The 21st-century learning environment necessitates innovative and effective teaching strategies that promote both meaningful and autonomous learning among students. Numerous studies have found that explicitly promoting metacognition in teaching and learning can empower students in this aspect by encouraging them to be more reflective of their learning experiences and thought processes. As a result, metacognition is increasingly being recognized as a critical component of effective and successful learning.

What is Metacognition?

Metacognition has two major components: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge about what students know about how they learn or how to engage most efficiently with a specific task. Meanwhile, metacognitive regulation refers to the use of cognitive processes to facilitate learning, which includes planning, monitoring, and evaluation skills. This is best understood when students plan to undertake the task at hand, working on it while monitoring the strategies to check their progress, and then evaluating the overall success.

If you want to incorporate metacognition into your classroom instruction, consider the following reflective questions about your current teaching practice:

• Do I include specific learning goals?

• Do I encourage my students to keep track of their progress?

• Do I give my students opportunities to practice new learning strategies?

• Do I make time for introspection?

• Do I foster a learning environment that encourages metacognitive practices in my classroom?

Several meta-analyses have shown that metacognition improves student learning performance. Muncer et al. (2022) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between metacognition and math performance among adolescents. The quantitative synthesis of 74 effect sizes from 29 of these studies (30 independent populations) revealed a significantly positive correlation between metacognition and adolescent math performance.

Similarly, Antonio and Prudente (2022) discovered that using and integrating metacognition in science instruction has a significant large and positive effect on student learning achievement. Their study showed that metacognition can be effectively implemented whether students are in elementary, secondary, or tertiary school, and whether they are studying Biological or Physical Science.

Meanwhile, Meher et al., (2021) conducted a similar study in which they collected and analyzed related research on the effectiveness of metacognitive interventions in teaching-learning. Specific strategies, such as brainstorming, self-assessment, concept mapping, and think-aloud, are regarded to have a strong positive impact on the teaching-learning process.

The meta-analyses mentioned above provide strong evidence for the effectiveness of metacognition in improving student learning. To effect positive changes in their classrooms, teachers must adhere to research-based instructional practices, including metacognition. Hence, science teachers must have necessary pedagogical knowledge of how to implement and integrate metacognition in classroom instruction.