Abstract
Metacognition is about learning how to learn. There is a close relationship between metacognitive functioning and executive functioning. Both involve planning, memory, organisation and cognitive flexibility to control the processes of learning. Metacognitive activities include planning how to approach a learning task, using appropriate skills and strategies to solve a problem, monitoring one’s comprehension of text, self-assessing and self-correcting in response to the self-assessment and evaluating progress toward completion of the task.
There are generally two components to metacognition: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive skills—one is about knowing what type of learner you are, and the other is the skills you apply to learning.
There is evidence that metacognitive strategies can be taught to children as young as 3 years of age. Examples of metacognitive strategies with preschoolers demonstrate positive changes in behaviour.
There is also evidence that successful metacognitive strategies have the capacity to change the structure of the brain. Evidence is provided that demonstrates that changes in brain structure could be induced through the training of specific psychological abilities such as multitasking performance and prosocial behaviour.
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Baron Levi, J. (2020). Metacognitive Strategies. In: The Hairy Bikie and Other Metacognitive Strategies . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46618-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46618-3_5
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