#88 Metacognition for All

Hi Everyone

Whilst preparing to guest on the first in a series of 3 podcasts (with Calli Veludos from The Ark), around the topic of metacognition, I found myself reflecting on how to divide my vast subject area up effectively. I need 3 different silos, which between them will serve the interests of an audience consisting mainly of parents and teachers.

Those two groups are obviously not mutually exclusive, so I want the content to support teachers who are also parents, and parents who have opted to teach their own children, as well as those who are getting behind the learners that they care about from the perspective of either role.

What’s often missing from discussions about metacognition though, is the impact this vital skill has on adult life. When we talk about the importance of metacognition, it’s often in relation to helping students to make greater academic progress, but in the long term we’re actually supporting them to improve their future life chances too.

The word was originally coined for educational purposes. John Flavell (1970s) chose it as a way of describing the way in which students needed to work out how their ‘reasoning’ impacts on the results they achieve. The word literally means ‘to go beyond the learning’, (employing the Greek word ‘meta’ which indicates a change in position, and ‘cognition’ from the Latin word ‘cognoscere’, meaning ‘to learn’.)

In more recent years, schools have become more aware of how vital the ability to use metacognition is for effective academic learning, and some have adopted policies and practices that they hope will enhance student progress. That’s where much of my work is aimed; at supporting schools to find better ways of ensuring that students develop the ability to think in a more metacognitive way.

Please do get in touch if you would like a day’s training for your staff on this topic. ([email protected])

Last year however, by popular demand, I created a webinar to support adults who had approached me from outside of education to ask about the relevance of metacognition to adults who were not necessarily needing it for academic study. Having created ‘The Art of Changing Your Mind’, a webinar specifically created to fill that need, the content of it came back to mind as soon as I embarked on the podcast planning mentioned earlier.

One of the slides in my presentation quotes the research carried out by a group of scientists attempting to find the area of the brain responsible for metacognition. Their conclusion was that it’s part of the decision-making apparatus in the pre-frontal cortex, but they couldn’t find a specific isolated area for the purpose. ?

(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))

What they could say with certainty was that “Metacognition is the process of considering the outcome of a decision, and whether a decision should be adjusted”. So, think about that for a moment. Aren’t the results we experience in our lives, created from the sum total of all the decisions that have been made, either by others on our behalf, or by ourselves.

Hugely significant! Who you are right now is the result of the environment you grew up in, the attitudes of those around you, the schools you went to, the friends you had, the type of employment you’ve been in, the relationships you’ve formed, the money you’ve made, the interests you’ve followed, the opportunities you’ve taken etc.

What your life looks like right now is the result of all the decisions that were made in all of these areas, (plus others), along the way. If, however you’re not completely happy with the way things have turned out, metacognition is the key to being able to change those results so that they’re more in line with what you really want.

The first podcast with Calli will therefore reflect that, looking at what metacognition is, and its significance for adult life, whoever we are. I would encourage all parents and teachers to think about their own personal metacognitive journey as an adult, before embarking on developing it in the learners they want to help.

The two podcasts that follow, will delve more into developing metacognition in children and young people either from a parent’s perspective, or that of a teacher. I will let you know when the first recording is released, but in the meantime…

I’ve received requests to repeat the small group live session of; ‘The Art of Changing Your Mind’ for those who were not available last time, and you are invited to join us.

Please note that this is not an interactive event, it’s designed to encourage personal reflection, gifting you the time to do that within a 90min framework of truly valuable content and with the opportunity to ask questions at the end. There is no recording and no sharing of slides, as this is an event exclusively for those who really want to ‘know’!

Here are some comments to whet your appetite from some people who attended last week and obviously felt that it was ￡27 well spent.

I can truly recommend these courses that Liz presents because it opens doors for us the adults and show the way for how to help and assist our kids with the power of METACOGNITION.?(Martella Diederiks, School Counsellor, Namibia)

I guess I've had it instilled in me that you're never too old (or young) to learn but stripping right back with the knowledge of metacognition? Wow! Liz made me realise with a few tactics and by using metacognition my mental health and wellbeing can be positively affected. I really am in charge of my own future. (Hazel Stimpson, Retired, UK)

I had a few “ah-ha” moments for sure—it was like having a few missing puzzle pieces that I hadn’t realized were missing, suddenly appear, and a bunch of things made even more sense to me… Having an understanding of it at this point in time (after 23+ years in education), leaves me to see how very important it is to develop metacognition in children as early as possible. (Audrey Shapiro, Education Consultant, USA).

So, put the date in your diary now; Wed 27th March at either 9.00am or 4.00pm GMT, depending on your time zone, then let me know that you’d like to attend, and are happy to receive an invoice for the attendance fee of ￡27. ([email protected])

I look forward to hearing from you and promise to reply personally. If not, I’ll still see you here next time for more metacognition in practice.

Take care till then.

Warm regards

Liz