Thinking and questioning oneself has proven to be a useful and reliable approach for learning and retention since it allows you to apply what you have learned to new situations. Students who ask themselves questions are on their way to becoming metacognitive.
Metacognition simply refers to being aware of, analyzing, and comprehending one’s own mental processes. When pupils are metacognitive, they do more than just think; they analyze their thoughts, understand them, and apply them in areas where they are applicable. This aids in problem solving since they can generate solutions and correct replies – an important element of social and emotional learning (SEL).
What, then, can you do as a teacher to improve students’ metacognition in the classroom and beyond?
Focus
Picking a topic or target area is the first step. Students will benefit from this because it will help them focus their thoughts. Students will see why they must work on that issue based on inferences when the focus is on “why?”
Alternatively, you may write down a list of possible themes and let them pick from that.
Thinking and Procurement of Materials
Encourage children to think creatively and gather knowledge. You can ask them to come up with places in which they can find additional information on the topic at hand.
For example, if the topic is “The Life of Martin Luther,” they can get information online or do research from their books and piece everything together. So they came up with ideas, brainstormed, and gathered information using resources. What comes next?
Observing, analyzing, and applying
The next stage is to put all of this knowledge to good use in your business. The best way to use all of these resources to get the best results in respect to the “focus” is to put them to good use. Students can assess the material that is in front of them and sort through it to come up with the best strategy for putting it to use. It’s up to the students to assess whether or not they’ve delivered on their potential. Even if it isn’t, they can always try to make improvements.
Students can use metacognition as a potent problem-solving tool, and the best thing is that it works in both academic and social settings.
