Miha LeeProfessor RivasSED 6009 May 2007MetacognitionA proverb says, “Don’t give your child fish. Instead, teach him how to catch fish.”This highlights the concept of transfer of learning. Even though we learn many disciplinesand subjects through our schools, we will forget majority of content knowledge we havelearned unless we use it in our life. However, we are aware of the fact that we developuseful knowledge and skills from the school learning to cope with problems of our life.Metacognition is all about transfer of learning.Metacognition is not about knowledge, but about how to acquire knowledge.Metacognition is thinking about and regulating one’s own thinking process. It differentiatesexpert learners from novice learners. Expert learners are people who employ effectivelearning techniques; monitor their own learning; evaluate their achievement (NationalResearch Council, 2000). Students need to learn metacognitive skills to take control of theirown learning and thus become more effective learners. It requires for students to evaluatetheir comprehension; reflect on the quality of their work; make adjustments in theirlearning strategies; strive to understand how concepts are inter-related; search for deeperexplanation (Herr, n.d.). The ability to recognize the limits of one’s current knowledge, then take steps toremedy the situation is extremely important for learners at all age. A metacognitiveapproach to instruction can help students learn the ability by defining learning goal andmonitoring their progress in achieving them (NRC, 2000). Metacognition involves threesteps to take: the development, implementation, and evaluation of a learning plan. Duringthe development, students establish goals about what need to be learned and to what depth;determine relevant prior knowledge and skills; define task requirements such as time,schedule, and evaluation criteria; select resources including books, peers, authorites andelectronic references that will assist them in reaching their goals. During implementation,learners apply diverse strategies such as mnemonics, induction, deduction, conceptmapping, outlining, dimensional analysis, and elaboration. They also evaluate theeffectiveness of these strategies with formative assessments including self-questioning,checklists, outlines and notes, and then modify their learning plans as necessary. Asstudents build up their metacognitive skills, they gain confidence and become independentlearners who are determining and pursuing their own intellectual needs (Herr, n.d.).One of metacognitive approaches to instructions was reciprocal teaching in whichstudents worked in groups (guided by a teacher) to help one another read withunderstanding. Another approach was to engage students in self-explanation when theysolved mathematics problems. This self-monitoring and reflection resulted in deeperconceptual understanding. Instructions where students have opportunities to build and testtheir models or hypotheses also help them develop the self-assessment skill. Discussionswhere students and teachers can express different views and explore which ones appear tomake the most sense facilitate metacognition as well (NRC, 2005). For science teachers,changing learning activities to accommodate inquiry can help take a metacognitiveapproach to instruction. During inquiry activities, periodic questions that asked students toreflect on and briefly explain how they know, what they were doing and why proved to beeffective in promoting one aspect of metacognition – high level reasoning skills (NRC,2005). In sum, we should find ways to incorporate metacognitive skills into our teachingpractices. However, care must be taken when we design lessons so that we combine notonly the process but also the product. We are well aware of that content knowledge alsohelps develop systematic thought process. Ultimately, students need to learn metacognitiveskills to transfer their learning to their lives. ReferncesHerr, N., (n.d.). The sourcebook for teaching science, Retrieved May 7, 2007 fromhttps://webteach.csun.edu:31987/SCRIPT/ScienceEducation_Herr/scripts/serve_homeNational Research Council, (2000). How people learn, Washington, DC: The NationalAcademies Press.National Research Council, (2005). How students learn: science in the classroom,Washington, DC: The National Academies