Metacognition
"Metacognition lies at the tool of all learning... self-knowledge, awareness of how and why we think as we do, and the ability to adapt and learn, are critical to our survival as individuals..."
James Zull, From Brain to Mind
James Zull, From Brain to Mind
I make METACOGNITION the word of the week our first week. Students love going home and telling their parents about their new word. Then we spend the year developing the skills of recognizing our thought processes, articulating, and then honing our thought processes. Perfect platform for the Habits of Mind.
Metacognition
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Quotable...
I thank the Lord for the brain He put in my head. Occasionally, I love to just stand to one side and watch how it works.
-Richard Bolles |
Metacognition is the word we use to describe the act of thinking about our thinking. Meta mening self and congntion meaning thinking. So metacogntion becomes thinking about our thinking.
Successful people actively monitor their own thinking. They install plans of actions in their minds and monitor them as they are enacted. When they finish a task they reflect back on it and evaluate how well their thinking strategies served them. This tendency to monitor the thoughts that lead to our actions, vs just our actions, is a hallmark of a successful person.
First, there is the forward planning, visualizing and predicting that goes on. For example, an athlete that is preparing for an event might visualize their performance and monitor and focus their thoughts so that only positive or relevant thoughts are coming into their mind.
Metacognition involves the monitoring of thoughts during an action. For example, as an engineer is solving a problem, working through their carefully layed out plan of action, they will be monitoring their progress, asking themselves if the strategies they are employing are working? Are they being distracted? Should they be considering another alternative?
After an event is finished, a successful person will reflect back and ask how it went. What should they do differently next time? Where their thoughts as focused as they should have been? Does something need to change in order to be more successful in the future?
Metacognition isn't just thinking, it is thinking about your thinking. It is the predictive, monitoriing and reflective process that goes on in order to improve our thinking strategies.
The video below shows Art Costa talking about Metacognition.
Successful people actively monitor their own thinking. They install plans of actions in their minds and monitor them as they are enacted. When they finish a task they reflect back on it and evaluate how well their thinking strategies served them. This tendency to monitor the thoughts that lead to our actions, vs just our actions, is a hallmark of a successful person.
First, there is the forward planning, visualizing and predicting that goes on. For example, an athlete that is preparing for an event might visualize their performance and monitor and focus their thoughts so that only positive or relevant thoughts are coming into their mind.
Metacognition involves the monitoring of thoughts during an action. For example, as an engineer is solving a problem, working through their carefully layed out plan of action, they will be monitoring their progress, asking themselves if the strategies they are employing are working? Are they being distracted? Should they be considering another alternative?
After an event is finished, a successful person will reflect back and ask how it went. What should they do differently next time? Where their thoughts as focused as they should have been? Does something need to change in order to be more successful in the future?
Metacognition isn't just thinking, it is thinking about your thinking. It is the predictive, monitoriing and reflective process that goes on in order to improve our thinking strategies.
The video below shows Art Costa talking about Metacognition.