Metacognition relates to a person's awaredness of what he or she is learning and the processes they are going through.I think this kind of thinking is important not just in learning how to do something, but how to do something better. I think of it like dancing. If you try to learn a whole dance as one action, rather than a combination of multiple moves, it will be very difficult. It is natural for us to want to learn this way because there are so many complicated things we do that involve many steps, but are so ingrained into us that they are second nature. For this reason we don't often think about breaking things down and analyzing what we are learning. Let me give an example to help clarify what I am saying. Something as seemingly simple as brushing your teeth actually has many steps once you break it down. You have to pick up the toothpaste, uncrew the cap, put the cap down, pick up the toothbrush, put it up to the tube, squeeze the tube, etc. You get the picture. The point is that nothing we do is inherrently that simple, even if we think it is. So some things that we think are really complicated may be much more doable if we break it into parts. Metacognition helps us do that. I started developing a Cold War history lesson for another class so I will use that for my example. If the students are learning about Cold War propoganda and its effects on people's minds, a closer look at our own minds helps. When we look at the trailer for Rocky IV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN-SShi58cI
arguably a piece of Cold War era propoganda, a lot happens in our brain to shape the impression we have of it. When I watch the movie, as cheesy as it is, I can't help but say in my head, "Go America!" this is because of all the past memories I have relating to the Rocky movies, America my country, and my knowledge of the US and Russia conflict. All these memories and beliefs come together to help form my experience. Obviously this is a somewhat trite example, but the same idea can be applied to anything. This can allow us to explore why we think certain things.
On a purely practical level, if I want to increase my understanding of something, like the cold war, I can use metamemory. Metamemory forces me to look at my existing memory systems, think about why I remember certain things and help me develop ways using that knowledge to learn even better.
I want to share a game now. This is a game I have on my smartphone but can be played online too. It would not seem like an educational game at all, and explicitly it is not. So why am I sharing it? Besides the fact that I think it is brilliant, it is a really great example of a problem that required analysis of memory. It is a puzzle game that builds on itself, and to proceed through the levels, you have to be aware of what you have done, what works and what does not work, just when you think you've got the hang of it, everything changes, and you have to alter your existing understanding of how it works to continue. This will make a lot more sense if you play it, and I suggest using a touchscreen device like an iphone or ipad for a better experience than the mouse will offer. I think this is an example of metacognition. If I am wrong I gladly accept critique. What do you think? The game is called Contre Jour http://www.contrejour.ie/
Interesting idea about the Cold War and using metamemory. I often wonder how we can teach students born after 2000 about Communism when there's no reference point for it in their recent memory (since Chinese communism and Russian communism are quite different now). It brings up the bigger issue in history of how we can teach political ideologies from the past to our current students. And with that, it really does involve checking for how we understand something and comparing it to what we already know.
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