Metacognition
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Richard Bolles...I thank the Lord for the brain He put in my head. Occasionally, I love to just stand to one side and watch how it works.
-Richard Bolles |
Metacognition is the word we use to describe the act of thinking about our thinking. Meta mening self and congntion meaning thinking. So metacogntion becomes thinking about our thinking.
Successful people actively monitor their own thinking. They install plans of actions in their minds and monitor them as they are enacted. When they finish a task they reflect back on it and evaluate how well their thinking srategies served them.
This tendency to monitor the thoughts that are leading to our actions, rather than just our actions, is a hallmark of a successful person. Metacogntion can be described in three broad categories.
Firstly there is the forward planning, visualizing and predicting that goes on. For example an athlete that is preparing for an event might visualize their performance and monitor and focus their thoughts so that only positive or relevant thoughts are coming into their mind.
Importantly metacognition involves the monitoring of thoughts during an action. For example, as an engineer is solving a problem, working through their carefully layed out plan of action, they will be monitoring their progress, asking themselves if the strategies they are employing are working? Are they being distracted? Should they be considering another alternative?
After an event is finished, a successful person will reflect back and ask how it went. What should they do differently next time? Where their thoughts as focused as they should have been? Does something need to change in order to be more successful in the future?
Metacognition isn't just thinking, it is thinking about your thinking. It is the predictive, monitoriing and reflective process that goes on in order to improve our thinking strategies.
The video below shows Art Costa talking about Metacognition.
Successful people actively monitor their own thinking. They install plans of actions in their minds and monitor them as they are enacted. When they finish a task they reflect back on it and evaluate how well their thinking srategies served them.
This tendency to monitor the thoughts that are leading to our actions, rather than just our actions, is a hallmark of a successful person. Metacogntion can be described in three broad categories.
Firstly there is the forward planning, visualizing and predicting that goes on. For example an athlete that is preparing for an event might visualize their performance and monitor and focus their thoughts so that only positive or relevant thoughts are coming into their mind.
Importantly metacognition involves the monitoring of thoughts during an action. For example, as an engineer is solving a problem, working through their carefully layed out plan of action, they will be monitoring their progress, asking themselves if the strategies they are employing are working? Are they being distracted? Should they be considering another alternative?
After an event is finished, a successful person will reflect back and ask how it went. What should they do differently next time? Where their thoughts as focused as they should have been? Does something need to change in order to be more successful in the future?
Metacognition isn't just thinking, it is thinking about your thinking. It is the predictive, monitoriing and reflective process that goes on in order to improve our thinking strategies.
The video below shows Art Costa talking about Metacognition.