Tag: Metacognition research

Metacognition: ideas and insights from neuro and educational sciences

The authors of this article point out that “the educational and neuroscience disciplines have largely developed separately with little exchange and communication.” Their article provides useful summaries of metacognition in cognitive neuroscience research and metacognition in educational sciences research. They conclude with several useful directions for future interdisciplinary research on metacognition and how it’s developed.

Fleur, D.S., Bredeweg, B. & van den Bos, W. (2021). Metacognition: ideas and insights from neuro- and educational sciences. npj Sci. Learn. 6(13). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00089-5 


Metacognitive Strategies and Development of Critical Thinking in Higher Education

This paper studies a metacognitive intervention to develop both critical thinking and metacognition skills. Their data “have shown that this relation is bidirectional, so that metacognition improves thinking skills and vice versa.” (P 10)

Rivas, S., Saiz, C., & Ossa, C. (2022). Metacognitive Strategies and Development of Critical Thinking in Higher Education. Frontiers in Psychology. Vol 13 (article 913219). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.913219


Supporting thinking about thinking: examining the metacognition theory‑practice gap in higher education

This study investigated higher education academics’ familiarity with both aspects of metacognition, knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition, as well as their incorporation of metacognitive supportive practices (MSPs) in their courses. The authors conclude that “despite extensive investigation of metacognition in the literature, academics are broadly unfamiliar with metacognition and did not explicitly include it in their teaching.”  This paper also includes a table summarizing MSPs grouped according to their theoretical alignment with metacognition constructs, and shares data showing the prevalence of their use.

Dennis, J. & Somerville, M. (2023). Supporting thinking about thinking: examining the metacognition theory‑practice gap in higher education. Higher Education. Vol 86: 99-117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00904-x


Investigating the Effects of Academic Coaching on College Students’ Metacognition

The authors “conducted this exploratory study to situate an academic coaching model within theories of SRL and to examine academic coaching’s effects on undergraduate students’ metacognitive awareness. Results from the RCT indicated that both in-person and online academic coaching increased students’ use of metacognitive skills over the course of the intervention, which is a key component to engaging in and facilitating SRL processes. Students in both treatment conditions reported that they perceived the intervention to be helpful, that they would engage in academic coaching in the future, and that they would recommend academic coaching to their peers.” (p. 199)

Howlett, M., McWilliams, M., Rademacher, K., O’Neill, J., Maitland, T., Abels, K., Demetriou, C., & Panter, A. (2021). Investigating the Effects of Academic Coaching on College Students’ Metacognition. Innovative Higher Education. Vol 46:189–204. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09533-7