Glossary
Metacognition
What is metacognition?
Metacognition is thinking about thinking: what you know about your own thought processes, how you monitor them, and how you adjust them. It includes noticing uncertainty, judging comprehension, and deciding whether to change a learning strategy.
Metacognitive means relating to this knowledge, monitoring, or regulation of thinking. A metacognitive judgment is a judgment about your own understanding or performance.
Research foundation
Flavell’s 1979 account described interactions among metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experiences, goals or tasks, and actions or strategies. A feeling of not understanding and knowledge about which strategy might help are related but distinct components.
Illustrative example
A student notices that a paragraph is unclear, attempts to explain it in their own words, and checks the text again. The monitoring judgment and the resulting strategy change illustrate metacognitive activity.
Limits
Awareness does not guarantee accurate self-assessment. One study habit does not establish that a person has globally strong or weak metacognition. Its value does not make it a substitute for knowledge or cognitive ability.