Metacognition

Metacognition is getting people to think about what they are thinking. It's the mental processing that happens above the actual content you are learning. It is the ability to monitor your learning. For example now I'm learning Maya. I love tools and it's easy for me to learn them. I realize that I have a certain way that I learn. I never take a course, but I constantly play with the tool. I access other finished examples and tweak them. I compare Maya to similar tools I've used. And I get lots of feedback from experts. In the book How People learn (pg18) they list ways you can tell if you are gaining metacognitive understanding. While you are engaged in a task are you able to:

• predict outcomes


• explain your actions


• note your own failures to comprehend


• activate background knowledge


• plan ahead


• apportion time appropriately

If you can do these things, you are already using metacognition.