Metacognition: Expert Learners Can Be Made

Here is a summary of a presentation by Marsha Lovett Teaching Metacognition.

Lovett outlines three steps for teaching students metacognition:

Step 1: Teach students that the ability to learn is not a fixed quantity

Step 2: Teach students how to set goals and plan to meet them.

Step 3: Give students opportunities to practice self-monitoring and adapting.

The first step has been embraced in recent years thanks to Carol Dweck's work. The last two steps need more attention. We need to help every student be a great student. This isn't really about executive functioning (though that's important as well); it's about helping students think about how they learn so they can get better at learning.

Note that an important aspect of this is providing students with good information about what actually works for them. This isn't about perceived learning styles. This is about turning students into informed self-aware learners.