by Craig Pohlman, Ph.D., Senior Clinical Scholar, All Kinds of Minds
Riley is an 8th grader who has had trouble with math for several years. Fortunately, he knows why he has a hard time with math, especially solving word problems- he doesn’t do well with picking up little details. Though he understands math concepts and can remember procedures, missing a detail here or there derails his work. Being aware of his tendency to gloss over details has lead to certain strategies. For example, he often uses a highlighter to mark essential information in word problems before attempting any set-up or calculation. Knowing that his conceptual understanding and memory are strengths has kept him from getting too down on himself when he makes mistakes. In short, Riley’s self-insight has been key to managing his learning problem.
Metacognition is thinking about thinking. It includes insight into one’s own neurodevelopmental strengths and weaknesses (“What am I good at? What is hard for me?”), as well as one’s knowledge about learning in general (Pohlman, 2008). Metacognition is similar to Gardner’s (1999) intrapersonal intelligence, which constructs an accurate self-perception and uses it to make decisions.
Metacognition develops gradually between 4 and 12 years of age (Alexander, Johnson, Albano, Freygang, & Scott, 2006). Between the ages of 6 and 10, children get better at distinguishing good and bad reasoning processes and come to recognize that thinking intervenes between the world and our representation of and responses to it (Amsterlaw, 2006).
Learners benefit from good metacognition, which can sharpen self-insight regarding strategies for academic tasks, such as reading comprehension (Kolic-Vehovec & Bajsanski, 2006). Elementary school learners with math difficulty showed poor metacognition in that they were overconfident when predicting the number of math problems they could accurately solve and less accurate in evaluating the accuracy of their answers (Garrett, Mazzocco, & Baker, 2006). Perhaps more important than improved academic performance in the short term is how developing metacognition builds stronger resilience for the future (Brooks & Goldstein, 2001).
Here are some tips for improving metacognition:
- give very specific feedback on a student’s performance- what was done well (and why) and what could be improved (and how)
- ask students to think aloud and provide feedback on that thinking (such as suggesting the student consider another tactic for a problem or perspective on an issue)
- have students think aloud during group work, perhaps using some scripted questions to guide discussion
- debrief after activities or assignments, looking carefully at the approaches students used, how effective they were, and how they could have been better
- require students to reflect in journals; initially, students may need guiding questions such as, “What part of this assignment should be easy for me and what should be more challenging?”
- model metacognition by narrating your thinking
- in general, emphasize the importance of process, not just product; for example, how a problem is tackled is often more important than the accuracy of the solution
How did Riley, the 8th grader who glosses over math problem details, develop such keen metacognition? He has had teachers who sought to really understand him as a learner. His teachers weren’t content with merely marking his math solutions as “correct” or “incorrect.” They dug deep into the available evidence, identified a pattern, and then helped him to understand it. Riley recognizes that he superficially processes information in other subjects as well. But understanding himself as a learner gives him better than a fighting chance of succeeding, even in the face of his challenges.
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Alexander, J., Johnson, K., Albano, J., Freygang, T., & Scott, B. (2006). Relations between intelligence and the development of metaconceptual knowledge. Metacognition Learning 1, 51–67.
Amsterlaw, J. (2006). Children’s beliefs about everyday reasoning. Child Development, 77, 443-464.
Brooks, R., & Goldstein, S. (2001). Raising Resilient Children: Fostering Strength, Hope, and, Optimism in Your Child. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century, New York: Basic Books.
Garrett, A., Mazzocco, M., & Baker, L. (2006). Development of the metacognitive skills of prediction and evaluation in children with or without math disability. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 21, 77-88.
Kolic-Vehovec, S., & Bajsanski, I. (2006). Metacognitive strategies and reading comprehension in elementary-school students. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 21, 439-451.
Pohlman, C. (2008). Revealing Minds: Assessing to Understand and Support Struggling Learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
