We are committed to bring in ‘Metacognition’
Why do some students in a course perform better than others of roughly equal ability?
The answers, of course, are as varied as are students. Some spend more time studying, or study more efficiently; some have other priorities; some don’t connect with the instructor. Some of these factors relate to metacognition, defined variously as knowing about knowing or being able to understand why we learn the way we do.
What is Metacognition?
Metacognition, simply put, is the process of ‘thinking about thinking’. It is important in every aspect of school and life, since it involves self-reflection on one’s current position, future goals, potential actions and strategies, and results. At its core, it is a basic survival strategy.
For example, a student with metacognitive skills may realize after a disappointing test that he/she didn’t work on remembering facts or application of concepts or using the key words in the answers and needs to devote more time to academics. A student without such self – reflective skills, may blame the teacher or the circumstances.
How is metacognition incorporated at PICT?
At PICT, we dedicate an hour each day, for students to summarize and go over the contents that they learnt throughout the day. We apply various strategies for metacognitive learning. Some of them are:
Pre-assessment of content
A simple activity such as finding out what students already know about a topic can help students begin to think about how learning works.
Self-assessment of learning skills
Students aren’t going to learn how to be good learners unless we engage them in activities and discussions about how they perceive themselves as learners and to see what approaches are working and not working for their learning.
Think aloud for metacognition
The educators provide opportunities for the learners to talk out loud about their views regarding the concepts taught, sharing their thinking with peers, helping them become more reflective in their own approaches towards the subject.
Reflective writing
Reflective writing helps students make connections between what they are learning in their classrooms or through home assignments and how are they integrating the content into their current learning structures.
Connect-Extend-Challenge
Students are encouraged to connect new ideas to concepts they are already familiar with and then extend those connections to see what challenges may result in their thinking.
Metacognition is an integral part of the virtuous learning cycle, and the one that is amenable to further improvement through instructions.
With metacognition, students learn to accurately predict how much knowledge they have for an upcoming test or requirement. In the long run, students become more accurate with their predictions, be it a test or even life-altering decisions.
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