MODULE 5: METACOGNITIVE INSTRUCTION

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

 explain fundamental principles to teach metacognitive skills;
 identify metacognitive strategies for a particular lesson; and
 operationalize metacognitive processes in a given situation/context.

THINK

Principles of Metacognitive Instruction

Developing metacognitive thinking among students needs the creativity of the teacher.
Using metacognitive strategies facilitates how learners learn. As studies have proven,
metacognitive teaching practices enhance the learners' capabilities to transfer their
competencies in learning new tasks in new contexts (Palinscar & Brown, 1984; Schoenfeld, 1991).

Moreover, metacognitive teaching practices make learners aware of their strengths and
weaknesses as they learn. Knowing their strengths give them the confidence to pursue a task.
Knowing their weaknesses lead them to strategize on how to overcome their limited knowledge
and how to source out the needed information for the task.To effectively develop metacognitive
skills among learners, Veenman et al. (2012) recommend three fundamental principles (see
Figure 3).
1. Metacognitive instruction should be embedded in the context of the task at hand in order
to allow connecting task-specific condition knowledge (the IF-side) to the procedural
knowledge of “How” the skill is applied in the context of the task (the THEN-side) of
production rules).

2. Learners should be informed about the benefit of applying metacognitive skills in order
to make them exert the initial extra effort.

3. Instruction and training should be stretched over time, thus allowing for the formation
of production rules and ensuring the smooth and maintained application of metacognitive
skills.
Figure 3. Principles for effective metacognitive instruction.
 Cognizant of these principles, teachers can plan their lessons well to ensure that as the
learners undergo classroom activities, they metacognize their learning. Leading learners to think
metacognitively gradually leads them to become self-regulated learners.

Metacognitive Teaching Strategies

Varied metacognitive strategies to teach learners to undergo metacognitive thinking have

been proven effective. These include the following:

Graphic organizers are visual illustrations displaying the relationships between for ideas,
or concepts. Through the visual displays, learners are guided in their thinkin, needed information.
One good example is the KWHLAQ chart, a variant of the KWI during the planning, monitoring,
and evaluating phases of metacognition.

What do I What do I HOW do I What have I What action What new

KNOW? want to find out? LEARNED? will I take? QUESTIONS
KNOW? do I have?

Think aloud helps learners to think aloud about their thinking as they undertake a task.
The learne report their thoughts while they do it. With the help of a more knowledgeable learner,
the errors in thinking and the inadequacy of declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge
can be pointed out giving the learner increased self-awareness during learning.

Journalizing can be used together with think aloud. In a journal, learners write what was
in their mind when they selected an answer and the reasons for their choice. Later, they write
about their realizations where they were wrong and what should have been considered in
answering. Finally, they resolve on what to do the next time a similar situation/problem arises.

Error analysis is a "systematic approach for using feedback metacognitively to improve

one's future performance” (Hopeman, 2002). Asking the learners where they are correct and
wrong provides avenues for them to evaluate their thinking. It results in a learner's metacognitive
knowledge of own mistakes and making use of them to improve future performance.
 Wrapper is an activity that fosters learners' metacognition before, during, and after a
class. In a reading class, before the selection is read, the teacher asks about the theme of the
selection based on the story title. While reading the selection, learners are asked if their
assumptions were true. After reading, the learners are asked what made them comprehend or
not comprehend the story.

Peer mentoring is a proven metacognitive strategy as many learners learn best when
studying with peers who are more informed and skilled than them. Novice learners, by observing
their more skilled peers, can learn from the metacognitive strategies of their peer mentors. The
use of cooperative learning strategies is helpful toward this goal.
.
EXPERIENCE

Teaching metacognitive thinking strategies to learners is a must if teachers want them to

be self-regulated learners. Several studies have shown the benefits of metacognitive instruction.
Goh (2008) cites her study (Liu & Goh, 2006) that proved metacognitive knowledge can be
increased through classroom instruction. The work of Goh and Hu (2013) demonstrated a causal
relationship betweco metacognitive instruction and a statistically significant improvement in
listening performance. another study, students' use of metacognitive skills in problem solving—
with five main processes that encompass an emerging substantive theory, namely:
understanding the problem through seu making; organizing and constructing useful information
from the problem; planning solu strategies by identifying, conjecturing, and selecting strategies;
executing the plan; checking process and strategies undertaken, and reflecting and extending the
problem-has facilitate development of Filipino students' problem-solving heuristics (Tan &
Limjap, 2018).

ASSESS

Activity 1: Identify the metacognitive teaching strategy used on the description given:

1. Mrs. Cruz asks her Mathematics learners, “Give me one significant learning you derived
from this lesson.”
2. Mr. Ravena groups his learners into two, with each member inquiring how the other has
arrived at the measures to combat air pollution.
3. At the beginning of the Social Studies class, Miss Agulay uses a matrix to elicit learner’s
prior knowledge about the topic for discussion.
4. Miss Tomas assigns the EPP learners to reflect on the learnings in class, and what these
meant to them as a member of the family.
5. To process their thinking, Mr. Paraiso asks learners who failed to get the answer correctly
to identify the reason how and why they went wrong.

Activity 2: Write a two-paragraph essay explaining one of the principles of effective

metacognitive instruction. Cite a classroom situation to illustrate your argument.

CHALLENGE
1. Why should any instructional plan abide with the three fundamental principles for
metacognitive skills development?
2. Why should teachers adapt, not adopt, the existing metacognitive teaching strategies?
3. How should teachers handle novice and expert learners in the classroom so that they both
develop metacognitive thinking skills?

HARNESS

1. Get a peer mentor and discuss the three fundamental principles to develop metacognitive
skills. Provide classroom situations to enrich your discussions.
2. Considering your outputs in Activity 1 in Lesson 1 and Activity 2 in Lesson 2, identify
metacognitive strategies (before, during, and after the lesson) to be used in teaching. Show
your outputs to your instructor.
3. Using the Exit Ticket graphic organizer, reflect on your learning from this chapter by filling
in the boxes to reflect your metacognitive thinking.'

Today, my learning Today, I considered

was disrupted
because
• __________________
• _________________
Today, I am certain
a new idea or
that i learned
concept
• ______________ • _______________
• _______________
• ______________

THE LESSON IN A CAPSULE

Metacognitive instruction aims at helping learners to be self-regulated. In the process,

teachers can · assist the learners to monitor and regulate their learning. Metacognitive teaching
strategies enhance learners' achievement. Learners benefit much from metacognition as the
skills could be transferred in learning other skills and content.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Simply referred to as thinking about thinking, metacognition is recognized as a

regulatory system that makes a learner fully aware of his or her cognitive performance.
Through the help of the teachers, learners can be assisted in monitoring and controlling their
learning. As a learner undertakes a task, he or she is made aware of his/her metacognitive
knowledge, which is essential during the metacognitive processing. The joint operation of these
two significant components of metacognition differentiates a novice from an expert learner.