic application of these 3 knowledges to accomplish
goals and solve problems.
Metacognition regulates thinking and learning and there are 3 essential skills:
o Planning: deciding how much time to give a task, which strategies to use, how to
start, which resources to gather, what order to follow, what to skim, what to give
attention to and etc.
o Monitoring: real-time awareness of ‘How I’m doing’, ‘Is this making sense?’, ‘Have I
studied enough?’, ‘Am I going too fast?’ etc.
o Evaluating: making judgements about the processes and outcomes of thinking and
learning, ‘Should I change strategies or get help?’
o Adapting: new strategies if the old ones didn’t work
Metacognition is most useful when tasks are challenging, but not too difficult. Even when
we are planning, monitoring, evaluating the processes are not necessarily conscious.
DEVELOPING METACOGNITION
- Children become increasingly aware of the nature of thinking. Children develop personal
theories and theory of mind which includes increasingly complex understandings of their
own and other people’s mental states, thoughts, feelings, motives etc. (age 5-7)
- Children become increasingly realistic about their memory capabilities and limitations.
Young children tend to be overly optimistic and as they grow older they discover some
things are harder to learn and remember than others.
- Children become increasingly aware of effective learning and memory strategies.
o 9-10-year-olds focus their efforts on the more difficult items
o At 7-8-years-old spontaneous rehearsal increases. At 9-10 they use cumulative
rehearsal, reciting the entire list and adding new items
o They become more flexible in the organizational strategies
o Use of elaboration continues as they grow
- Children engage in more comprehension monitoring as the get older. Even college students
often over/underestimate how well they will perform/performed on an exam.
- Some learning processes may be unconscious and automatic at first but they become more
conscious and deliberate with development.
, MEICHENBAUM’S MODEL about self-instructions that guide behavior:
1- Cognitive modeling: an adult model performs the task while verbalizing instructions that
guide performance
2- Overt, external guidance: the child performs the task while listening to the adult verbalize
the instructions
3- Overt self-guidance: the child repeats the instructions aloud (talks to himself) while
performing the task and
4- Faded, overt self-guidance: the child whispers the instructions aloud while performing the
task
5- Covert self-instruction: the child silently thinks about the instructions while performing the
task
SELF-REGULATION:
- Setting standards and goals: establishing criteria and identifying certain goals
- Self-observation: objective observation of yourself in action
- Self-evaluation: judge and evaluate own behaviors based on personal standards
- Self-reaction: self-praise and self-criticism to influence reinforcements and punishments
- Self-reflection: examine goals, actions, abilities and make adjustments
SELF-REGULATED LEARNING
- Self-regulated learning is the process we use to activate out thoughts, emotions and
behavior to reach our learning goals.
- Metacognition is important for this process.
- Self-regulated learning is stored in long-term memory.
- Self-regulated learning includes: (the order is important)
1) Goal setting: self-regulated learners know what they want to accomplish. They tie their
immediate studying goals to longer-term goals. They set deadlines as a way of making sure
they don’t leave important tasks until the last minute.
2) Planning: self-regulating learners plan their approach to a learning task and use their time
effectively to accomplish goals. They devote their time to more challenging material and
they may intentionally ignore too difficult material.
3) Self-motivation: self-regulating learners have high self-efficacy. They show considerable
self-discipline, putting work before pleasure. They use many strategies to keep themselves
on task like pep talks or rewards afterwards.
4) Attention control: self-regulating learners try to focus their attention on the subject at
hand and clear their minds of distracting thoughts and emotions
METACOGNITION
- knowledge or awareness of self as a knower, thinking about thinking
- Knowing what one’s own learning and memory capabilities
- Knowing what learning tasks one can realistically accomplish
- Knowing which learning strategies are effective and which are not
- Planning a viable approach to a new learning ask
- Tailoring learning strategies to circumstances
- Monitoring one’s present knowledge state
- Knowing effective strategies for retrieval of stored information
Involves 3 kinds of knowledge:
- Declarative knowledge: knowing what to do
- Procedural knowledge: knowing how to use the strategies
- Self-regulatory knowledge: knowing the conditions, when and why
o Metacognition is the strategic application of these 3 knowledges to accomplish
goals and solve problems.
Metacognition regulates thinking and learning and there are 3 essential skills:
o Planning: deciding how much time to give a task, which strategies to use, how to
start, which resources to gather, what order to follow, what to skim, what to give
attention to and etc.
o Monitoring: real-time awareness of ‘How I’m doing’, ‘Is this making sense?’, ‘Have I
studied enough?’, ‘Am I going too fast?’ etc.
o Evaluating: making judgements about the processes and outcomes of thinking and
learning, ‘Should I change strategies or get help?’
o Adapting: new strategies if the old ones didn’t work
Metacognition is most useful when tasks are challenging, but not too difficult. Even when
we are planning, monitoring, evaluating the processes are not necessarily conscious.
DEVELOPING METACOGNITION
- Children become increasingly aware of the nature of thinking. Children develop personal
theories and theory of mind which includes increasingly complex understandings of their
own and other people’s mental states, thoughts, feelings, motives etc. (age 5-7)
- Children become increasingly realistic about their memory capabilities and limitations.
Young children tend to be overly optimistic and as they grow older they discover some
things are harder to learn and remember than others.
- Children become increasingly aware of effective learning and memory strategies.
o 9-10-year-olds focus their efforts on the more difficult items
o At 7-8-years-old spontaneous rehearsal increases. At 9-10 they use cumulative
rehearsal, reciting the entire list and adding new items
o They become more flexible in the organizational strategies
o Use of elaboration continues as they grow
- Children engage in more comprehension monitoring as the get older. Even college students
often over/underestimate how well they will perform/performed on an exam.
- Some learning processes may be unconscious and automatic at first but they become more
conscious and deliberate with development.
, MEICHENBAUM’S MODEL about self-instructions that guide behavior:
1- Cognitive modeling: an adult model performs the task while verbalizing instructions that
guide performance
2- Overt, external guidance: the child performs the task while listening to the adult verbalize
the instructions
3- Overt self-guidance: the child repeats the instructions aloud (talks to himself) while
performing the task and
4- Faded, overt self-guidance: the child whispers the instructions aloud while performing the
task
5- Covert self-instruction: the child silently thinks about the instructions while performing the
task
SELF-REGULATION:
- Setting standards and goals: establishing criteria and identifying certain goals
- Self-observation: objective observation of yourself in action
- Self-evaluation: judge and evaluate own behaviors based on personal standards
- Self-reaction: self-praise and self-criticism to influence reinforcements and punishments
- Self-reflection: examine goals, actions, abilities and make adjustments
SELF-REGULATED LEARNING
- Self-regulated learning is the process we use to activate out thoughts, emotions and
behavior to reach our learning goals.
- Metacognition is important for this process.
- Self-regulated learning is stored in long-term memory.
- Self-regulated learning includes: (the order is important)
1) Goal setting: self-regulated learners know what they want to accomplish. They tie their
immediate studying goals to longer-term goals. They set deadlines as a way of making sure
they don’t leave important tasks until the last minute.
2) Planning: self-regulating learners plan their approach to a learning task and use their time
effectively to accomplish goals. They devote their time to more challenging material and
they may intentionally ignore too difficult material.
3) Self-motivation: self-regulating learners have high self-efficacy. They show considerable
self-discipline, putting work before pleasure. They use many strategies to keep themselves
on task like pep talks or rewards afterwards.
4) Attention control: self-regulating learners try to focus their attention on the subject at
hand and clear their minds of distracting thoughts and emotions
