#113 Metacognition and Mindset

Hi Everyone

Most people are familiar with the term ‘mindset’ which is all about the way that we habitually think. The trouble is that so much of our ‘thinking’ is based on a database that was created without our awareness, through interacting within the environment of our birth and early years upbringing.

What people said to us, how they said it, how we were treated, and what experiences were provided for us, all had an impact. So did the decisions that were made on our behalf, and yet we took all of this on board without questioning whether the information was accurate, necessary or valid, before we ever became conscious of our own thought processes.

Everyone carries around with them this unconscious database, containing other people’s thoughts and feelings, alongside our own interpretation of what was happening at the time. Through it, we soon learned where we belonged and what was expected of us, so that we ‘fitted’ into our designated space in the world. It's a safety mechanism that probably served us well as children but which needs greater analysis as we get older.

Problems can arise later in life if we continue to use the same mindset for making decisions, because our thoughts are not always truly our own and may not now be in our best interests! This is where metacognition comes into its own. As adults we’re now in a position to question what we’re actually thinking, and make decisions about whether we want to consciously change tack or not.

So, let’s apply this to the three areas I usually write about.

If you are an individual looking to make changes because you’re not happy with your current ‘results’ in life, you might want to question whose thoughts and feelings are involved when you make decisions. Are you still carrying the effects of someone else’s opinion? Make sure that your decisions are based on a conscious analysis about what you truly feel is the best way forward, and not on some now irrelevant part of that unconscious download.

If you are a parent, are you encouraging your children to have a flexible mindset so that they can ‘change their minds’ in the light of new information. It’s been well recorded that the ability to think in a metacognitive way, can make a huge difference to what students achieve academically. It requires children to have some control over their own progress, which in turn can be a contributing factor for good mental health. Let them see you change your mind sometimes and explain what led you to start thinking differently.

If you would like some ideas about how to get started on helping your child develop metacognition and become a more effective learner, then you might be interested in this webinar organised by Parentkind. This has previously been a members only event, but on this occasion, it's open to all parents who go to the sign up page below, and enter the post code of their child's school, whilst there are places left. I would take advantage as quickly as you can.

https://www.parentkind.org.uk/parent-webinars

If you are a teacher, you might like to keep in mind that for many of your students, they arrive in the classroom with plenty of thoughts that are not really their own. Then the education system itself can contribute to a further lack of original thought in situations where students are expected to be passive recipients of information provided from a set curriculum, with little critical thinking involved.

Only your most able students will make progress through the natural application of metacognition, so if you’re interested in inclusion, then you’ll need to support its development in the classroom for everyone else. I would encourage you to become more aware of how much time your students are spending ‘going beyond’ the learning in order to make it their own, and include some thinking ‘out loud’ opportunities for the whole class so that you can model a metacognitive way of thinking.

All things considered, we need more awareness of this great gift that we possess as higher functioning beings, which allows us to ‘rise above’ or ‘go beyond’ our unconscious learning in order to improve results. Those results might be in relation to our personal circumstances, or it may be in relation to academic achievement. In both instances, it's about the choices that we make and how readily we are prepared to change our thinking when the results we were hoping for don't materialise.

Either way, we need to make a conscious effort to change our mindset to one that is more open and flexible, positive about change, and includes the concept of personal achievement. For children and young people in school that requires; some level of self-belief about what's possible, alongside an understanding of what the learning process actually consists of, and knowledge about ways of engaging effectively with it. More on that next time.

Warm regards

Liz