One important learning tool in the classroom is metacognition, which involves thinking about and managing your own thinking. For example, when you pause halfway through reading a textbook and realise you haven't absorbed the material, you are engaging in metacognition by monitoring your own thought process.
Being aware of how you think while performing a task helps you employ the most effective strategies. For instance, re-reading the text might not be as beneficial as testing yourself on the material or discussing it with a classmate.
Metacognition is a skill that develops from childhood, and our research shows that teachers play a key role in fostering metacognition in the classroom, particularly through dialogue. One method for promoting metacognition in classrooms is through Structured Thinking Activities (STAs), also known as learning logs, achievement diaries, or similar terms. These are written records that provide prompts for learners to plan, monitor, and reflect on their thinking and learning, such as "What I learned today is..." or "When I struggle with my learning, the things that help me are...".
Despite the widespread use of STAs in schools across the UK and beyond, there is limited understanding of how these activities support learners to think about and manage their own thinking. Research by Dr Heather Branigan in the School of Psychology explored how teachers and learners used these STAs as metacognitive tools in the primary school setting. By triangulating data from participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, the findings indicated that teachers play a critical role in encouraging learners to deepen their metacognitive reflections, especially when initial responses are broad or superficial.
Factors such as classroom culture and the timing of activities influenced learner engagement with STAs, but observational data highlighted the crucial role of teacher-learner interactions in eliciting metacognition. Specifically, discussions that occur as part of the STAs are essential for drawing out metacognitive reflections from learners.
Our findings highlight that in primary school, learners are still developing the explicit metacognitive knowledge necessary to fully benefit from STAs. Therefore, these activities are more effective in supporting metacognition in young learners when paired with teacher-facilitated discussions.
See Dr Heather Branigan talking about metacognition on BBC Bitesize.
Dr Heather Branigan, School of Psychology
