Question

What are the environmental factors that will encourage metacognition regulation and the use of metacognition strategies to improve learning? Explain. Under what circumstances might metacognitive strategies be less effective? Why?

Answer 1

Metacognition involves having an awareness and evaluation of one's own thought process. Metacognition is regulation of one's own thoughts, critical thinking and problem solving. Thus, metacognition enables the learner to be aware of their limitations in knowledge, helps them plan their strategies to acquire knowledgehelps them to evaluate their own biases and shortcomings in learning and the plans to overcome them. The environmental factors that will encourage metacognition regulation and the use of metacognition strategies to improve learning are:

• Culture: The cultural factors as family, peer group, gender, race etc play an important role in the formation of healthy self concept in the learners. An healthy self concept is essential to develop metacognition strategies in the learners. It encourages self evaluation of the knowledge one has, helps to strategize ways to acquire knowledge and also helps in critical thinking.
• Instructional techniques that are used while teaching and learning impact the metacognition in learners. The instructional designs and techniques that gives more exposure to learners, help them to self assess themselves, initiates critical thinking and problem solving develops metacognition.
• Content of the learning material that captures the attention of the learners and motivates them intrinsically develops metacognition strategies while learning.
• Teacher's approach: Those teachers who strategize their teaching methods in a way to enable their students to comprehend the learned concept, self assess their knowledge, develop understanding of the concept by evaluation and relating it to prior knowledge etc., helps their students in developing metacognition strategies.

Metacognition strategies would be less effective when there is an environment that promotes discrimination, because it will cause a poor self image in the learners. This discrimination could be from teachers part, or due to the societal practice on various backgrounds. These strategies will not work effeciently if the learner is not intrinsically motivated or is in tension and stress because these would hold back the learner from monitoring, evaluating and regulating their thoughts. Metacognition strategies would also be not effective when the learner is biased about themselves and are overconfident about their information and level of knowledge.