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© PMB 2007
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities
Unit 6
Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking and Learning
© PMB 2007
Learning Intentions
You will:
• know what is meant by ‘metacognition’;
• be aware of a range of strategies for promoting metacognition in the classroom; and
• know how to plan and run an effective plenary session.
© PMB 2007
What Is Metacognition?
• ‘thinking about thinking’
• ‘awareness of the process of learning’
• ‘knowing what we know and what we don’t know’
• ‘overseeing learning’
© PMB 2007
Knowledge and Control
… of Thinking• Knowledge about
- thinking in general
-own thinking (awareness)
• Control of thinking - planning - adapting - evaluating
How am I going to do it?Is it similar to anything I’ve done before?Is it one of those?
Do I understand it so far?Do I need to ask a question?Am I on the right track?Am I still on task?Is there a better way?
How did I do it?What method/strategy worked?What did I learn?Did my plan work out?Can I learn from my mistakes?Can I do better next time?
© PMB 2007
Knowledge and Control
… of Thinking• Knowledge about
- thinking in general
-own thinking (awareness)
• Control of thinking - planning - adapting - evaluating
… of Self
• Commitment - skill with will
• Attitude - positive
• Attention - turning on and tuning
in
© PMB 2007
What is Metacognition?
‘It is the ability of the learner to plan, monitor, redirect and evaluate how they think and learn.’
© PMB 2007
Activity 1Metacognition in Your Classroom
If metacognition was being prompted and supported in your classroom:• What would you be doing?• What would your pupils be doing?
© PMB 2007
• Challenging tasks• Modelling thinking• Thinking diagrams• Language for thinking• Time to think
• Thinking aloud• Sustained dialogue
about thinking• Joint thinking• Making connections
Characteristics of the Metacognitive Classroom
© PMB 2007
Talking About Thinking • Have pupils describe what they are thinking.
• Model processes by thinking aloud.
• Share a common language.• Label thinking processes.• Have pairs solve problems.• Use reciprocal teaching.• Use plenaries to debrief
thinking processes.
Strategies for Developing Metacognition
© PMB 2007
Pupil Planning and Self-Regulation
• Use open-ended tasks• Involve pupils in monitoring
and self-assessment.
Keep a Learning Log • Use logs to reflect and record strategies, successes and difficulties.
Strategies for Developing Metacognition
© PMB 2007
Strategies in Practice
We are learning to: work together to solve problems
Remember to:
• explain the problem to a partner;• try to think of lots of ways to solve the problem; and• talk with others about how to record the answers.
© PMB 2007
Strategies in Practice
Strategies in Practice
© PMB 2007
Strategies in Practice
© PMB 2007
Activity 2Using Plenaries
• What do you consider to be the main purpose of a plenary?• What are the characteristics of an effective plenary?• What are the main challenges/threats to an effective plenary?• What are some solutions to these challenges/threats?
© PMB 2007
Key Points
• Promoting metacognition helps pupils take more control of their learning.
• There are a range of strategies that promote metacognition.• Planning plenary sessions is a good starting point for
developing metacognition.• Plenaries are a part of the learning process:
– They occur at strategic moments in the teaching sequence and not just the end.
– They help make the TS&PC explicit.– They introduce and develop a common language to talk about
thinking and learning.– They need to be planned and focused.