Metacognition

This years teaching and learning ‘hot topic’, but what’s it all about? Metacognitive approaches aim to help pupils think about their own learning using strategies for planning, monitoring and evaluating. Metacognition and self-regulated learning is high impact but very low cost.

METACOGNITIVE THINKING_A3 POSTER_V2-01.jpg
A3 Classroom Poster

As a teacher of Technology, I found that Metacognitive skills were already being taught to students within our general classroom practice. Technology teachers regularly model solutions, peers teach each other new skills and students analyse their progress on a regular basis. However, I started to develop whole school solutions, looking specifically at resources that could be implemented as starters/plenaries. The ideas below can be adapted for use in multiple subjects, age ranges and settings!

Self-regulated learning can be broken into three essential components:

  1. Cognition – the mental process involved in knowing, understanding & learning.
  2. Metacognition – often defined as ‘learning to learn’.
  3. Motivation – willingness to engage our metacognitive and cognitive skills.
PROGRESS BAR
Progress Bar: Student reflect on where they’re up to on their practical work during a project. They label their current stage using a named post-it note.
KWL
K-W-L Chart: Students complete the know and want sections as a starter prior to learning the topic. They complete the learnt section as a plenary, after learning the topic.
Effort Emoji.png
Effort Emoji: Students reflect on their ATL as a plenary activity at the end of the lesson.
CORNERS.png
Reflection Quiz: Students are shown five questions, they need to move to the corner of the room to indicate which answer suits them best!
get real
Get Real Cards: Students apply their learning to real life situations, thinking about transferable skills and prior learning.

I’ve created a ‘Metacognition Bundle Pack‘, available for free download below. The pack includes an overview presentation (for inset/CPD), 8 editable resources and the A3 classroom poster (featured above).

 

DOWNLOAD_BUTTONEditable Bundle Pack: DOWNLOAD

 

 

 

 

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