Running header: Metacognition
Metacognition Research Project
Jeffrey Weed
Texas Woman’s University
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Introduction
Metacognition has been described as “knowing about knowing.” It is the process of understanding how to know and think. In education, the promotion and development of metacognition is a means to expand the ability of students to learn as they seek to understand how they learn. Research on metacognition was pioneered by John H. Flavell of Stanford
University in the 1960’s and 70’s. Metacognitions are typically self-reflective, which means
“ they are not qualitatively different from other cognitions, but only relationally different as they have the individuals’ own cognition as an object.” (Bromme, Pieschl, & Stahl, 2010) The ideas of metacognition are applicable in special education as well as general education. This review will analyze the value of metacognition in the education process.
Body
One of the key elements in metacognition is the epistemological beliefs of the student in question. Epistemological beliefs are “beliefs about knowledge and knowing.” (Bromme,
Pieschl, & Stahl, 2010) One’s beliefs about what one knows can determine how one thinks about the process of knowing. Rainer Bromme, Stephanie Pieschl and Elmar Stahl insist that "We still need to know how and why epistemological beliefs function in the metacognitive processes and structures of self-regulated learning." (Bromme, Pieschl, & Stahl, 2010) The authors make the case that one’s pre-set beliefs about the knowledge can determine how that individual is able to learns and understand how she or he learns. Self-regulated learning is also important in metacognition. A metacognitive learner is more likely to be a self-regulating learner. It is important not to become subject to theoretical digressions that spend too much time defining terms and not applying them. Dale H. Schunk raises this concern:

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Thus, rather than asking how metacognition is involved during selfregulation, we end up asking whether metacognition is the same as selfregulation. Such definitional quandaries thwart progress. (Schunk, 2008)
The purpose of this work is to look beyond mere definitions and find the practical implications of metacognition for learning.
Some studies have attempted to determine whether metacognitive ability in children in and of itself is a valuable indicator of performance in mathematics. Annemie Desoete’s study in this area did not yield absolute results. She concludes that in order to evaluate “the true contribution of metacognition to mathematical problem solving IQ should be used as covariate.”
(Desoete, 2008) Desoete did admittedly use a small study sample, but was unable to determine if metacognitive ability apart from IQ was a determining factor. She also was unsure whether IQ and metacognition could even be considered separately at all.
Metacognitive thinking is not, however, thought to be a uniquely inborn trait. Oon-Seng
Tan contends that “ there is a need to realize that individuals can be taught metacognitive processes” and that “(facilitating) the acquisition of self-regulated learning strategies is an important aspect of metacognition.” (Tan, 2007) Children can be instructed on effective methods to process metacognitive thoughts. It is also helpful to observe what if any metacognitive abilities younger children may exhibit. In this case, observation is key to evaluation because younger children (preschool age) do not accurately answer questions about how they think.
Adina Shamir, Zemira R. Mevarech, and Carmit Gida’s study showed “that simply asking children about how they think is insufficient for research purposes.” (Shamir, Mevarech, & Gida,
2009) There was a significant difference between how the children self-reported and what was actually observed as they participated in both individualized and peer assisted learning. The

Metacognition 4 inability of younger children to accurately self-report makes for inconsistent findings when researching metacognitive abilities for this age group. (Shamir, Mevarech, & Gida, 2009)
When researching metacognition among older students, many researchers have discovered that “t he tools and methods deployed in collecting information about metacognition inherently hold the capacity to initiate highly metacognitive experiences.” (Anderson, Nashon, &
Thomas, 2009) In other words, as the students are asked questions about their metacognitive processes, they are more likely to initiate more of those processes. This is likely because the act of answering questions about metacognition is a metacognitive process in and of itself.
Summary
The study of metacognitive processes has many fascinating aspects. “Knowing about knowing” is an important part of the development of the student’s mind. As self-awareness increases with age and experience, so can metacognitive abilities. This is not merely contingent upon IQ, although higher IQ may correlate with a deeper metacognitive ability. As the research shows, metacognition can be taught. Research into areas such as this will undoubtedly produce inexact results because of the diversity of the persons sampled and the inconsistencies inherent in any studies of human intelligence and cognition.
Personal Reaction
I found the topic of metacognition fascinating. As one who works with students that are assumed to have a limited capacity for metacognition, I am always observing examples that demonstrate that persons who are intellectually disabled or autistic are capable of some metacognitive abilities. As long as the observations are done without assumption that this is impossible, this activity can be noticeable. This is a hopeful thing and one of which I hope the education establishment is aware.

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References
Anderson, D., Nashon, S. M., & Thomas, G. P. (2009). Evolution of research methods for probing and understanding metacognition. Research in Science Education , 39 (2), 181-
195.
Bromme, R., Pieschl, S., & Stahl, E. (2010). Epistemological beliefs are standards for adaptive learning: a functional theory about epistemological beliefs and metacognition.
Metacognition and Learning , 5 (1), 7-26.
Desoete, A. (2008). Multi-method assessment of metacognitive skills in elementary school children: how you test is what you get. Metacognition and Learning , 3 (3), 189-206.
Schunk, D. H. (2008). Metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning: research recommendations. Educational Psychology Review , 20 (4), 463-467.
Shamir, A., Mevarech, Z. R., & Gida, C. (2009). The assessment of meta-cognition in different contexts: individualized vs. peer assisted learning. Metacognition and Learning , 4 (1),
47-61.
Tan, O.-S. (2007). Problem-based learning pedagogies: psychological processes and enhancement of intelligences. Educational Research for Policy and Practice , 6 (2), 101-
114.