Metacognition

Element · All elements
Evidence · 10 claims (7 for, 3 mixed) · 16 studies (6 causal, 6 quant-synthesis, 2 review, 2 associational), q2–q4 · 7 of 16 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description

Metacognition is the element in which learners monitor, explain, and regulate their own thinking.

Affordances

• Metacognition

Claims

• Metacognitive prompts improve learning [+W]
• Metacognitive strategy instruction, which includes comprehension monitoring, improves academic performance by a medium amount, and in one non-randomised study comprehension-monitoring training raised low achievers' reading scores [+M]
• Metacognitive Strategies Improve Learning [+S]
• Learners misjudge which learning strategies are effective [+M]
• Prior Knowledge Needed For Accurate Self Assessment [+M]
• Related decorative pictures improve metacognitive monitoring accuracy for knowledge items in eighth-graders (Experiment 2), but not for transfer items [~W]
• Completing the think sheet more accurately was associated with higher comprehension, transfer, and regulation decision adequacy [+W]
• Sixth-graders' own monitoring accuracy is low and does not differ between no-cue, keyword, and summary cue-prompt conditions (Experiment 1). [~W]
• In-between explaining triggered more monitoring of knowledge gaps than after-study explaining (Experiment 1) [+W]

The evidence by question

• Does teaching learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning improve their achievement? Metacognitive Strategies Improve Learning [+S]
• Do planning, monitoring and evaluation prompts help, and which ones? Metacognitive prompts improve learning [+M]
• Can learners' own monitoring be trusted, and can it be trained? Self Assessment Accuracy Is Low Without Training [~S]

Related Elements

• Metacognitive Strategies
• Self-Monitoring

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	element
id	metacognition
title	Metacognition
description	Metacognition is the element in which learners monitor, explain, and regulate their own thinking.
status	review
canonical	True
generated	by codex/unspecified on 2026-04-08
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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