Abstract
Designing metacognitive activities that focus on both cognitive and social development is a theoretical and practical challenge. This balanced approach to metacognition concerns itself with many aspects of student development, ranging from academic competence to knowledge about the self-as-learner. In this article, I examine two basic approaches to supporting metacognition: (a) strategy training and (b) creation of a supprotive social environment for metacognition. There are also two kinds of content that are taught using these two approaches: (a) knowledge about a specific domain and (b) knowledge about the self-as-learner. These approaches and contents have been used frequently in metacognitive interventions over the past two decades. Each offers unique contributions to metacognitive development. However, programs that address these approaches and contents simultaneously are rare. Maintaining the coordination, on one hand, between strategy training and creating social supports, and on the other hand, between knowledge about the subject domain and knowledge about the self-as-learner, is a challenge for most design efforts in metacognition. Future design issues include: (a) developing a system approach to promote coordination among these approaches and contents; and (b) finding ways to build knowledge about the self-as-learner.
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The preparation of this article was made possible by the National Academy of Education/Spencer postdoctoral fellowship, and Small Spencer grant. The opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of the granting agency. The author is indebted to her colleagues, John Bransford and Dan Schwartz, for in-depth discussions about metacognitive research literature, and is grateful for the great insights offered by Allan Collins and Barbara McCombs. Thanks also to three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this article.
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Lin, X. Designing metacognitive activities. ETR&D 49, 23–40 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504926
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504926