Lesson 2:

Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking

-
Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.

-Margaret Mead

Introduction

Today, facilitating, learning is aimed at assisting learners in acquiring expected

competencies. In addition, the facilitation of learning addresses the expected competencies to
help them understand their learning and thinking. Research finding have shown that
metacognitive thinking operates as a vital skill to other skills like problem-solving, creative
thinking, and critical thinking. The good news is that metacognition can be taught. In this
chapter, you will discover the nature of metacognition, its components, and how metacognitive
processes work in the classroom. In this chapter, you are expected to:

 Explain metacognition and its components;

 Delineate the relationship between metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive
processes; and
 Identify effective metacognitive teaching strategies to facilitate learning.

DO I UNDERSTAND
THE MESSAGE THE
AUTHOR HAS
WHAT DO I KNOW WRITTEN?
ABOUT THIS STORY?

I AM SURE MY ANSWER
IS CORRECT.
 Topic 1
Metacognition and Metacognitive Knowledge

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

 Explain the meaning of metacognition and metacognitive knowledge

 Determine metacognitive knowledge required in a specific competency; and
 Apply concepts learned in assessing your work and other’s output.

THINK

Definition of Metacognition
 The term metacognition is attributed to Flavell. He described it as “Knowledge
concerning one’s cognitive processes and products or anything related to them, e.g., the
learning-relevant properties of information and data.” Furthermore, he referred to it as “the
active monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration of these processes concerning
the cognitive objects or data on which they bear, usually in the service of some concrete goal or
objective” (Flavell, 1976). Simply stated, metacognition is “knowledge and cognition about
cognitive phenomena” (Flavell, 1979). The meaning metamorphosed into “thinking about
thinking,” “knowing about knowing,” and “cognition about cognition.”

Components of Metacognitive

The elements of metacognition are metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive

regulation (Flavell, 2004). These two elements are interrelated; the presence of the first one
enhances the second element.

Metacognitive knowledge (also called Knowledge of cognition) refers to “what

individuals know about their cognition or cognition in general”(Schraw, 2002). It involves three
kinds of metacognitive awareness, namely: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and
conditional knowledge (see Figure 1).

Declarative
Knowledge Procedural Conditional
 Knowledge about things Knowledge Knowledge
 Knowledge about one’s  Knowledge on how  Knowledge on
own abilities do things when and why to
 Knowledge about factors apply cognitive acts
 Knowledge on how to
affecting one’s own
execute skills  Knowledge on
performance
when a strategy is
appropriate

Figure 1. Components of metacognitive knowledge

Declarative knowledge or personal knowledge is the learner’s knowledge about things. It also
refers to the learner’s understanding of own abilities, and the knowledge about oneself as a learner and
of the factors that moderate one’s performance. This type of knowledge is not always accurate as the
learner’s evaluation of his or her capabilities may be unreliable. For instance, that Manila is the capital of
the Philippines and that oases is the plural form of oases are examples of declarative knowledge.

Procedural Knowledge or task knowledge involves the knowledge of how to do things and how
skills or competencies are executed. The assessment on the learner’s task knowledge includes what
knowledge is needed (content) and the space available to communicate what is known (length). A
learner given a problem-solving task, for instance, knows that perquisite information and prior skills are
necessary to be recalled and readily executed at given time to solve the problem. Such knowledge gives
confidence in working with the problem.

Conditional Knowledge or strategy knowledge refers to the ability to know when and why
various cognitive acts should be applied. It involves using strategies to learn information (knowing how
to know) as well as adapting them to novel contexts (knowing when strategy is appropriate). This
knowledge is evident in a learner who seeks the help of a school nurse to make a report on the
communicable diseases prevalent in the community as well as this learner’s knowledge that the best
way to gather the information is to interview a nurse and to go over the health records of the Municipal
Health Office of the town.

Metacognitive knowledge is the result of an individual’s metacognitive experiences. Flavell

(1979) explained them as experiences that “an individual has through which knowledge is attained, or
through regulation occurs.” A learner who obtained low scores in knowledge skills test becomes aware
that he or she has low declarative and procedural knowledge. In contrast, a learner who has always
scored highest in both the content and skills test has strong confidence in his adequacy of knowledge in
the subject.

Similarly, metacognitive knowledge depends so much on the learner’s metamemory, the

knowledge of what memory is, how it works, and how to remember things. Through instruction and
individual effort, metamemory develops over time. For instance, learners who have been taught how to
organize information and use rehearsal strategies have richer metamemory. They can retrieve
declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge when required by the task.

EXPERIENCE

Metacognitive thinking among learners provides avenues for them to learn more. Two aspects
of metacognitive instruction is content knowledge (concepts, facts, procedures) and strategic knowledge
(heuristic, metacognitive, learning). It is essential that to think through a process, learners must have the
content knowledge to think about something. One also needs to have a heuristic (shortcut) or algorithm
(formula) to follow in developing the skills (Medina et al., 2017). Instruction should have content
component and direct instruction on how work through a process.
 Another consideration is the potential of cooperative learning in teaching metacognition.
Engaging learners in collaborative discussion of the learning task enables them to enhance their
learning. During the discussion, learners think about their way of thinking and their reflection after the
lesson demonstrates a metacognitive way of thinking. The learners identify the main components of the
learning strategy and realize how the strategy helps them to learn (Eldar et al., 2012). Collaborative
teaching strategies are, therefore, useful tools to enhance learners’ reflective thinking.

ASSESS

Activity 1: Use the Frayer vocabulary definition model to explain the three metacognitive knowledge
(e.g., declarative knowledge as shown below). With this as a guide, explain your definition to the class.

Definition: Characteristics:

Declarative
Examples: Knowledge Non-examples:

Activity2: Identify if the following thoughts are more a declarative, procedural, or conditional
knowledge. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

1. I know that the context of this problem is the suited to the theory.p
2. There are three ways to solve this problem.p
3. This fact is essential to recall for the situation presented.p
4. ROYGBIV makes it easy for me to remember the colors of the rainbow.c
5. This is an irregular verb, thus, adding-ed to the world to make it past tense does not apply.d

CHALLENGE

1. Why is metacognitive important to teacher and a learner?

 ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

2. Is prior knowledge essential in developing metacognitive knowledge? Justify your answer.

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

3. Using available search tools, read about organization, rehearsal, and elaboration strategies as
learners’ aid enhance the content of the metamemory. With the diverse types of learners in the
classroom, how would you use these strategies to benefit your learners?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

HARNESS

1. Considering your subject specialization, choose one competency related to a topic from text
used in a particular grade level, then identify the metacognitive knowledge necessary for you
include in the teaching the desired competency. Use the matrix below as a guide.

Competency:

Subject Matter:

Metacognitive Knowledge Specific skills to develop in the Lesson

Declarative Knowledge

Procedural Knowledge

Conditional Knowledge
2. Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours: with your output in Activities 1 and 2, get a partner and critic
each other’s work. Explain the specifics on what needs to be refined.

THE LESSON IN CAPSULE

Metacognition is one’s awareness of his or her thinking and the ability to control it while
processing a task. It involves metacognitive knowledge, which comprises three components:
declarative knowledge (knowledge about things), procedural knowledge (Knowledge of processes),
and conditional knowledge (Knowledge of what is appropriate for the context or situation). These
components of knowledge are influenced by metacognitive experiences and metamemory.
 Topic 2
Metacognition Regulation and Control

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this topic, you will be able to:

 Explain the meaning of metacognition regulation;

 Determine your dominant approach in learning and studying;
 Analyze the relationship among the tree metacognitive processes: planning,
monitoring, and evaluating; and
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 Operationalize metacognitive processes in a given situation or context.

THINK
Metacognitive regulation and Control

Metacognitive regulation is the second element of metacognition. Whereas

metacognitive knowledge refers to the learners’ knowledge or beliefs about the affect cognitive
skills, metacognitive regulation pertains to their ability to keep track of (monitor) and assess
their knowledge or learning. It includes their ability to find out what, when, and how to use a
particular skill for a given task. In this manner, they can control their learning. Self-regulation is
essential in metacognition.

To illustrate metacognitive regulation, consider a student in a Speech class; he or she

knows when word is mispronounced as it sounds unpleasant, thus, he or she consults an
electronic dictionary to listen to how the word should be pronounced. Following the model, the
pronunciation is improved.

Metacognitive regulation involves three processes: setting goals and planning,

monitoring and controlling learning and evaluating own regulation (see Figure 2)

PLANNING
Metacognitive Experiences Metamemory

MONITORING
Metacognitive Experiences Metamemory
EVALUATING

Metacognitive Experiences Metamemory

Figure 2: Metacognitive regulation and control processes.

Planning involves the selection of appropriate strategies and the allocation of resources
that affect performance (Schraw, 2002). Together with setting goals, planning is considered a
central pan of students’ ability to control their learning processes and to learn outcomes
through deliberate self-regulatory decisions and actions. Goals are dichotomized as mastery
goals and performance goals (Paulson & Bauer, 2011). Mastery goals are related to process,
learning, and development. In contrast, performance goals are usually associated with product
orientations and demonstrating competence or performance goals to the peer group. For
example, a student who desires to get high grade (performance goals) in a science class
portfolio determines how best to make all entries in the portfolio exemplary in all criteria as
described in the scoring rubric (mastery goals).

Monitoring refers to one’s on-going awareness of comprehension and task performance

(Schraw, 2002). Referred to as metacognitive monitoring and controlling learning, it also
involves the monitoring of a person’s thinking processes and the current state of knowledge.
Given a task, it involves the awareness of the person that the prerequisite knowledge and
process to manage the task in sufficient to succeed in it. It also involves the ability to consider
the accuracy of the knowledge and procedure to solve the task. If ever inadequacy is felt, the
person can control the processes undertaken to still succeed in the resolution of the task.
 A student who answers a word problem in Mathematics is aware of the steps to follow
the task. In the process, the person monitors from metamemory if procedural knowledge is
adequate and could be executed. Along the way, the person monitors his or her thinking and
then revises the process if found ineffective in solving the problem.
At this stage, some questions asked buy the learners include the following: Do I have
adequate knowledge to solve the problem? Are my prior knowledge and skills appropriated for
this task? Are my strategies appropriate for this task? What can I do to get additional
information for this task?

The last step is evaluating, assessing knowledge or learning. It refers to appraising the
products and efficiency of one’s learning (Schraw, 2002). It involves the person’s ability to
evaluate how well the strategies are used to lead the solution of the problem or completion of
the task. It tells whether or not the procedure resulted to the correct answers or different
answer.

In the previous Mathematics word –problem-solving task situation, the person comes to
a realization that the equation formulated to solve what is asked in the problem was indeed
correct based on the cross-checking process done. If the answer is wrong, the learner surmises
what went wrong along the way.

In the previous Mathematics word problem-solving task situation, the person comes to
realization that the equation formulated to solve what is asked in the problem was indeed
correct based on the cross-checking process done. If the answer is wrong, the learner surmises
what went wrong along the way.

Sample questions asked by the learner in this phase of metacognitive regulation are the
following: What new learning was achieved? What universal understanding should I
remember? Was the correct answer obtained? Were the goals set achieved? What could I have
done to make my work better? What should I do the next time I encounter a similar situation?

EXPERIENCE

Teaching learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their thinking is possible. For teachers
to help the learners develop metacognitive thinking, they need to profile the ways of thinking
and studying their learners. Metacognitive learners are either novice or proficient. For instance,
a reading comprehension research observed that novice or poor readers skip the title and
paragraph headings, refrain from setting goals and select reading strategies accordingly, read
linearly without noticing lack of comprehension, and terminate reading without evaluation or
reflection. In contrast, proficient readers start with orienting reading to grasp the theme or gist
of the text, read the title and paragraph headings, skim through the text and purposefully read
the concluding paragraph, while activating prior knowledge of the of the subject matter. They
set reading goals and plans and monitor their comprehension, both on the level of individual
words and on the level of paragraphs or the entire text. (Veeman, 2012).

After knowing the metacognitive thinking of learners, teachers can provide

interventions that are appropriate to their needs. Giving scaffolds to learners while they
perform a task help them refine their way of thinking and studying. In the process, they
recognize their strengths and weaknesses. The next time they engage in metacognitive
thinking, they could plan, monitor, and evaluate their own thinking better.

EXPERIENCE

Activity 1: Answer the short version of Approaches and Study Skills inventory for Students
(ASSIST) to determine how you learn and study.

Directions: This questionnaire has been designed to allow you to describe, in a systematic way,
how you go about learning and studying. Please respond truthfully, so that your answers
accurately describe your actual ways of studying, and work your way through the questionnaire
quite quickly, making sure that you give a response to every item. Check the cell that
corresponds to your agreement to the statements .SA means Strongly Agree,
A means Agree, D means Disagree and SD means Strongly Disagree.

Statements SA A D SD
1) I often have trouble making sense of the things I have to remember .
1
2) When I am reading an article or book, I try to find out for 1
myself exactly what the author means.
3) I organize my study time carefully you make the best use of 1
it.
4) There is not much of the work here that I find interesting or 1
relevant.
5) I work steadily through the term or semester, rather than 1
leave it all until the last minute.
6) Before tackling a problem or assignment, I first to work out 1
what lies behind it.
7) I am pretty good at getting down to work whenever I need 1
to.
 8) Much of what I am studying makes little sense; it is like 1
unrelated bits and pieces.
9) I put a lot of effort into studying because I am determined to 1
do well.
10) When I am working on a new topic, I try to see in my mind 1
how all the ideas fit together.
11) I do not find it at all difficulty to motivate myself. 1
12) Often I find myself questioning things I hear in lectures or 1
reading books.
13) I think I am quite systematic and organized when it comes to 1
revising for exams.
14) Often I feel I am drowning in the sheer amount of material 1
we have to cope with.
15) Ideas in course book or articles often set me off on long 1
chains of thought of my own.
16) I am not sure what is important in lectures, so I try to get 1
down all I can.
17) When I read, I examine the details carefully to see how they 1
fit in with what is being said.
18) I often worry about whether I will ever be able to cope with 1
the work properly.

Source: Entwistle and Tait, 2013. Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students
(ASSIST) (incorporating the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory- RASI)

Scoring Procedure: Add your score for Deep Approach: 2,6,10,12,15,17; add your scores
Strategic Approach: Items 3,5,7,9,11,13; and add your scores for Surface Approach: Items
1,4.8,14,16,18. The approach where you scored highest is the dominant approach you use in
studying and learning.

Activity 2: Classify the following questions/ statements if the learners is engaged in planning,
monitoring or evaluating phases of metacognitive regulation sand control. Write your answer
on a separate sheet of paper.

1) Is this strategy leading me to the correct answer?

2) My answer does not meet the standards in this scoring rubric
3) What strategy is best for this type of problem?
4) What does this task expect me to produce?
5) The teacher is nodding as I speak, I am right in organizing my answer.
 CHALLENGE

1) What is the importance of metacognitive experiences and metamemory in

metacognitive regulation and control?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2) How is your awareness of how you study and learn significant to thinking
metacognitively?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

3) Using your search tools, read about the differences between novice and expert
learners? Whit this knowledge, identify facilitating strategies to support the novice
learners.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

HARNESS

In group of four, fill up the needed details in the graphic organizer. Use it to explain
metacognition regulation and control to other groups in the class.

Metacognitive Regulation
and Control
Define
Provide a situation

Planning Metacognitive
Monitoring
Regulation
Define and Control
Define Raise Questions Define
Raise Questions Raise Questions
 Recall your output in Activity 1 in lesson 1 of this chapter. Imagine yourself facilitating
the development of the competency. What process should you ask the learners to help them to
develop metacognitive regulation and control? Show your answer to the instructor.

THE LESSON IN A CAPSULE

Metacognitive processes involve one’s ability to control and regulate his or her learning.
It involves planning (the use of appropriate strategies and resources) monitoring (keeping track
of the progress learning), and evaluating (determining the result or product of learning). In
every stage, asking questions and providing answers serve as guides to the thinking process.
 Topic 3:
Metacognitive Instruction

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain fundamental principles to teach metacognitive skills;

Identify metacognitive strategies for a particular lesson; and
Operationalize metacognitive processes in a given situation/context.

THINK
Principles of Metacognitive Instruction
Developing metacognitive thinking among students needs the creativity of the teacher.
Using metacognitive strategies facilitates how learners learn. As studies have proven,
metacognitive teaching practices enhance the learners’ capabilities to transfer their
competencies in learning new tasks in new context. (Palinscar & Brown, 1984; Schoenfeld,
1991).

Moreover, metacognitive teaching practices make learners aware of their strengths and
weaknesses as they learn. Knowing their strengths give them the confidence to pursue a task.
Knowing their weaknesses lead them to strategize on how to overcome their limited knowledge
and how to source out the needed information for the task.

To effectively develop metacognitive skills among learners, Veenman et al (2012)

recommend three fundamental principles (see Figure 3).

Metacognitive instruction should be embedded in the context of the task at

hand in order to allow for connecting task- specific condition knowledge
1 ( the IF- side ) to the procedural knowledge of :” HOW” the skill is applied in
the context of the task. (the THEN-side of production rules).

Learners should be informed about the benefit of applying metacognitive

skills in order to make them exert the initial extra effort.
2

Instruction and training should be stretches over time, thus allowing for the
3 formation of production rules and ensuring the smooth and maintained
application of metacognitive skills.

Figure 3: Principles for effective metacognitive instruction

Cognizant of these principles, teachers can plan their lessons well to ensure that as the
learners undergo classroom activities, they met cognize their learning. Leading learners to think
metacognitively gradually leads them to become self- regulated learners.

Metacognitive Teaching Strategies

Varied metacognitive strategies to teach learners to undergo metacognitive thinking
have been proven effective. These include the following:
 Graphic organizers are visual illustrations displaying the relationship between facts,
information, ideas or concepts. Through the visual displays, learners are guided in their thinking
as they fill in the needed information. One good example is the KWHLAQ chart, a variant of
KWL chart. It is useful during the planning, monitoring and evaluating phases of metacognition.
What do i What do I How do I What I have What What new
KNOW? WANT to find out? LEARNED? ACTION QUESTION
know? will I take S do I
have?

Think aloud helps learners to think aloud about their thinking as they undertake a task.
The learners report their thoughts while they do it. With the help of a knowledgeable learner,
the errors in thinking and the inadequacy of declarative, procedural and conditional knowledge
can be pointed out giving the learner increased self-awareness during learning.

Journalizing can be used together with think aloud. In a journal, learners write what was
in their mind when they selected an answer and the reasons for their choice. Later, they write
about their realizations where they were wrong and what should have been considered in
answering. Finally, they resolve on what to do the next time a similar situation/ problem arises.

Error analysis is a “systematic approach for using feedback metacognitively to improve

one’s future performance” (Hopeman, 2002) . Asking the learners where they are
correct and wrong provides avenues for them to evaluate their thinking. It results in a
learners’ metacognitive knowledge of own mistakes and making use of them to improve
future performance. To process their thinking,

Wrapper is an activity that fosters learners’ metacognition before, during, and after a
class. In a reading class, before the selection is read, the teacher asks about the theme of the
selection based on the story title. While reading the selection , learners are asked if their
assumptions were true. After reading, the learners are asked what made them comprehend or
not comprehend the story.

Peer mentoring is a proven metacognitive strategy as many learners learn best when
studying with peers who are more informed and skilled than them. Novice learners, by
observing their more skilled peers, can learn from the metacognitive strategies of their peer
mentors. The use of cooperative learning strategies is helpful toward this goal.
 EXPERIENCE

Teaching metacognitive thinking strategies to learners is a must if teachers want them

to be self-regulated learners. Several studies have shown the benefits of metacognitive
instruction. Goh (2008) cites her study (Lui & Goh, 2006) that proved metacognitive knowledge
can be increased through classroom instruction. The work of Goh and Hu (2013) demonstrated
a causal relationship between metacognitive instruction and a statistically significant
improvement in listening performance. In another study, students’ use of metacognitive skills in
problem solving-with five main processes that encompass an emerging substantive theory,
namely : understanding the problem through sense-making; organizing and constructing useful
information from the problem; planning solution strategies by identifying, conjecturing, and
selecting strategies; executing the plan-has facilitated the development of Filipino students’
problem-solving heuristics (Tan & Limjap, 2018).

ASSESS

Activity 1: Identify the metacognitive teaching strategy used based on the description given.
1. Mrs. Cruz asks her Mathematics learners, Give me one significant learning you derived
from this lesson”.
2. Mr. Ravena groups his learners into two, with each member inquiring how the other
has arrived at the measures to combat air pollution.
3. At the beginning of the Social studies class, miss Agulay uses a matrix to elicit learners’
prior knowledge about the topic for discussion.
4. Miss Tomas assigns the EPP learners to reflect on the learning in class, and what these
meant to them as a member of the family.
5. To process their thinking, Mr. Paraiso asks learners who failed to get the answer
correctly to identify the reason how and why they wrong.
Activity 2: Write a two-paragraph essay explaining one of the principles of effective
metacognitive instruction; cite a classroom situation to illustrate your argument
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
 CHALLENGE

1. Why should any instruction plan abide with the three fundamental principles for
metacognitive skills development?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2. Why should teachers adapt, not adopt, the existing metacognitive teaching strategies?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

3. How should teachers handle novice and expert learners in the classroom so that they
both develop metacognitive thinking skills?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

HARNESS

1. Get a peer mentor and discuss the three fundamental principles to develop
metacognitive skills.
Provide classroom situations to enrich your discussions.
2. Considering your outputs in Activity I in lesson I and Activity 2, identify metacognitive
strategies (before, during, and after the lesson) to be used in teaching. Show the
outputs to your instructor.
3. Using the Exit Ticket graphic organizer, reflect on your learning from this chapter by
filling in the boxes to reflect your metacognitive thinking.

Today, my learning was Today, I considered a Today, I am certain that I

disrupted because new idea or concept learned
 __________________  __________________  _________________
 __________________  __________________  _________________
 LESSON IN A CAPSULE

Metacognitive instruction aims at about at helping learners to be self-regulated. In the

process, teachers can assist the learners to monitor and regulate their learning. Metacognitive
teaching strategies enhance learners’ achievement. Learners benefit much from metacognition
as skills could be transferred in learning other skills and content.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Directions: Read the statements and decide which of the given choices would answer the
question correctly or complete the statement. Encircle the letter of your answer.

1. Procedural knowledge is also known as___________.

a. Person knowledge c. strategic knowledge
b. Task knowledge d. conditional knowledge
2. When Mary ponders on whether or not she knows the answer to the teacher’s
questions, she then realizes that she has no idea on the question at all. She is in the
process of---
a. Strategic thinking c. problem solving
b. metacognition d. creative thinking
3. Which of the following metacognitive knowledge operates when the learner has/her
own way of learning information?
a. Procedural knowledge c. conditional knowledge
b. Declarative knowledge d. Specific knowledge
4. Which of the following metacognitive teaching strategies is used when the teacher asks
the following to students at the end of the lesson: “Give me three things that you
learned and one thing that you still need to learn more?
a. Summarizing c. wrapper
b. Reflective thinking d. assessment
5. Which of the following statements best fits the concept of metacognition?
a. Knowing how to solve problems presented in novel ways.
b. The awareness of what is known and how to use it appropriately.
 c. The ability to manipulate knowledge to arrive at the correct answer.
d. Sufficient knowledge about facts, procedures, and conditions to use them.
6. Kenneth is aware that he is hard up in Math, but he motivates himself to strive by not
going out at night to have enough time to read his lessons. Such action demonstrates
the concepts of ---
a. Self-regulation c. metamemory
b. Meta-attention d. metacomprehension
7. Cognition is involved in metacognition. In what way does cognition work during
metacognition?
a. Memorizing concepts and rules c. solving the problem cautiously
b. Monitoring the progress of work d. recalling rules to apply
8. Bert knows that he has to develop more techniques to memorize concepts and terms in
Science.
a. Metacognitive knowledge c. metacognitive experiences
b. Metacognitive regulation d. metacognitive restriction
9. Who among the students is a novice learner?
a. Rose tries out a strategy then revises it when it does not fit the problem.
b. Jose reads through the difficult problems and solves it right away.
c. Edna tries to recall information and procedures related to the problem.
d. Dexter recalls the procedure he used previously to a similar problem.
10. Which of the following teacher prompts indicates that the learner is engaged in the
planning stage of metacognition process?
a. Is my classification of the plants correct?
b. Do I have to take this plan out of this group?
c. Do I know the differences of all these plants to classify them?
d. Am I consistent in using the same criteria to classify all these plants?
11. Martha asks herself: “Should I try a different approach to arrive at the cause and effect
of the problem? “ In what stage of the metacognitive process is she in?
a. Planning c. evaluating
b. Monitoring d. both planning and monitoring
12. India could identify the uses of baking tools and equipment. She knows how to bake.
One time, she lacked one ingredient, but realized that she could use another similar
ingredient to replace the recommended one. What type of knowledge is Indira
demonstrating in this situation?
a. Declarative c. conditional
b. Procedural d. contextual
13. Susan has a limited knowledge on how to attack a problem presented. However, after
some time, she was able to see interconnections among the fact presented in the
 problem; then, gradually, she was able to come up with a strategy to solve it. This
situation illustrates that learning is—
a. Goal-directed c. integrative
b. Consistent d. speculative
14. Ruben is reading a selection. He finds some words that he does not understand, which
hinders his comprehension of the story. If you were Ruben. How would you find a way
to get the meaning of ambiguous words?
a. Use contextual clues to the meaning c. call a friend to help clarify
b. Read the word aloud repeatedly d. look for configuration
15. As Kenneth multiples a binomial term, he was initially confused. Suddenly, he
remembers the acronym FOIL (First Outer-Inner Last). What was in operation at that
instance?
a. Declarative c. conditional
b. Procedural d. contextual
 Lesson 3:
Cognitive Learning Theories

Every time we children something, we keep them from inventing it themselves. On the
other hand, that which we allow them to discover for themselves will remain with them
visible for the rest of their live.

--Jean Piaget

Introduction

The term cognitive learning derives its meaning from the word cognition, defined by an
electronic dictionary, as “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and
understanding through thought, experience, and senses.” Thus, learners are viewed to learn by
using their brains. In the process, they are actively engaged in mental activities involving
perception, thinking, and relying on their memory as they process new experiences. Through
the connections of these old and new experiences, the acquisitions of knowledge and
understanding results exist. In this chapter, you are expected to:

 Explain the meaning of cognitive leaning theories;

 Differentiate the cognitive learning theories by citing their key features;
 Cite empirical the cognitive learning theories; and
 Identify the teaching implications of the cognitive learning theories.
 Topic 1:
Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

 Explain terms and concepts associated with Piaget’s cognitive theory;

 Discuss the stages of cognitive development; and
 Identify teaching strategies that are supportive of Piaget’s theory.

THINK

In his theory of cognitive development, Jean Piaget argued that children’s cognitive
development is influenced by biological maturation and their interaction with the environment.

How Learning Occurs

To explain how cognitive development happens, Piaget introduced the concepts of
schema, assimilation, and accommodation. He defined schemas as “a cohesive, repeatable
action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by
a core meaning” (Piaget, 1952). It is the person’s way of organizing knowledge. Viewed like the
central processing unit of a computer, schemata (plural form) are like individual files
representing an aspect of the world like objects, actions, and concepts. Schemata guide the
person’s way of responding to a new experience. Piaget used the term adaptation to refer to
the ability to adjust to a piece of new information or experience, making it possible for the
person to cope with the change. If the person can adapt to every experience, learning happens.
Consider the story of Jayden, a boy who is no more than 2 years old, who formed the
concept of “dog” as he played very often with Starbucks, a Shih Tzu, the family dog. When
introduced to a poodle, he called the same as “dog”. One day, he saw the neighbor’s cat and
shouted “dog” to get the attention of his mother.
Jayden’s schema for dogs includes having a small furry body, with four legs, a waggling
tail, and barking ability. Calling the poodle “dog” is a case of assimilation, the process of taking
new information into the existing schema. When the mother explained that dogs bark but cats
meow, Jayden accommodated the new experience, thus, his schema for “cats” was created.
Accommodation involves changing or altering existing schemas owing to the new information
provided or learned. The balance between assimilation and accommodation is achieved
through a mechanism, which Piaget called equilibration. This ability is believed to be a factor in
children’s ability to move from one stage to another in cognitive development. If the person is
unable to take a balance of these two processes, disequilibrium occurs (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Adaptive processes of schema development. Adapted from McLeod (2018).

Stages of Cognitive Development

To Piaget, cognitive development among children has four phases (see Figure 5).
Children generally move through these different stages of mental development. Each stage
describes how children acquire knowledge and the nature of intelligence.
 Figure 5: Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
The milestones in terms of cognitive abilities children manifest in the different stages are
summarized as follows:
STAGE MILESTONES
Sensorimotor Learns through reflexes, senses, and movement—actions on
(0-2 years) the environment. Begins to imitate others and remember
events; shifts to symbolic thinking. Comes to understand that
objects do not cease to exist when they are out of sight—
object permanence. Moves from reflexive actions to
intentional activity.
Preoperational Begins about the time the child starts talking, to about seven
(2-7 years) years old. Develops language and begins to use symbols to
represent objects. Has difficulty with past and future—thinks
in the present. Can think through operations logically in one
direction. Has problems understanding the point of view of
another person.
Concrete Operational Begins about first grade, to early adolescence, around 11
(7-11 years) years old. Can think logically concrete (hands-on) problems.
Understands conservation and organizes things into
categories and in series. Can reverse thinking to mentally
“undo” actions. Understands the past, present, and future.
Formal Operational Can think hypothetically and deductively. Thinking becomes
(12 years and up) more scientific. Solves abstract problems logically. Can
consider multiple perspectives and develops about socials
issues, personal identity, and justice.
Adapted from Woolfolk (2016)
Sensorimotor Stage. Children at his stage think through what they see hear, move,
touch, and taste. Two major accomplishments happen at this stage. One is object permanence,
the belief that an object still exist even if not within the sight of child. Even when the mother
leaves for work, the child is aware that the mother comes home in the afternoon. The other
major achievement children demonstrate in this stage is goal-directed actions. Initially, children
do not think about what they do as these actions are instinctive and involuntary (e.g., getting
food and family attention). Later, Piaget believed that as children grow, they begin to think
about what they need to accomplish, how to do it, then act on it.

Preoperational Stage. At this stage, children have not yet mastered mental operational
operations because they use action schemes connected to physical manipulations, not logical
reasoning. By operations, it means actions a person carries out by thinking them through
instead of performing them (Woolfolk, 2016). The case of kindergarten learners using sticks to
count illustrates this preoperational ability.
Another ability demonstrated at this stage is children’s ability to form and use symbols
to represent a physical action or realty; this is a semiotic function. A child’s ability to identify
from a book the picture of a bird illustrates this skill.

Concrete Operational Stage. Concrete operational are described by Piaget as the ability
to engage in “hands-on thinking” characterized by organized and rational thinking. A major
ability at this stage is reversible thinking, thinking backward, from the end to the beginning
(Woolfolk, 2016). Reversibility involves conservation and decentration. Conservation is the
belief that, whatever the arrangement or appearance of the object, as long as there is nothing
added or decreased, the number or amount of the object would remain the same. A related
skill is decentration, the children’s ability to focus on more than one dimension of an object at a
time. Children at this stage would understand that the smaller but wider glass contains the
same amount of fruit juice with the content of the tall but narrower glass. These children not
only focus on the height of the glass but also consider its width. The width of the narrow glass
compensates the shortness of its height. Figure 6 shows sample conservation tasks.

PIAGET’S CONSERVATION TASKS

Conservation Age of Original Transformation
Tasks Acquisition Presentation

Number 6-7 years

Are there the same number Now, are there the same
of pennies in each row? number of pennies in each
row, or does one row have
more?
 Liquid 6-7 years

Is there same amount of Now, is there the same

juice in each glass? amount of juice in each glass,
or does one have more?
6-7 years

Mass
Is there the same amount of Now, does each piece have
clay in each ball? same amount of clay, or does
one have more?

Area 8-10 years

Does each of these two Now, does each cow have the
cows have the same amount same amount of grass to eat,
of grass to eat? or does one cow have more?

Figure 6: Sample Piagetian Conservation tasks.

Classification is another skill at this stage. It involves the ability to group similar objects
in terms of color, shape, use, etc. For example, children would group balls, wheels, marbles as
round objects; that 4, 12, 36 are numbers divides divisible by 4. A related skill is seriation, the
ability to arrange objects according to size, like small to smallest, far to farthest, etc. that a bull
is a big, the carabao is a bigger, and the elephant is the biggest best illustrates this ability.

Formal Operational Stage. At this stage, adolescents can engage in mental processes
involving abstract thinking and coordination of some variables (Woolfolk, 2016). All the
earlier mental abilities have been mastered. The adolescents can now think like a scientist, as
they can give hypotheses and conjectures about the problem, set up experiments to test them,
and control extraneous variables to arrive at a valid and reliable explanation. They are capable
of giving deductions as they systematically evaluate their observations as well as their answers.
This ability is called hypothetico-deductive reasoning.

Another feature at this stage is adolescent egocentrism, the assumption that although others
have different perceptions and beliefs, every individual a share other’s thoughts, feelings, and
concerns. This is opposite to the egocentric characteristic in the earlier stages, wherein children think
that they and others think are similar to theirs.

Teaching Implications of Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

The influence of Piaget on classroom instruction is summarized in his words, “What is desired is
that the teacher cease being a lecturer satisfied with transmitting ready-made solutions; his role should
rather be that of a mentor stimulating initiative and research.” It behooves the teacher to be creative in
imparting knowledge and skills to the students to engage them in a more active learning environment so
they can construct meaning and concepts. In addition to instruction, the classroom environment,
curriculum, and instructional materials should complement each other.

Berk (2013) provided a summary of teaching implications derived from Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development. These considerations include the following:

1. A focus on the process of children’s thinking, out just its products. Instead of simply checking for
a correct answer, teachers should emphasize the students’ understanding and the process they
used to get the answer.
2. Recognition of the crucial role of children’s self-initiative, active involvement in learning
activities. In a Piagetian classroom, children are encouraged to discover themselves through
spontaneous interaction with the environment, rather than the presentation of ready-made
knowledge.
3. A de-emphasis on practices aimed at making children adult-like in their thinking. It refers to
what Piaget referred to as the “American question” which is “How can we speed up
development?” He believes that trying to speed up and accelerate children’s process through
the stages could be worse than no teaching at all.
4. Acceptance of individual differences in developmental stages. However, they do so at different
rate. Because of this variation, teachers must exert a special effort to arrange classroom
activities for individuals and groups of children rather for the whole class.
In addition, Webb (1980) recommended some considerations for teachers to ponder upon in their
teaching practices. These include the following:

 Consider the stage characteristics of the student’s thought processes in planning learning
activities.
 Use a wide variety of experiences rather than drill on specific tasks to maximize cognitive
development.
 Do not assume that reaching adolescence or adulthood guarantees the ability to perform formal
operations.
 Remember that each person structures each learning situation in terms of his schemata;
therefore, no two persons will derive the same meaning or benefit from a given experience.
 Individualize learning experiences so that each student is working at a level is high enough to be
challenging and realistic enough to prevent excessive frustration.
  Provide experience necessary for the development of concepts before the use of these concepts
in language.
 Consider learning an active restructuring of thought rather than an increase in content.
 Make full use of wrong answers by helping the students analyze his or her thinking to retain the
correct elements and revise the miscomprehensions.
 Evaluate each student in terms of improving his or her performance.
 Avoid overuse of materials that are so highly structured that creative thought is discouraged.
 Use social interaction in learning experiences to promote increase in both interest and
comprehension.

EXPERIENCE

Experiments using Piagetian concepts and tasks in the classroom have proven their soundness in
explaining cognitive development among learners. Campbell and Ramey (1990) reported that low-SES
children who had early educational intervention developed the ability to conserve earlier than those
without intervention. Moreover, the proportion of nonconservers in the low-SES intervention group did
not differ significantly from that of their more advanced peers in the first and third years in early
elementary school. A study among high school students tasked to perform formal operational tasks
indicates that, at certain grade levels and subject areas, public school science students who
demonstrated formal operational logic tend to receive higher grades than nonformal operational
students(Sayre &Ball, 1975).

More than testing the applicability of the Piagetian tasks, Webb (1980) argued that rather than
concentrating on the learning of specific Piagetian tasks and operations, the classroom milieu should be
structured to encourage constant thinking on the part of students. She pointed out that verbal rule,
cognitive conflict, and task analysis may be used in a wide variety of setting to increase the incidence of
transfer. To her, better comprehension at a given stage may be a more appropriate goal than forced
acceleration to the next cognitive level.

ASSESS

Activity 1. Identify the mental abilities the learners process based on the description provided.

1. John claims that 5 + 3 and 3 + 5 are both equal to 8.

2. Susan peeped under the cabinet where her ball rolled in.
3. Kenneth reads the days of the week in the calendar from left to right.
4. Rocky argues that the 4Ps program has more disadvantages than advantages.
5. Mary insist that her rules must be followed.
 6. Enzo does not envy his younger brother who received five-one-peso coins while he has one five-
peso coin.
7. Josie grabs the milk bottle of the baby next beside her.
8. Renzo explains that the cold water comes from the block of ice that melted.
9. Teresa groups tamarind, santol, kamias, and pomelo together.
10. Three-year-old Kenjie names the picture of a bird correctly.

Activity 2. Design one Piagetian task along with your area of specialization that is localized and
contextualized for target learners.

CHALLENGE

1. As a future teacher in the elementary or secondary school, how will you apply your
knowledge of the process of equilibration and Piaget’s stages of development in your
classroom? How does this knowledge influence your selection of what to teach and how to
teach it?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2. Why does a teacher prefer the use of more concrete instructional methods in teaching to
encourage students to think more formally?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

HARNESS

1. Get a partner and identify children of several age groups (4 years old, 8 years old and 13 years
old) as your subjects of a case study. Search from the Internet one Piagetian task and follow the
procedure in administering the tasks to the children. Observe the reactions and answers of the
children while asking questions and probing their answers.
2. Make a simple report of your findings.

THE LESSON IN A CAPSULE

 The theory of cognitive development proposed by Jean Piaget gives a lot of guidance in
facilitating learning in each of the four stages of cognitive development. Taking note of the milestones
per stage and aligning them with the teaching strategies in the classroom can make learning productive
as the needs of the learners are addressed. To be successful, the teachers’ focus must be on how the
learners think and how they arrive at the answers. The challenge to every teacher is how to structure
lessons that guide learners to process their experience toward the understanding of the concepts
taught. A creative teacher can benefit much from the concepts and principles provided by the theory.