Metacognition is often considered to have two dimensions: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. Metacognitive knowledge refers to what learners know about learning. This includes: - the learner’s knowledge of their own cognitive abilities (e.g. ‘I have trouble remembering dates in history’) - the learner’s knowledge of particular tasks (e.g. ‘The ideas in this chapter that I’m going to read are complex’) - the learner’s knowledge of different strategies that are available to them and when they are appropriate to the task (e.g. ‘If I scan the text first it will help me to understand the overall meaning'). Metacognitive regulation refers to what learners do about learning. It describes how learners monitor and control their cognitive processes. For example, a learner might realise that a particular strategy is not achieving the results they want, so they decide to try a different strategy. Pablo Torres: Well first thing, when you look at the big picture, metacognition is one of the higher order thinking functions that differentiate us as humans from other types of animals. So this is very important to understand because it allows us to adapt our environment, and even transform ourselves to adapt to that environment. Now in practise it is the process of thinking through which you become aware of your own behaviours, and your own thoughts. And when you become aware of these thoughts you materialise them, you make them an object of your thinking, and therefore once this happens you can manipulate them. Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) theorised processes that would be regarded as metacognitive. Vygotsky developed the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development. This zone lies between what a learner can achieve alone and what a learner can achieve with expert guidance.
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