This document discusses meta-cognition and how to incorporate it into classroom lessons and activities. Meta-cognition refers to thinking about one's own thinking and learning processes. The document provides examples of how teachers can promote meta-cognition, including through reflection activities, starter and plenary questions, marking, and extension tasks that ask students to evaluate their learning. Regularly exposing students to meta-cognitive strategies can help them independently monitor and reflect on their learning over time.

1. What is meta-cognition?
Thinking about thinking!
Meta-cognitive strategies promote independent
learners who are able to monitor and reflect upon
their own learning.
By prioritising class time for reflection and deciding
upon the next steps we raise the profile of revisiting
work and encourage students to plan, monitor and
evaluate their learning.

2. What is meta-cognition?
• Meta-cognition can take place during any phase of the
lesson and works best when students are regularly
exposed to this way of thinking.
• Meta-cognitive activities will already feature in most of
your practice, however it is important to make these
explicit to enable students to understand why they are
being asked to think in this way.
• By completing meta-cognitive work in purple pen
students will be better able to make connections
between the skills they are using in different subjects.

3. How can you use meta-cognition in
your classroom?
• Pages 31-36 in the teaching and learning
handbook give a variety of ways in which you
can build meta-cognitive work into your
lessons.

4. How have we used metacognition in
geography?
• As part of our marking
• Extension tasks
• Starter activities
• Plenaries
• As part of the learning outcomes
By providing a variety of ways for students to
engage with meta-cognition it is more likely that
they will begin to independently reflect upon their
learning.

5. Meta-cognition in marking
• This provides a chance for students to reflect
on their work in a variety of ways. In
geography we have been using many of the
meta-cognitive questions to gain in depth
responses form our students

6. Meta-cognition in extension tasks
• Adding questions to PPT slides as a way for students to consider how they
have learnt
• Stretch and challenge wall – linked to the magenta principles to encourage
students to process information in a different way

7. Starter activities
• Can be tied into learning outcomes
• Can be used to think about the skills needed at the
start of a lesson or unit of work – see Kate Day’s
menu on page 33
• Using jot thoughts to
enable students to reflect on
their prior knowledge of a
topic.

8. Plenaries
• A chance for students to reflect on what and
how they have learnt during the lesson.
• Geography have developed a reflection book
system with the 6th form where they reflect on
their learning in depth at least once (usually as
a plenary) during the lesson and record it in
their assessment book.

9. Reflecting on your use of
metacognition in the classroom?
Kate Day’s checklist on p34
1. How often do students evaluate what they already know
at the start of a topic?
2. Are there opportunities in your lessons for students to talk
about their thinking?
3. Do students keep a record of their thinking?
4. Do students get to evaluate their work? How is this
monitored?
Finally…
• How will you build metacognition into your schemes of
learning to meet the twice per half term deadline?
(remember this does not have to be a massive task!)