Cognition and Metacognition in Education

We are IntechOpen, the world’s leading publisher of Open Access books Built by scientists, for scientists 7,100 189,000 205M Open access books available International authors and editors Downloads Our authors are among the 154 TOP 1% 12.2% Countries delivered to most cited scientists Contributors from top 500 universities Selection of our books indexed in the Book Citation Index in Web of Science™ Core Collection (BKCI) Interested in publishing with us? Contact [email protected] Numbers displayed above are based on latest data collected. For more information visit www.intechopen.com Chapter Cognition and Metacognition in Education Murat Tezer Abstract Metacognitive skills help students develop skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and responsibility. This chapter aims to examine the concepts of cognition, metacognition, metacognitive strategy, and metacognitive skill within a theoretical framework and to reveal the place of these concepts in education. In the research literature review method was used. In the light of the results obtained based on the research findings, it was determined that metacognitive strategies help students improve their cognitive skills during the learning process and are related to academic success. This research reveals the need to emphasize the importance and place of metacognitive skills in education, to teach students strategies, and to guide them when and where to use them. Additionally, students need to gain appropriate experiences and practice to develop their metacognitive skills. Metacognitive development begins at an early age and continues throughout the teaching process; therefore, it is very essential to carry out activities that support metacognition, especially at preschool and primary school levels. The general conclusion is that developing metacognitive skills increases students’ cognitive competencies and makes them responsible for their learning, which in turn enables students to become more independent learners and increases their overall academic success. Keywords: metacognition, cognition, metacognitive skill, strategy, awareness, metacognition in education 1. Introduction Today, with the increase in knowledge, rapid changes and developments occur in social life, and many areas of human life are affected. With this effect, individuals’ learning and information-processing skills improve. While it was previously considered sufficient to simply memorize and repeat information, now comprehension and interpretation skills have gained importance. Individuals can analyze the information they learn, establish relationships between different information, and associate this information with their own experiences [1]. In the fast-paced and ever-evolving world we live in today, it is not enough for students to simply access information. They also need to process information effectively and apply it in a variety of study areas. This includes the ability to synthesize information from different sources, think critically about complex problems, and communicate ideas effectively [2]. 1 Metacognition in Learning – New Perspectives Learning to learn is a skill supported by the contemporary education system. It is thought that the individual who acquires the skill of learning to learn uses versatile thinking and questioning skills. The individual who uses questioning skills will carry out thinking activities on his/her behaviors and thoughts. As a result, the individual will be able to organize his metacognitive knowledge by thinking about his/her thoughts. Metacognition refers to the knowledge and awareness of an individual’s thinking processes, the ability to reflect on and adjust an individual’s thoughts, control this process, and use learning strategies consciously. This concept enables students to actively guide the learning process and achieve better results by using effective learning strategies [3]. As the individual’s metacognitive awareness increases, his perception of himself and his environment will differ, and this awareness can contribute to the raising of conscious, questioning, and intellectual individuals. Efforts to raise conscious individuals in education have begun to progress rapidly on a more meaningful path with the emergence of the concept of metacognition and the studies carried out on this subject [4]. High-quality instruction not only teaches students domain-wide knowledge but also provides metacognitive knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge helps students understand their learning processes and enables them to use learning strategies more effectively. Students need to understand how they learn, what strategies are most effective for them, and how they can be better organized [5]. 1.1 Cognition and metacognition in theory According to the information processing approach, learning occurs through the flow of information within sensory recording, short-term memory and long-term memory elements. Executive processes have an important place in the process of ensuring and directing the flow of knowledge within mental processes. Executive processes; they are the memory system elements that monitor and direct what information will be processed in the learning-teaching process, how this information will be processed, and control the learning-teaching process order. It involves being aware of one’s own thoughts, understanding how these thoughts influence learning, and making conscious efforts to regulate and control cognitive activities; it is the regulation and control of these processes to increase remembering. Metacognition includes the skills of (a) being aware of one’s own learning and memory capacity, (b) knowing the qualities of the learning strategy to be used, (c) planning for the study to be done, (d) using effective learning strategies, and (e) monitoring and evaluating the learning situation [6]. The first words on the subject of metacognition and therefore the emergence of the concept of metacognition began to be put forward by Flavell in 1976, and this concept was used to describe the individual’s own cognitive processes and knowledge and the knowledge that can keep cognitive processes under control. The subject of metacognition includes the individual’s awareness of what he knows, that is, “metacognitive knowledge”, the subjects that the individual can do, that is, “metacognitive skills”, and what the individual knows about his cognitive ability, that is, “metacognitive experience”. If we want to explain metacognition using the words Flavell first used, we would have to say that it is “cognition and knowledge about cognitive phenomena” [7]. Flavell [8] presented metacognition and cognitive monitoring in a model of stages. Cognitive monitoring takes place via “activities and interactions” between these four structures: (a) metacognitive knowledge, (b) metacognitive experiences, (c) goals (tasks), and (d) activities (strategies). Another important part of Flavell’s [8] model was metacognitive experiences that enable people to notice, direct, and evaluate their thought processes [8]. While these 2 Cognition and Metacognition in Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114857 experiences help improve learning and problem-solving skills, they also contribute to a better understanding of one’s mental processes. These metacognitive experiences can occur before, during, and after a cognitive activity [9]. Flavell’s definition of metacognitive components states that metacognitive knowledge is one’s information about his or her cognitive abilities, learning, and universal characteristics of learning. On the other hand, he considers metacognitive experiences as control and regulation processes, such as a person actively monitoring his cognitive process and his/her thinking consciousness. While Flavell states that metacognition can sometimes be unconscious and emotionally charged, Brown et al. [10] have the opposite idea. They suggested that the management of cognition is a purposeful and emotion-free element. Brown [11] claimed that it involves “purposeful efforts toward learning and problem-solving and actions of predicting, controlling, monitoring, testing, coordinating.” He divided the management of cognition into two main categories: (a) knowledge of cognition, which involves the individual thinking consciously about his cognitive abilities and actions, and (b) regulation of cognition, which are activities related to self-regulatory mechanisms in the learning or problem-solving process. Although he considered these two elements as two separate areas of research, he stated that they were “very closely related to each other” and constantly supported each other. Knowledge of cognition is what an individual knows about a particular sequence of events or a particular thing. The second element, regulation of cognition, involves the individual thinking about, monitoring, and controlling mental processes. It is the operational aspect of cognition management [10, 12]. Metacognition includes knowledge and regulations regarding cognitive activities during the individual’s learning process [8]. Metacognition is defined as one’s own awareness of his/her metacognitive processes and strategies [13]. Metacognition, which is related to the individual’s self-reflective feature, draws attention to how individuals think and understand during the learning process and how he/she assimilates and understand information [14]. Thus, metacognition helps the individual develop the thinking mechanism to fully learn and understand. As Vygotsky [15] emphasized, when the student is aware of his thinking processes, he gains control over how he learns. A few terms have emerged related to the concept of metacognition, which we have used widely for years: These are metacognitive beliefs (the capability to evaluate and question one’s own beliefs and thoughts and manage them through a metacognitive approach), metacognitive awareness (the capability to recognize and consciously manage one’s own mental processes, ideas, feelings, and beliefs), metacognitive experiences (the ability to notice, monitor, and evaluate one’s own mental processes, thoughts, and perceptions), metacognitive knowledge (the capability to be conscious, knowledgeable about an individual’s thoughts, beliefs, memory thinking processes, and learning strategies), feeling knowing, judging learning, theory of mind, meta-memory, metacognitive skills, higher-level skills, meta-components, monitoring by understanding, learning strategies, heuristic strategies (cognitive methods and approaches used to generate new and creative solutions), and self-regulation [16]. Veenman et al. [16] tried to explain these concepts by considering metacognitive knowledge and skills separately. They stated that metacognitive knowledge reflecting our learning process may be true or false and that this self-knowledge may be closed to changes. They emphasized that metacognitive skills have a feedback mechanism and are open to transformations. Schraw and Moshman [7] further examined Brown’s distinction between metacognition and the regulation of cognition in his model. Metacognition is discussed 3 Metacognition in Learning – New Perspectives under two general headings: self-evaluation and self-management. Self-assessment parallels the structure called cognitive management knowledge by other researchers. This category includes the individual’s personal opinions about his or her knowledge and abilities, such as memory abilities, problem-solving capacity, or other cognitive abilities. Self-management looks like the adjustment of cognition. It expresses the organizing of cognition in action. They are mental procedures that help organize the elements of problem-solving. These processes include plans made before starting a task, adjustments made while working, and reviewing the process afterward. These two elements of cognition management processes are interrelated [17]. Tobias and Everson [18] discussed cognitive management as a combination of knowledge and skills. This component can be examined in three main areas. Metacognitive knowledge is a kind of monitoring, which is one’s learning processes and the controlling of these processes. A prerequisite for metacognitive processes is monitoring. Students intensively engage in monitoring activities in learning environments where they gain new knowledge. Information monitoring can be thought of as the capability to understand what is known by an individual and what is not known. Students who accurately analyze what they have already learned and what they have not yet learned perform better at focusing their interests and other cognitive sources on the material to be learned. As a result, they developed their model by adding information monitoring and control to the metacognition model consisting of three components [18]. 1.2 Difference between cognition and metacognition When the definitions of metacognition are examined, the expression cognition is often encountered. Therefore, some comparisons have been made to better understand the relationship between the concepts of cognition and metacognition. One of these comparisons is that the concept of cognition deals with the individual’s ability to comprehend any situation by being aware of it, while metacognition is not only cognition but also being aware of how he comprehends this situation and thinking about how he learned [19]. According to another comparison, while cognition includes strategy and actual operations, metacognition includes what the individual knows about his cognitions and his ability to control these cognitions [20]. According to Yıldız [21], while cognition is the individual’s knowledge of a situation, metacognition deals with the individual’s awareness of his or her level of knowledge. To give an example, Gama [22] stated that the ability required to understand a text by reading it is different from understanding how much one can comprehend this text. The knowledge about solving a mathematical problem is cognitive, but the individual’s ability to compare the ability to read the text with the ability to solve a mathematical question and determine which one is better is metacognition. Just as the definitions of cognition and metacognition are different, there are also differences in their functions. In this context, the function of cognition is to find cognitive solutions to solve problems and achieve the goal. The task of metacognition is to regulate the cognitive work of a person while solving problems or to manage the learning task [20]. 1.3 Metacognitive awareness Metacognitive awareness is the individual’s awareness of his/her cognitive processes and the capability to control these processes. Thanks to this awareness, the 4 Cognition and Metacognition in Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114857 student can understand how he learns, what strategies he uses, and when he needs help. Metacognitive awareness helps the student make the learning process more effective and enables them to develop learning strategies. Metacognitive awareness is the state in which the student has information about how much of the field knowledge he has mastered in the learning process, which personal learning strategy he should use and why he uses it, and what he has done and should do until he reaches his goal [23]. According to Demir and Doğanay [24], metacognitive awareness is expressed as planning the work to be done by focusing attention, being able to evaluate the stages in the learning process, and making arrangements, in short, learning to learn. In other words, metacognitive awareness is one’s own awareness of his/her knowledge about what, how, and by what means he/she can learn in the learning process [25]. As can be understood from the definitions, metacognitive awareness can generally be expressed as thinking about one’s work, structure, and knowledge of the cognitive system [26, 27]. In this context, it can be said that metacognitive awareness can be expressed as “cognition about cognition” [28]. 1.4 Metacognitive knowledge Pintrich et al. [29] stated that metacognition is divided into two basic structures, which are (1) metacognitive knowledge and (2) metacognitive control and regulation. Some researchers have stated that metacognitive control and metacognitive regulation are different structures. What is expressed here as metacognitive regulation is the concept of self-regulation. These concepts can be discussed together and separately in the literature. Conceptually metacognition, compared to self-regulation, has been introduced to the literature before, and studies have been carried out in this field [30]. Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, educational and developmental psychologists proposed that individuals have different ways of monitoring, controlling, and regulating their learning [31–33]. According to Pintrich et al. [29], under the metacognitive knowledge dimension, students’ declarative, process, and situation-based knowledge is grouped as knowledge of cognition and cognitive strategies. Metacognitive knowledge can be expressed as one’s knowledge about one’s cognition and is located in long-term memory under a topic that has previously been learned in different ways; for example, it is a term related to awareness of learned information such as geography, mathematics, and physics. Metacognitive knowledge is a more static concept than monitoring and regulation and is the student’s awareness of what he knows or does not know. Metacognitive knowledge; it also includes one’s self-knowledge, task recognition, and strategy recognition, which are among the variables that affect cognition. Knowing oneself means being aware of one’s attributes, but also knowing one’s differences from other people. 2. The place of metacognition in education 2.1 Metacognitive teaching One of the most important factors underlying teachers’ ability to provide strong and effective teaching is their ability to develop students’ metacognitive awareness. Metacognitive development is a complex process. As a result of the research, three basic rules have been put forward for successful metacognitive teaching: (1) giving metacognitive teaching by connecting it with the content, (2) informing students about the 5 Metacognition in Learning – New Perspectives usefulness of metacognitive activities so that they spend more effort, (3) providing a long-term training for successful metacognitive activities. Provision of education. For teachers to provide metacognitive development in students, they must have three important teaching skills [34]. First, the teacher can give the student tasks or tasks that he can think about intensively. Secondly, it can provide a classroom environment where students can think and reason without fear and with mutual respect and are encouraged to do research. The third teaching skill is to give students time to express their thoughts about what they have learned. The teacher, who plays a central role in the metacognitive development process, encourages students to think and answer questions such as how and why during learning [14]. However, research shows that teachers and university academics have little knowledge about metacognition [35, 36]. 2.2 Metacognition and measurement-evaluation In education, in addition to summative assessment to measure learning outcomes, formative assessment that provides information about the learning-teaching process has become a necessity. With formative assessment, teachers enable students to engage with thought-provoking questions by providing a discussion environment and accelerating learning through various activities such as peer and self-assessment, observations, quizzes, and portfolios [37]. The formative assessment approach improves learning with five important features [38, 39]: (1) providing effective feedback to students, (2) enabling students to learn actively, (3) assessment to organize teaching according to the evaluation results, (4) to improve students’ self-esteem and motivation, and (5) to allow students to evaluate themselves and understand how they develop. Formative assessment, which provides an opportunity for students to evaluate themselves and monitor their development, also implicitly helps the development of students’ metacognitive awareness [40]. Sadler [41] emphasized that formative evaluation depends on two important factors. First, students need to understand the range between the learning goal and their current level. Second, students need to close this gap. Although the teacher activates this process and guides the student, learning must occur by the students [42]. In other words, students need to be active in the learning–teaching process. Students must take an active role during learning, teaching, and evaluation for the development of metacognitive awareness [43]. A learning-focused assessment-evaluation approach, in which the student plays an active role and provides feedback for learning, enables the student to learn more deeply and effectively [38]. Therefore, learning-oriented assessment and evaluation can ensure the metacognitive development of the student. For example, through self-assessment, which is one of the learning-oriented measurement-evaluation methods, the student reflects and creates feedback during the learning process. Thus, self-assessment helps students understand what they have learned more deeply and improve the teaching strategies they use, contributing to their metacognitive development and activities in future lessons [44]. Measuring metacognition is very difficult for many reasons: (1) metacognition is a complex structure, (2) metacognition cannot be observed directly, (3) metacognition can be a mixture of both verbal ability and memory capacity, and (4) existing measurements tend to be more narrowly focused and distant from learning [45]. For this reason, the assessment-evaluation practices that teachers will use when measuring metacognitive knowledge will tend to be informal rather than formal [46]. Pintrich suggested that when teachers measure metacognitive knowledge informally, they usually do so by listening to students’ cognitions and what they have learned. 6 Cognition and Metacognition in Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114857 2.3 Metacognitive strategies Hartman [47] compared cognitive skills to “workers” and metacognitive skills to “bosses” and stated that cognition brings about the mental activities decided by metacognition. Accordingly, while coding (recording information), inferring, comparing, and analyzing constitute cognitive strategies, planning, monitoring, and evaluation constitute metacognitive strategies. Metacognitive strategies include thinking about the learning process by consciously following one’s cognitive strategies to achieve specific goals, planning learning, monitoring understanding as it occurs, and selfevaluating learning [48]. That is, these strategies consist of planning, monitoring, and evaluation [17, 32, 49–51]. The proper planning process includes selecting appropriate strategies and organizing resources. As you mentioned in the reading example, the student can make predictions and list strategies before starting to read. It can also achieve a more effective reading experience by selectively distributing time and attention. Planning helps the student better organize the learning process and achieve their goals [52]. In other words, it can be said that the individual’s making arrangements for his learning before learning is within the scope of this strategy. The sentence “I prepare for the topic to be covered before the mathematics lesson” can be given as an example of planning [53]. The planning strategy is divided into four different sub-steps [50]: (1) advance organizers, (2) organizational planning, (3) selective attention, and (4) self-management. According to Zhang and Seepho [50], metacognitive strategies play an important role in the reading comprehension process. These strategies are used in three stages: preorganization, organizational planning, and selective attention. In the advance organizers phase, the student understands the meaning and nature of reading, determines reading goals, and plans the purposes of secondary reading tasks. At this stage, the student also details the preliminary information about the reading task. In the organizational planning phase, the student plans the content of each task, divides specific reading tasks into sections, plans strategies for completing the tasks, and details preliminary information about the reading tasks. In the selective attention stage, the student sorts strategies for completing tasks and selects appropriate reading strategies to focus on a particular task. These metacognitive strategies make the student’s reading comprehension process more effective. The student uses reading strategies relevant to a particular task and adjusts those strategies to achieve his or her goals. This is an indicator of self-management because the student realizes, controls, and directs his cognitive processes [50]. Monitoring is a cognitive process that reflects progress in line with goals and feedback [54]. Lv and Chen [55] defined monitoring as being aware of what one is doing. According to Mahdavi [56], monitoring includes the self-testing capability necessary to organize learning and learning environment. It also refers to critical analysis of the validity of strategies or plans being implemented. Thus, this strategy allows the individual to evaluate learning demands and outcomes to inform the construction of a higher-level mental model [57]. Thus, learning is increased by monitoring cognition [30]. The monitoring strategy is divided into two different sub-steps [50]: (1) monitoring comprehension and (2) monitoring production. When using the monitoring strategy during reading, checking one’s meaning, accuracy, and appropriateness of the reading process, as well as one’s capabilities and difficulties in each reading task, helps to monitor comprehension; inspection by the teacher to see whether the reading strategies used in the classroom can solve comprehension problems, monitoring 7 Metacognition in Learning – New Perspectives selected reading strategies, and adopting alternatives when they do not work also indicates monitoring production [50]. Evaluation mentions evaluating the efficiency and products of one’s learning [52]. According to Mahdavi [56], evaluation refers to examining the progress made toward targets that will enable planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In other words, it is a review of the learning itself at the end of learning. In mathematics, the sentence “After studying the combination subject, I will give myself an exam on that subject” can be given as an example for evaluation [53]. The evaluation strategy is divided into three different sub-steps [50]. These are (1) self-monitoring, (2) self-evaluation, and (3) self-reflection. Accordingly, when using the evaluation strategy after reading, evaluating whether the reading target was successful or not is a self-control; selfassessment of how well one has learned to read and one’s use of reading strategies; thinking about whether he needs to go back to understand better is also given as an example of self-reflection [50]. It has been stated that metacognitive strategies are related to success and learning in many disciplines, especially in reading, mathematics, and science [58]. The use of metacognitive strategies in the teaching process allows students to take ownership of their learning and become active participants in the evaluation and improvement of their knowledge and skills. By engaging in metacognitive activities, such as self-assessment and reflection, students can identify any gaps or misunderstandings in their understanding of the content. This self-evaluation process enables them to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and make necessary adjustments to their learning strategies. For instance, when a student completes a study session, they can employ metacognitive strategies to assess their comprehension of the topic. They may ask themselves questions like, “Can I explain this concept in my own words?” or “Can I solve problems related to this topic?” This self-checking process helps the student become aware of their level of understanding and identify areas that require further attention. If the student finds that they have a strong grasp of the material, they are likely to continue using the same learning strategies in future situations. This reinforces their confidence in their approach and enhances their learning efficiency. On the other hand, if the student realizes that they have not fully understood the topic, they are likely to reevaluate their learning strategies and make necessary changes. For example, they may decide to seek additional resources, ask for clarification from the teacher, or adjust their study techniques. The student must be aware of metacognitive strategies and use these strategies to control his learning and make adjustments when deemed necessary and to achieve the goal of learning. According to Avargil et al. [59], students’ use of these strategies can also improve their learning strategies. Therefore, it is argued that metacognition has a big capability to enable students to become successful learners [60]. 2.4 Development of metacognition So, can students’ metacognition levels be improved? According to Mahdavi [52], the answer to this question is definitely “yes”. It is argued that metacognitive development, with individual differences, begins at an early age (5/7 years old) and develops during the teaching process [61, 62]. Because between these ages, children begin to have the awareness that they are thinking and learning as individuals [61]. Promoting metacognition; it starts with creating awareness among students that the existence of metacognition is different from cognition and that it develops academic achievement in an appositive way. The next stage is to teach the strategies and, more crucially, to 8 Cognition and Metacognition in Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114857 answer students’ needs to create clear information about determining the time and place of using strategies [63]. For all these, students need to gain some experiences regarding their metacognition. According to Papaleontiou-Louca [64], metacognition, like everything else, develops with practice. According to Fouché and Lamport [65], for metacognition to be effective, classroom environments that support students’ metacognitive expectations must be created. Because a metacognitive classroom environment supports thinking awareness [26]. In addition, metacognition should be included among the teaching objectives, as well as a suitable classroom environment to activate and develop the knowledge and strategies that students have but do not use. Using accurate, metacognitive strategies gives students a broader repertoire of strategies. Students have the opportunity to try and apply different learning strategies. These experiences help students determine which strategies are most effective and make them more likely to use those strategies in future learning situations [7]. Considering the period in which metacognition begins to develop, it is possible to say that it would be beneficial to enrich learning environments, especially at preschool and primary school levels, with activities aimed at developing metacognition. 2.5 Benefits of metacognition in education It was stated in a study by Blakey and Spence [26] that metacognitive behavior or metacognitive behaviors come into play when faced with situations that cannot be solved with learned reactions. In these situations, when habitual responses are not successful, individuals need metacognitive skills. Metacognitive skills, if recognized and applied through guidance, help students successfully solve the problems they encounter. Considering that individuals in today’s twenty-first century need to have skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and responsibility, the importance of metacognitive skills comes to the fore. In other words, metacognition is extremely important in the twenty-first century [26]. This situation makes it necessary for personal, social, cognitive, and metacognitive development to be included in the scope of learning goals, even though academic success comes to mind first when learning goals are mentioned [66]. Metacognition has the potential to empower students to take responsibility for their learning and increase the meaningfulness of their learning. With this feature, it gradually frees students from dependence on teachers who guide their learning [67]. In short, metacognition makes students responsible for their learning. In this case, it can be said that students with better metacognitive development will be more independent in the learning process. The development of metacognition increases competencies in cognitive areas [62]. Because metacognition promotes the cognitive level by activating monitoring and control factors [68]. Therefore, metacognition helps children make the most of their mental resources [61]. With metacognition, students try to use their thinking skills not only for the information they will acquire but also for the learning process. For example, a student who aims to learn multiplication tables should think about how best to acquire this information rather than the information in this table, plan his learning, and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy he uses. It requires much more mental skills than just acquiring the information in the table. Students’ reflection on their learning helps them perform many academic tasks more effectively [69]. Because the student managed his/her learning process. In this way, students with metacognitive skills can manage the learning process more effectively. When 9 Metacognition in Learning – New Perspectives determining learning goals, they can develop strategies that suit their own learning styles by taking a constructive approach [61]. In addition, Schraw [57] stated that students with metacognitive awareness are generally more convenient because they act more determinedly in the learning process, experience less anxiety, use more strategies, and attribute their success to controllable reasons. 3. Conclusion and recommendations As a result, the place of metacognition in education is very important. Metacognitive skills help students develop skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and responsibility. Metacognition enables students to be more active by allowing them to take more responsibility in their learning and increases the meaningfulness of their learning. Additionally, the development of metacognition increases cognitive competencies and helps students make the best use of their mental resources. Students with metacognition can manage their learning processes, which increases their academic success. Therefore, the importance and place of metacognitive skills should be emphasized in education. The following suggestions can be given to educators and students to improve metacognitive skills: • Educators should use teaching strategies that focus on metacognitive skills. They should design and implement activities to improve students’ problem-solving, critical thinking, and learning process management skills. • Students must take responsibility for their learning and actively participate in learning. Students should be provided with opportunities to set learning goals and plan and evaluate their learning processes. • Students should be provided with opportunities to develop their critical thinking skills. Students should be allowed to evaluate different perspectives and use evidence-based thinking and critical evaluation skills. • Collaboration and communication skills play an important role in the development of metacognitive skills. Collaboration and communication skills should be developed by providing students with group work, project-based learning, or discussion opportunities. • Educators should provide students with feedback on their learning and help them recognize their strengths and weaknesses in the learning process. Students should be guided to evaluate and improve their learning strategies. • The school curriculum should be designed to support the development of metacognitive skills. Problem-solving, critical thinking, and leadership should be encouraged by offering students different learning experiences. • Students should be made aware that metacognitive skills are tools they will use throughout their lives. It should be emphasized that these skills are related not only to academic success but also to personal and professional success. 10 Cognition and Metacognition in Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114857 As a result, various suggestions can be offered to educators and students to improve metacognitive skills. With these suggestions and guidance from educators, significant progress will be made in the development of students’ skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and responsibility. Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my wife, children, and family for their support, patience, and encouragement while carrying out this study. I would also like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the entire study. Declarations The author declares no conflict of interest. Author details Murat Tezer Primary Mathematics Education Department, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus *Address all correspondence to: [email protected] © 2024 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 11 Metacognition in Learning – New Perspectives References [1] Boran M. Üstün zekâlı ve yetenekli öğrencilerin algılanan problem çözme becerilerinin üstbilişsel farkındalıkları ve eleştirel düşünme eğilimleri açısından incelenmesi [master’s theses]. Mersin: Mersin Üniversitesi, Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü; 2016 [2] Debeş G, Şenol H. Öğrenmenin Kapsamı ve Etkileyen Faktörler. In: Namlı AK, editor. Eğitimin Kavramsal Temelleri -8. İstanbul: Efe Akademik Yayıncılık; 2023. pp. 203-216 understanding. 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