Applying Metacognition – Classroom Experience
Jonathan Firth's Memory & Metacognition Updates #45
Hello all! How are things going? If you were on mid-term last week, I hope you had a good break. And if you missed last week’s update, you’ll find the link at the end of this one.
As I mentioned in that post, I have recently visited several schools around Scotland that have been applying metacognition. I thought I would share a few of the things that I observed in practice.
I’m not saying that every other school/college ought to do all of these things. Each context is different. However, they will at least provide food for thought.
Here are my observations:
Prioritising. There are a lot of educational improvements that would be nice to have, but many are expensive or complex to implement, and our time and effort is limited. The schools I visited have focused on metacognition because it provides high impact for low cost. Likewise, many are focused on metacognitive strategies for specific curriculum areas, e.g. literacy or numeracy.
Teachers engaging with research. To quote a research study, “teachers themselves need a firm intellectual understanding of [self-regulation] to encourage it in students” (Boekaerts & Corno, 2006, p. 222–3). It was therefore great to see teachers who are not only interested in metacognition and self-regulation, but are actively engaging with the evidence, with a hunger to read more.
Metacognitive strategies from primary school up. We could still do more to make this coherent across school sectors, but it is starting to happen. Strategies being used with younger students include using metacognitive language in the classroom, as well as prompting them to pause and think about the strategies that they are using (or just used). This boosts metacognitive monitoring.
School-wide approaches. For all the benefits of metacognition, things can get messy if every teacher is applying it in different ways. It’s valuable for a school to have a coherent policy; schools are working on staff understanding of the concept via CPD sessions and support materials. Some schools have ensured that every department has a practitioner who focuses on pedagogy research, able to support their colleagues and answer questions.
A clear structure for lessons. Several schools have in some way simplified or standardised the format of lessons. This can make the learning easier for vulnerable students to cope with, and speed up teachers’ planning. There is still plenty of room for creativity in terms of the specific tasks covered in each phase of lessons. One example would be for each lesson to begin with a review/retrieval activity. This could be a quiz, but a teacher could also select other ways to engage students in retrieval practice.
Skills sessions with students. If there is one thing we know for sure about student metacognition, it’s that good strategies can’t be taken for granted! I have often called for study strategies to be taught as part of PSHE, and it was interesting to see schools running targeting study skills sessions (though some need to do it at an earlier stage – see point 3 above!).
Overall, I am excited to see many teachers engaging with the research on metacognition, self-directed learning, and similar areas. They really see the value in applying this to the classroom.
Before I go, many thanks to those who followed researchED Barcelona! Here’s a Twitter thread about the speakers. I’m also contributing to tomorrow’s free SecEd webinar (Tuesday 6th June, 2023). It focuses on metacognition and motivation in the classroom, with tips/advice about how teachers can develop independent learners. Find out more and sign up here.
Have a great week!
Jonathan
Last week: Tackling Misconceptions About How to Study
Website: www.jonathanfirth.co.uk