#82 Metacognitive Foundations

Hi Everyone

We talked last time about the natural and instinctive way that children learn using inbuilt cognitive abilities from birth onwards. Even whilst very young, they build a database of information directly from engaging with their environment and unconsciously recording the results of their experiences.

A young child’s mind therefore holds a vast array of ‘memories’, including that database created purely from absorbing information from their surroundings. Much of that ‘knowledge’ is stored sub-consciously in order to prevent overload, so that is serves as a baseline from which to grow as they become more conscious of their own thought processes.

The change from learning through natural curiosity, to digesting an enforced curriculum in school however, requires a completely different mental approach if a child is to continue ‘learning’ effectively. That’s why it’s important that we lay down the foundation for a more metacognitive way of thinking to help them adjust and succeed in a formal learning environment.

We have for a very long time, presumed that children are capable of making that step change for themselves, and some do. Those who’ve experienced good health, a stimulating environment, loving parental support, a range of new opportunities, and strong role models, are more likely to follow a normal or enhanced ‘development’ route, including a natural instinct for metacognition.

These students have the greater potential to become our academic achievers, but what about all those others who have faced adverse childhood experiences (ACES), or have a difficult relationship with learning in formal settings. I would argue that this group of students now make up a larger percentage of a school population and supporting them becomes ever harder.

If we’re going to insist that children and young people attend school in order to learn the cultural knowledge that we feel they should have in order to get the best out of life, then we have to stop putting barriers in the way of them learning effectively. Many come with barriers or limitations in place, so we need to lay the groundwork for a foundation on which they can successfully grow.

The buy-in has to come from the learners themselves and the keys to achieving that are; 1) to ensure that they believe in themselves as learners, 2) to teach them what the learning process consists of, and 3) enhancing their appreciation for what their role is in that situation. We need all learners to use metacognition as part of their thought processes in order to make academic progress, but they will not do so if those previously mentioned criteria are not in place.

So, next time you’re faced with a child who is not making progress, ask yourself which one (or more) of three pre-requisites for thinking metacognitively is missing for them and focus specifically on support in that area. (Just a quick mention here that my Learner Success Pathway (LSP) is designed to do just that. Its not available to purchase, but I do train support practitioners to use the materials, the cost of which includes a license to reproduce them.)

Making sure that all your students can think in a metacognitive way doesn’t require separate lessons about ‘thinking’. Teach them to ‘think’ via all the subject areas of the curriculum so that they realise it’s a transferable skill. ?Printed thinking ‘templates’, (prompts for analysing their thought processes whilst working on a task) can initially cause confusion for some students, because the idea of ‘reflection’ is broken down into too many constituent parts.

We need learners to start using their minds in a way that leads to ‘working things out’ for themselves rather than storing disparate facts for future re-gurgitation. Many of the strategies currently recommended for helping students to learn more effectively eg; interleaving, retrieval practise etc, are provided and guided by the teacher, so students are still not learning to take responsibility for their own progress.

Next time, we’ll look more closely at the type of learning environment that leads to metacognitive learners without ever having to mention the word!

Take care till then.

Warm regards

Liz