Chapter-14 - Section 5: Cognitive and Metacognitive Factors in Learning

Intended Learning Outcome (ILO):

 Compare and contrast the perspectives and concepts related to cognition and metacognition

Characteristics of successful learners:

a. Can create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge with support and guidance
b. Can link new information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways
c. Can create a repertoire of thinking and reasoning strategies to achieve complex learning goals

A look at the characteristics of successful learners implies that they possess the necessary cognitive
skills to achieve their goals. It would be good to know the ways by which such skills could be
developed among students.
We have to examine and understand the concepts related to cognition and metacognition as both of
these are thinking processes. Thinking has to do with comprehension or understanding, memory,
perceiving and such other skills. Both have to do also with understanding, learning, or remembering.
The distinction between the two concepts, lies in how knowledge is used to further one’s own learning.

Cognition - refers to all the mental processes and abilities in which people use or engage in a daily basis
- examples are memory learning, problem-solving, evaluation, reasoning, and decision-making
- helps to generate new knowledge through these mental processes, and also helps to use the knowledge
that people have in their daily life

Metacognition - defined as thinking about thinking, allows an individual to complete a task

through planning, monitoring, evaluating and comprehending
- exercises active control over cognitive processes engaged in learning, also known as self-regulation
- refers both to the knowledge people have about their own cognitive processes and the intentional use of
certain cognitive processes to facilitate learning and memory (Ormrod, 2015)
Metacognitive Knowledge - the knowledge people have about their own cognitive processes
Metacognitive Regulation - the use of cognitive process to facilitate learning and memory

Metacognition refers to higher-order thinking which involves active control over the
cognitive processes engaged in learning. Metacognition does not stop ac acquiring knowledge, but more
importantly using this knowledge to develop higher-order and more complex thinking skills necessary
for effective learning and living.
There is actually a thin line between cognition and metacognition. Both of them involve cognition
and skills but conceptually distinct in one major way. According to Weinstein and Meyer, cognitive
learning strategy a plan for orchestrating cognitive resources such as attention, and long term memory
to help teach and achieve a learning goal. There are several characteristics of cognitive learning
strategies such as being goal directed, deliberate, but situation specific. Metacognitive strategies appear
to share most of these characteristics but they involve more universal applications through focus
upon planning for implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
Metacognition is the awareness of the self as the learner. It is a higher-order knowledge about your
own thinking as well as the ability to use this knowledge to manage one’s cognitive processes such as
comprehension and problem-solving (Bruning et.al., 2011; in Woolfolk, 2013).

Types of Knowledge Used in the Metacognition Process

a. Declarative Knowledge - knowing what to do - knowledge about the self as learner, factors that
influence the person’s learning and memory and the skills, strategies, and resources needed to
perform a task
b. Procedural Knowledge - knowing how to use strategies in different occasions or conditions
c. Self-Regulating Knowledge - knowing the conditions as to when to apply the procedures and strategies
to ensure completion of the task
d. Metacognitive Knowledge - refers to general knowledge about how human beings learn and process
information as well as individual knowledge of one’s own learning process. For example, a student may
know that he will be more productive if he studies in his room with piped-in music than when he studies
in the library. Knowledge of the task includes knowledge about the nature of the task as well as the type
of processing skills required of the individual. Hence, the individual may know that he is able to read a
novel faster and with understanding, than he would a physics book. Knowledge about strategies include
knowledge about cognitive and metacognitive strategies and when and where it is appropriate to use
such strategies. Metacognitive strategies are sequential processes one uses to control cognitive
strategies and to ensure the cognitive goal has been met (Livingston, 1997).

Metacognitive and cognitive strategies may overlap such that in one strategy it could be regarded
as either cognitive or metacognitive strategy depending on the purpose of using that strategy. For
example, one may use a self-questioning strategy while reading simply as a means of obtaining
knowledge (cognitive) or as a way of monitoring what was read (metacognitive). Knowledge may be
considered metacognitive as it is actively used in a strategic manner to ensure that the goal is met
(Livingston, 1997). To illustrate, a student may use knowledge in planning how to approach a math
exam. In the process, he knows he has difficulty with word problems, so he plans to deal with
computational problems first, and word problems last. Simply possessing knowledge about one’s
cognitive strengths or weaknesses and the nature of the task without actively utilizing the information to
oversee learning is not metacognitive.

Woolfolk (2013) contends that there are three essential skills in metacognition:
 Planning - involves deciding how much time to give a task, which strategies to use, how to
start, order of processes to follow, which resources to gather, what to skim, and what to give
intense attention to
 Monitoring - following up one’s actions like, “How am I doing?”
 Evaluating - involves making judgments about the processes and outcomes of thinking and
learning as, “Do I need to change strategies?”

To summarize, metacognition is about using one’s cognitive processes and skills, toward
developing more complex skills, and eventually lead one to develop self-regulation and have control
over one’s learning.

Factors Associated with the Development of Cognition

As children grow and develop, their metacognitive knowledge and skills improve in the following
ways (Ormrod, 2015):
a. Children become more aware of the limitations of their memories. As they grow older, they realize
that their memories are not perfect
b. Children become better able to identify the things they know and do not know. As people grow
and develop, they are able to a certain point assess themselves in terms of what they know, and what
they do not know
c. As they grow older, children become more knowledgeable about effective learning strategies

The development of metacognitive skills goes with age, experience and guidance. It means that
younger children may not be as skilled thinkers as the older ones. For teachers therefore, this has
implications for starting the development of metacognitive skills early, and seeing to it that applying
the strategies for developing metacognition is sustained across subjects and grade levels.
Theorists organize the skills of metacognition into two components:
a. Knowledge of cognition with three components: Knowledge of the factors that influence one’s
own performance; knowing different strategies to use for learning; and knowing what strategy to
use for a specific learning situation
b. Regulation of cognition, involves setting goals and planning, monitoring and controlling learning,
and evaluating one’s own regulation (assessing results and strategies used)
Strategies to Develop Students’ Metacognitive Skills
a. Ask questions. During formal courses, ask questions that allow learners to reflect on their
own learning processes and strategies. In collaborative learning, ask them to reflect the role they
play when engaged in problem-solving as a group or team.
b. Foster self-reflection. Emphasize the importance of personal reflection during and after learning
experiences. Encourage learners to critically analyze their own assumptions and how may have
this influenced their learning.
c. Encourage self-questioning. Foster independent learning by asking learners to generate their
own questions and answer them to enhance comprehension. The questions can be related to their
personal goals.
d. Teach strategies directly. Teach explicitly or implicitly appropriate metacognitive strategies as
part of the lesson, or as part of a training course.
e. Promote autonomous learning. When learners have some domain knowledge,
encourage participation in challenging learning experiences. They will then be forced to construct
their own metacognitive strategies.
f. Provide access to mentors. Students learn best by interacting with peers who are more
slightly advanced. Allow the experience where novices can observe the proficient use of a skill
and then gain access to the metacognitive strategies of their “mentors”. This can be done in the
classroom.
g. Solve problems with a team or group. Cooperative problem solving can enhance
metacognitive strategies by discussing possible approaches with team members and learning from
each other.
h. Think aloud. Teach learners how to think aloud and report their thoughts while performing a
difficult task. A knowledgeable partner or the teacher can then point out errors in thinking or
the individual can use this approach for increased self-awareness during learning.
i. Self-explanation. Self-explanation in writing or speaking can help learners improve
their comprehension of a difficult subject.
j. Provide opportunities for making errors. Providing this opportunity to learners stimulates
reflections on the causes of their errors.

Strategies that Develop Self-Regulation

The important strategies regarding the development of metacognition toward self-regulation are
further emphasized. All of these activities are cognitive in nature.
1. Teach students that the ability to learn is not a fixed quantity. The students should be tauht that
ability to learn is a trait that is developed over time and that it is not a fixed trait.
2. Teach students how to set goals and plan to meet them
3. Give students the opportunity for self-monitoring and adapting

Paris and Winograd (1990; in Ee, 2009) claim that as students develop competencies for self-
appraisal and self-management, they become metacognitively alert. They also become more
conscious of their own thinking state, the demands of the task, and their own strategies for
influencing their learning.

According to Ee (2009) teachers can develop their students’ awareness of thinking using the
following strategies:
1. Sharpening the students’ alertness and observational skills
 After a lesson, encourage learners to reflect and indicate what they have learned from
the lesson
 During question time, encourage students to elaborate on their answers
 Always encourage further elaboration of their answers to assess maturity of their answers
2. Provide explicit and clear instructions and modelling
 Explain with concrete examples, illustrations or model the skills and allow for practice
or role play of the situation. Example: how to show honesty in different situations
 3. Encourage peer evaluation. During question time, encourage evaluation on the given rezones
by peers.
4. Providing questions for enhancing reflection. Apply Socratic questioning. These are questions
asked for students to give the following kinds of responses:
Clear (Can you elaborate further?)
Precise (Can you give me more details?)
Accurate (How can we verify or test that?)
Relevant (How does that relate to the problem?)
Deep (Which factors make this a difficult problem?)
Broad (Do we need to have another point of view?)
Logical (How is it consistent with what you explained earlier?)

Use also De Bono’s Thinking Hats in processing students’ responses or actions on tasks (Adapted from:
debonothinkingsystem.com)

Yellow Hat: good points e.g., What are all the good points about? 
Black Hat: bad points e.g., What could have gone wrong? 
White Hat: information e.g., what, when who, why, how questions 
Red Hat: feelings. What do you feel about the result of this activity? 
Blue Hat: thinking about thinking. What did you learn from the story? 
Green Hat: creativity. What else could have been done?

In asking the questions and processing students’ responses, the teacher can use the above
classification of questions and responses.