Module 12/14 Post 1

Metacognition is the idea of thinking about own thinking processes. These processes include study skills, memory capabilities, and the ability to monitor your learning. There are two main components of metacognition. The first one refers to knowledge about our own cognitive processes. It falls into three categories, person knowledge, task knowledge and strategy knowledge. The other component is metacognitive regulation and this is the purposeful act of attempting to control our own cognitions, beliefs, emotions, and values. Planning, monitoring, and evaluating are all a part of metacognitive regulation. Both these components develop over time and are related to higher academic achievement. Theory of mind is the idea of describing a child's early understanding of the mental world. It involves four characteristics that start in preschool and become increasingly more adult as one gets older: 1. false beliefs, an understanding that beliefs can be false,  2. appearance-reality distinctions,  the understanding that objects may look one way but are actually different, 3. visual perspective-taking, an ability to understand that another person may visually see something differently from the way you do, and 4. introspection, an awareness of thoughts within one's own and others' minds. Egocentrism plays a role with adolescents and their thought processes as well. Once metacognitive skills are developed, the individual is responsible for applying these skills to learning. 

Metacognition can occur in the classroom in many ways.  Teachers make students think about the way they are thinking when doing a math problem. How doe sone come to the conclusion they come too when they are doing a problem. They must explain their thoughts, and then if they are wrong, teahers have students think about their thinking that led them to the solution. Thinking about one's thoughts is important socially as well. When students are working in groups, they are constantly thinking about how to interact with whomever they are working with. They are thinking about the way they are talking, and the way they are working together. They are thinking about how they are thinking this through, and trying hopefully to be successful in their group work. 

My question form this section focuses on the idea of egocentrism. I always have a feeling that people are talking about me, and their thoughts are revolved around negative things about me when I am in fights with my friends. Does this make me egocentric? I am not trying to focus on myself, but the idea of friends talking about me scares me, and makes me panic. Is this considered egocentric thinking for thinking that other people are talking about me even though I am doing it out of fear, and not out of selfishness?

The idea of lower order thinking revolves around memorizing and recalling information, or applying something that you have already learned to a present situation. On the other hand, higher order thinking describes manipulating, evaluating and analyzing information. More metacognition is used in higher order thinking than lower order thinking. An example of this would be how a young child knows his mom's cell phone number, even without thinking about it. He has been taught how to memorize his phone number and to be able to recall it, not what it means necessarily but to be able to recall it in a time of need. 

The information in these modules connects with what we have been learning because we have learned many theories that focus on the idea that development occurs over time and improves as we age. The idea of metacognition focuses on the same idea; as a person gets older, it becomes easier for a person to create more experiences.

I would use metacognition in my class when preparing my students for a test. I want my students to go home and study what is going to be tested so I will prompt them with saying the subject and the specific part of the subject to focus on. This gets them to study the subject and gets them to think about the subject and think about the specific thing to focus on. They are actively thinking about the test and thinking how to study for it at the time.