John H. Flavell's (1976) publication marked the first use of the term "metacognition" and ignited a field of research that continues to intrigue researchers and practitioners in various industries. In this seminal work, Flavell defined metacognition as follows:

"In any kind of cognitive transaction with the human or non-human environment, a variety of information processing activities may go on. Metacognition refers, among other things, to the active monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration of these processes in relation to the cognitive objects or data on which they bear, usually in service of some concrete goal or objective." (p.232).

More simply stated (McGuire & McGuire, 2015), metacognition is the ability to:

• think about one's own thinking;
• be consciously aware of oneself as a problem solver;
• monitor, plan, and control one's mental processing; and
• accurately judge one's level of learning.

Consider the following scenario:

A student uses ineffective study strategies to prepare for the first exam in a course, but feels well prepared because, after all, he did spend two hours re-reading his notes and re-read each chapter included on the test. The student receives a D on the exam and is utterly confused as to how this could have happened with all the hard work and studying.

This is unfortunately an extremely common occurrence for many students. The resulting grade is so much in conflict with the student's expectations that they are unable to process the cognitive dissonance it creates. Self-defense mechanisms kick-in and students often engage in one of the following reactions:

• Blame the instructor
  • "The instructor didn't teach well or didn't teach the way I learn."
• Blame the exam
  • "The exam covered material not covered in class."
• Blame self
  • "I studied hard and still failed, I must be dumb."

Regardless of where the blame is placed, unless corrective actions are taken self-defense mechanisms kick-in:

• Emotional and psychological withdrawal from course
  • "I don't care about it so failing doesn't matter"
• Physical and cognitive withdrawal from course
  • "If I don't go to class and don't put forth effort, then I may be lazy but not dumb."
• Failure/Drop course

Metacognition empowers students to actively self-assess their own learning and begin to ask questions such as:

• Am I learning this material or simply memorizing facts?
• How would this concept apply in other contexts?
• Do I understand this material well enough to explain it to someone else?
• Are the study strategies I am using effective? If not, how can I change my study habits to get the results I want?

In Promoting Student Metacogition, Tanner (2012) explores the prospect of teaching metacogntiion within the confines of a biology curriculum. She offers instructional strategies which promote metacognition, recommends practices to build a metacognitive classroom culture, and even provides three separate lists of questions for students and faculty that are helpful in facilitating metacognition in the classroom.

Instructional Strategies

• Pre-assessments—Encouraging Students to Examine Their Current Thinking: “What do I already know about this topic that could guide my learning?”
• The Muddiest Point—Giving Students Practice in Identifying Confusions: “What was most confusing to me about the material explored in class today?”
• Retrospective Post-assessments—Pushing Students to Recognize Conceptual Change: “Before this course, I thought evolution was… Now I think that evolution is ….” or “How is my thinking changing (or not changing) over time?”
• Reflective Journals—Providing a Forum in Which Students Monitor Their Own Thinking: “What about my exam preparation worked well that I should remember to do next time? What did not work so well that I should not do next time or that I should change?”

Building Classroom Culture

• Giving Students License to Identify Confusions within the Classroom Culture: ask students what they find confusing, acknowledge the difficulties
• Integrating Reflection into Credited Course Work: integrate short reflection (oral or written) that ask students what they found challenging or what questions arose during an assignment/exam/project
• Metacognitive Modeling by the Instructor for Students: model the thinking processes involved in your field and sought in your course by being explicit about “how you start, how you decide what to do first and then next, how you check your work, how you know when you are done” (p. 118)

Questions for Students and Faculty

• Table 1 (p. 115) poses questions that students can ask themselves as they plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning within the following contexts: in-class, assignments, quizzes/exams, whole course.
• Table 2 (p.117) provides prompts for facilitating metacognition during discussions in various contexts.
• Table 3 (p.119) offers questions which faculty can ask themselves to metacognitively assess their teaching.

In Teach Students How To Learn, McGuire and McGuire (2012) offer a wealth of strategies that students can use to help them increase metacognition while studying:

Previewing

McGuire and McGuire (2012) reference a popular reading for comprehension exercise (Reading 1) in this section to demonstrate the effectiveness of previewing the text. It is beneficial for students to skim through the assigned reading and highlight/make note of section headings, sub-headings, boldface and italicized terms or phrases, summary boxes, etc. in order to develop the "big picture" of the content they are about to read.

Previewing on Steroids

Instruct your students to create four or five of their own questions based on the previewing they have completed. These questions will provide them with an incentive to focus and read more carefully as they will be searching for the answers to their own inquisitions.

Paraphrasing

Stop every few paragraphs and jot down a synopsis of what you have read thus far. Each time roll in the previous synopsis with the new one. This way by the end of the text you have a summary in your own words.

NOTE: These three steps in conjunction may seem very time consuming; however, when used effectively it virtually eliminates the need to stop and and re-read due to loss of focus. Consider starting with a shorter reading assignment when introducing these ideas to your students. They will be more likely to use the strategies and be able to see the value in applying them to their routine reading assignments.

Flashcards, Charts, and Maps

Once students become comfortable using one or more of the previous three strategies, encourage them to organize the information by making notes in the margin and highlighting during reading. After reading, creating charts, concept maps, flashcards, and outlines is a great way to summarize the material and create resources for future study sessions.

Homework as Assessment

Encourage students to approach each HW assignment as if it were a quiz or test by studying lecture notes and reading through relevant chunks of text. Then, for each problem, the student should rely only on the knowledge in his/her head and check (only) the solution once an answer has been reached. Looking at the solutions beforehand and then relying on lecture notes as a step-by-step guide while completing HW all but ensures that only surface level processing takes place and learning is minimized.

Student as Teacher

Encourage students to teach material covered in class to a friend, family member, pet, empty couch, action figures, etc. The process of explaining the material will make clear to the student where there are gaps in their knowledge and what they know well. Organizing concepts in such a way that they are more easily explained will also facilitate the construction of new schema.

A Word on Textbooks

With the emphasis on incorporating technology in the classroom growing exponentially in the last two decades, fundamental skills associated with using a textbook have largely been ignored. Be sure your students are aware of resources such as the Table of Contents and Index and that they know how to properly use them.

Flavell, J. H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence (pp.231-236). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

McGuire, S. Y., & McGuire, S. (2016). Teach students how to learn: Strategies you can incorporate into any course to improve student metacognition, study skills, and motivation. Sterling: Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Tanner, K. D. (2012). Promoting Student Metacognition. CBE—Life Sciences Education,11(2), 113-120. doi:10.1187/cbe.12-03-0033