🧠 Thinking About Thinking: Building Metacognitive Learners

How to help students become aware of their own minds

Metacognition means “thinking about your thinking.” It’s not just about solving a problem but understanding how you approached it, and whether that strategy worked—or didn’t.

Teaching students to think metacognitively helps them become more resilient, intentional, and independent learners.


🧩 Metacognitive Strategies to Teach

  • Plan: “What’s the goal? What strategy will I use?”

  • Monitor: “Am I staying on track? Do I understand this?”

  • Evaluate: “Did my strategy work? What should I change next time?”

🧪 How to Teach It

  • Model your own thinking aloud (“Hmm, I’m not sure—maybe I’ll try this method first...”)

  • Use reflection prompts regularly

  • Teach question stems like:
    → “What am I trying to learn?”
    → “Why did I get this wrong?”
    → “What will I do differently next time?”

📌 Tip

Start small: Ask students to pause and reflect at key points during a task—not just after. Reflection isn’t an add-on; it’s part of the learning process.