Research School Network: Five strategies to improve your application of metacognition and cognitive science

1 Continue to widen your knowledge – First and foremost, if teachers are to develop their knowledge of metacognition and cognitive science, then they must be committed to the enhancement of their knowledge and expertise. With a deeper understanding of these concepts, teachers will be more informed and will make better, evidence-informed decisions.

Books and online articles are a great source of knowledge, but ensure that every piece is read with a critical eye. Who is the author, and what is their credibility? Could the article be biased, favouring a certain point of view and ignoring others? From initial reading, basic understanding can be secured (and enhanced) by conversing with colleagues in a professional environment – sometimes those with a different, even challenging viewpoint offer the greatest development of understanding.

2 Identify thinking misconceptions – If metacognition is encapsulated by ​‘effective thinking before, during, and after a task’, then it is important for teachers to consider where students’ thinking strategies may have been ineffective (or in some cases, non-existent, perhaps due to a lack of motivation?)

A simple reflection question, ​“why did some students not meet the learning goal?” could allow teachers to identify specific ​‘thinking misconceptions’ before or during the task. For example, perhaps students did not meet the learning objective due to a lack of content-cognition (knowledge), and with some wider-reading such as a piece of relevant, informative non-fiction, students might perform better next time. On the other hand, maybe students had the relevant cognition, but failed to plan effectively for the task, resulting in structural errors or the omission of important information. If teachers embed time for students to evaluate their task performance effectively (updating their knowledge of self, the task, and strategies), and then adapt their teaching based on these misconceptions, then students are more likely to have effective thinking strategies in the future.

3 Model your own thinking – Modelling has always been a core part of many teachers’ practice, but sometimes it is necessary to model the thinking process of a successful learner, rather than just the end product – after all, most students will not learn how to paint by looking at Da Vinci’s ​“Mona Lisa”, but they will improve if they are shown the process of painting, such as brush strokes, paint layers and creating colour schemes.

Visualisers have become increasingly popular, and for good reason, as they allow a teacher to ​‘live model’ their expert thinking, and to unpick the many tacit, even subconscious, decisions that a successful learner will make. As a result, this might encourage students to make better decisions independently. Teachers are also encouraged to consider why
they are modelling a specific skill. Modelling without a particular reason can actually be detrimental for students who have secured a skill, but modelling a specific, targeted misconception can enhance students’ understanding of successful processes and, therefore, outcomes.

4 Plan, monitor, and evaluate – A crucial cycle within metacognition is the ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate a task successfully. Self-regulated learners will activate their prior knowledge (of themselves and their individual strengths and weaknesses; of the task and what success looks like; and of strategies that will allow them to achieve a successful outcome) before attempting the task. In addition, these learners will monitor their progress carefully by not only using their plan to guide them, but also to remain vigilant of the time remaining, and to make intelligent deviations and decisions if required. Finally, a self-regulated learner will evaluate their performance, to update their knowledge of self, task and strategies, and to inform their planning next time.


Teachers can break down this cycle into its three components and embed time for them to be discussed and applied in lessons. Using a success criteria, a teacher might model the planning process, including a verbal articulation of prior knowledge, predictions and previous targets. Students might then be guided to follow this planning process, enabling them with opportunities to think effectively about how they will achieve success in the upcoming task.

A teacher might also spend time modelling the monitoring process, which, understandably, can be quite daunting with a class full of expectant spectators, but it allows the students to see how an expert might use their plan to guide their writing; to see how an expert remains aware of their timing, and how an expert might have to make crucial decisions whilst writing in order to achieve their goal – for example, remembering a new piece of information, or deciding that two points can actually be combined and written about together rather than independently. A crucial point might be to model ​“positive self-talk” during the task, to show the students that it is normal to find a task demanding (even exhausting), but with perseverance and a growth mind-set, the challenge can be overcome.

To conclude, a teacher might model the evaluation process, including self-assessment of the success criteria or setting targets for next time. However, students can also be trained to peer assess, which can be a valuable opportunity for students to share struggles, strategies and success, informing their future practice.

5 Recall and retrieval practise – Kirschner et al (2006) defined learning as ​‘a change in long-term memory’. In other words, if a student learns some information, but forgets it the next lesson, have they truly learned it? Therefore, recall and retrieval practise is imperative if students are to remember the information that is taught to them. Calendar milestones (with spaced practice) for the recollection of prior information might be useful, but consistent strategies such as: 5‑a-day; recall roulette, and regular focussed quizzes also provide students with the opportunity to practise the recollection of information. Matt Lynch “@Matthew_Lynch44” often posts English recall quizzes on Twitter, providing students with five quick questions on their prior learning. If students are to truly ​‘learn’, they must be able to recall and transfer valuable information; routine recall quizzes allow teachers to embed a focus on long-term retention into their every-day practice

Holly Walsh, Head of Science and Research Lead at Meols Cop High School, summarises: The potential is high, but such an abstract idea is difficult to make concrete and put into practice, especially as it requires pupils to take greater responsibility for their learning. At first, teaching metacognitive strategies to your pupils requires a lot of teacher input, but slowly the explicit instruction, modelling and guided practice should transform gradually into independent work and structured reflection by the pupil to inform future targets. I find it more effective to focus on different aspects of metacognition rather trying to do it all at once, for example developing planning skills first, or knowledge of task skills. It is essential that ​“metacognition” does not become just another buzzword, or a ​“plaster” to cram into a whole school revision session the day before an exam. Instead, explicit strategies need to be taught within the context of your subject, separating the strategies into planning, monitoring and evaluating.