#44 Metacognition for Life

Metacognition is not a word that rolls off the tongue easily, nor is it likely to be heard on a regular basis in everyday conversations. We can get by without knowing what it means, but the word describes a skill that is absolutely vital for a successful life. Obviously success means different things to different people, but without metacognition, you're not likely to get anywhere near your desired goals.

The topic came more to the fore in education, when John Flavell (1979) attempted to create a formal model of metacognition in an attempt to explain more fully what's going on in the brain when children are learning. It's very easy to get lost in the maze of theories and arguments that have ensued since then, but I'm more concerned on this particular occasion with the impact of metacognition on every day life.

As a previous technophobe, I have come to love what my lap top allows me to achieve, and have become a good deal more proficient in accessing the possibilities that it opens up for me. I don't however have a clue about how it all works? Do I need to? Nope. I just know how to use the tool to my advantage.

Metacognition is the same, you don't have to understand exactly how it works, you just need to be aware of it's existence and what it enables you to do!

That's why I've put together a special event; 'The Art of Changing Your Mind (Putting Metacognition into Practice)', designed to help you learn more about the impact that metacognition has on everyday life and how to use that to your personal advantage. Here's a sample from one of the slides I will be using.

A group of scientists were interested in finding out if they could identify a specific part of the brain that was responsible for metacognition. After much research, they couldn't find what they were looking for. Instead, all they had established was that metacognition takes place in the pre-frontal cortex (reasoning brain) as part of the decision making process.

Their summary concluded that; ‘Metacognition is the process of considering the outcome of a decision, and whether a decision should be adjusted’.

(Qui L, Su J, Ni Y, Bai Y, Zhang X, Li X et al (2018) The neural system of metacognition accompanying decision making in the pre-frontal cortex, PLoS 16(4))

Now that should be of interest to everyone! The Art of Changing Your Mind, looks at this life skill and why we might not have made the best use of it up until now. There are lots of reasons why we don't always realise the full power that we have in our minds to change things for the better.

I hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to stop and pause for an hour in order to consider the impact that using metacognition could have on the results in your life.

Most of my events are directed more specifically at parents/carers, school leaders, teachers and support staff to help them feel more confident about how to develop metacognition in the learners they care about. Learning to think differently can be a real game changer for students in school and I've seen so many examples of the amazing results that can be achieved by helping them to think in a more metacognitive way.

On this occasion however, I'm providing a one off opportunity for all adults to attend an event that focuses on how their own minds are working. We'll be looking at the potential everyone has to change what they're thinking in order to get a different result.

In order to limit the numbers for the free event, the direct access link to join the call, will be provided via my e-mail list. (That's different to the newsletter subscribers list that you are likely to be on if you're reading this). I really appreciate all of my newsletter readers, but there are too many of you to provide an open invitation here.

So, if you want to attend, but are not yet on my regular e-mail list, then please either go to my website (www.lizkeable.com) and download 'The A-Z of Supporting Learner Achievement' for free which will automatically add you, or if that's not of interest for your role, direct message me on Linked In instead with your e-mail address and permission to add you.

It's good to see that people have been using both of these methods since last week's newsletter, and be assured that I will be sending out the invitations shortly. If you're not yet on the list, don't wait too long or you may miss out.

I hope to meet you soon.

Warm regards

Liz