What Does Metacognition Have to do With My Grades?

The short answer is, a lot, if you use it. 

So what is metacognition, anyway? It sounds highly technical, deep into hardcore cognitive psychology. Unpacking the term, meta = about, cognition = thought processes, so metacognition is simply thinking about thinking. Wikipedia phrases it well, “Metacognition is an awareness of one’s own thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them.”

Being aware of your learning style strengths, soft spots and blind spots, then using the strengths and accommodating or developing the soft spots and blind spots is key to working smarter. Time management gets you working. Motivation keeps you working, and working harder. Planful metacognition gets you working smarter. My students report that they are getting better grades with less pain, not from studying harder and harder, but from using the techniques we come up with that take into account their learning style.

We do this in two steps. First, we analyze your learning style. Do you learn best visually? Do you learn best when you hear material? Do you find it hard to sit still? How did your most effective teacher present? Do you focus best if other people are quietly working around you, or if you are alone? How do you maintain focus? How do you lose focus? What is your peak learning time of day? How does eating and digesting affect your focus, your quickness of processing? What are your lengths of effective study periods for different subjects? What gets in the way of retention? The list goes on and will be different for everyone.

The second step is using this analysis to plan your cognitive approach to your courses. Think again about that most effective teacher. We put together how you can be your most effective teacher. Maybe it’s using humour. Or music. Maybe it’s tying in relevance from your own experience. Maybe it’s chunking. Mnemonics work for some students. For larger concepts, outlining, paraphrasing, debating may be more effective than straight memorization–it will depend on your cognitive style and planning the adaptations for each challenge.

Working with metacognition often brings a key change in self-awareness: Cognitive process and cognitive ability can change, thanks to neural plasticity, new learning techniques, and practice. I’ve had several students overwhelmed by the volume of material they have to memorize in, for example, a biology course. Some have tried flashcards, and found they didn’t work. After adapting how flashcards are designed and used . . . they report that the modified approach worked! Students move from “I can never . . . “ to, “Yes, I did okay on the exam.”

Your learning style, your challenges: We work together adapting learning techniques that mean you work smarter and are more effective in the work you do. Let’s talk: [email protected]