This article starts by outlining the best-practice recommendations from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) around metacognition and self-regulated learning, it then goes through each point with some suggestions and ideas as to how teachers/schools can best respond to teach point using the instructional resources from The Global Metacognition Institute.
The Education Endowment Foundation ‘Metacognition and Self-Regulated Learning Guidance Report‘ provides 7 recommendations. They are:
Recommendation 1 – Teachers should acquire the professional understanding and skills to develop their pupils’ metacognitive knowledge.
Self-regulated leaners are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and can motivate themselves to engage in, and improve, their learning.
Developing pupils’ metacognitive knowledge of how they learn, of strategies and of tasks – is an effective way of improving outcomes.
Teachers should support pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning.
Recommendation 2 – Explicitly teach pupils metacognitive strategies including how to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning.
Explicit instruction in cognitive and metacognitive strategies can improve pupils’ learning.
While concepts like ‘plan, monitor, evaluate’ can be introduced generically the strategies are mostly applied in relation to specific content and tasks, and are therefore best taught that way.
A series of steps beginning with activating prior knowledge and leading to independent practice before ending in structured reflection – can be applied to different subjects, ages and contents
Recommendation 3 – Model your own thinking to help pupils develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills.
Modelling by the teacher is a cornerstone of effective teaching: revealing the thought processes of an expert learner helps to develop pupils’ metacognitive skills.
Teachers should verbalise their metacognitive thinking (‘what do I know about problems like this? What ways of solving them have I used before?’) as they approach and work through a task.
Scaffolder tasks, like worked examples allow pupils to develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills without placing too many demands on tier mental resources.
Metacognitive Strategies for Each Recommendation
The following outline which metacognitive teaching strategies you can employ in response to each of the recommendations. Both free and premium resources are listed. Plan-holders can download all of these resource for free in the Members Area. To join us and order a membership plan click here. We've made over forty metacognition and self-regulated learning teaching resources and plan-holders have access to all of them!
You can also download our resources individually (without a membership plan) through our online shop. Make sure to check-out the 'Free Teaching Resources' section of the site also!
Recommendation 1 – Teachers should acquire the professional understanding and skills to develop their pupils’ metacognitive knowledge.
Self-regulated leaners are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and can motivate themselves to engage in, and improve, their learning. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Think, Pair, Share Discussions (Free Download) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Metacognition Diary / Journal (Download Workbook) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Dedicated Improvement & Reflection Time (Download Worksheets) Metacognitive Strategy 4: Use Debate Activities for Metacognitive Reflection (Read More)
Developing pupils’ metacognitive knowledge of how they learn, of strategies and of tasks – is an effective way of improving outcomes. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Debate Activities (Free Download 1) (Free Download 2) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Metacognitive Thunks (Download Resource) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Metacognitive Reflection Workbook (Download Workbook) Metacognitive Strategy 4: Metacognitive Reflection Games (Download), Puzzles (Download) and Quizzes that Relate to Self-Regulated Learning (Download Quiz Here)
Teachers should support pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Activity Enhancers (Free Sample) (Full Pack x 10) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Metacognitive Exercise Book Enhancers (Download Resource) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Self-Regulated Learning & Metacognition Tracking & Monitoring Worksheets (Free Example) (Download Tracking Worksheets x10) Metacognitive Strategy 4: Use of Exit Tickets at the end of lessons (Download Exit Tickets)
Recommendation 2 – Explicitly teach pupils metacognitive strategies including how to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning.
Explicit instruction in cognitive and metacognitive strategies can improve pupils’ learning Metacognitive Strategy 1: Introduce Metacognition Using a Video (Free Video) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Dedicate a Lesson to Introducing Metacognition & Self-Regulated Learning (Download Fully Resourced Lesson) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Use Knowledge Hunts to Explore Self-Regulation (Download Knowledge Hunt Lessons) Metacognitive Strategy 4: Use of 'Revision Strategy Battle Planner' Workbook (Download)
While concepts like ‘plan, monitor, evaluate’ can be introduced generically the strategies are mostly applied in relation to specific content and tasks, and are therefore best taught that way. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Activity Enhancers (Free Sample) (Full Pack x 10) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Use of Lesson Wrappers (Here) & Assessment Wrappers (Here) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Use of Exit Tickets at the end of lessons (Download Exit Tickets) Metacognitive Strategy 4: Use of Metacognitive Teacher Questioning (Free Prompt Cards) Metacognitive Strategy 5: Metacognitive Exercise Book Enhancers (Download Resource)
A series of steps beginning with activating prior knowledge and leading to independent practice before ending in structured reflection – can be applied to different subjects, ages and contents Metacognitive Strategy 1: Use of Lesson Wrappers (Download Worksheets) or a Virtual Lesson Wrapper PowerPoint (Download) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Use of Assessment Wrappers (Here) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Use of Exit Tickets at the end of lessons (Download Exit Tickets)
Recommendation 3 – Model your own thinking to help pupils develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills.
Modelling by the teacher is a cornerstone of effective teaching: revealing the thought processes of an expert learner helps to develop pupils’ metacognitive skills. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Use of Metacognitive Teacher Questioning (Free Prompt Cards) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Modelling metacognitive and self-regulated learning actively in lessons
Teachers should verbalise their metacognitive thinking (‘what do I know about problems like this? What ways of solving them have I used before?’) as they approach and work through a task. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Use of Metacognitive Teacher Questioning (Free Prompt Cards) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Modelling metacognitive and self-regulated learning actively in lessons
Scaffolder tasks, like worked examples allow pupils to develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills without placing too many demands on tier mental resources. Metacognitive Strategy 1: Activity Enhancers (Free Sample) (Full Pack x 10) Metacognitive Strategy 2: Metacognitive Exercise Book Enhancers (Download Resource) Metacognitive Strategy 3: Use of Metacognition Bookmarks in Reading Activities (Free Download) (Full Set of Ten Designs)
Plan-holders can download all of the resource mentioned in this article for free in the Members Area. To join us and order a membership plan click here. We've made over forty metacognition and self-regulated learning teaching resources and plan-holders have access to all of them!
You can also download our resources individually (without a membership plan) through our online shop. Make sure to check-out the 'Free Teaching Resources' section of the site also!
