Meta-Cognitive Awareness
According to the British Teaching Council, Metacognitive awareness is a mental condition characterized by an individual’s awareness of the manner in which they think. In the classroom context, the corpus of metacognitive awareness basically refers to an individual’s capacity to possess adequate knowledge concerning their learning process/progress (Murayama, Pekrun, Lichtenfeld & Vom Hofe, 2013). The development of metacognitive awareness is an imperative aspect of growth among learners and children. It assists individuals to become more efficient as well as enhance their individual decision-making capacities. Certain researchers argue that Metacognitive awareness is imperative for children and learners because it facilitates an individual’s capacity to become a self-directed learner. An example of meta-cognitive awareness among children between the ages of 3 years and 4 years is usually exhibited by the capacity of a child to remember a particular issue. For instance, providing the child with a box of crayons and asking the child to determine the correct answer another person would give in case they are asked what is in the box. In an event that the kid gives an appropriate example, it would mean that the child is aware of what other people may not know. In regard to adolescent children between the ages of 13-17 years, metacognitive awareness may be recorded in a classroom where the learners are able to record what they have learned, what they liked and may not have liked during the lessons.
Cognitive Strategies
According to Knight, Spooner, Browder, Smith and Wood, 2013, cognitive strategies are classified as important tools that enable children and adults to solve certain challenges. These strategies may involve certain procedural facilitators that are critical in the resolution of problems. Other researchers believe that cognitive strategies among children are mental processes utilized by children and other adolescent learners to improve their rates of knowledge acquisition (Knight, Spooner, Browder, Smith & Wood, 2013). An example of cognitive strategy that is common among preschoolers within the age bracket of 3 and 4 years is engaging in imaginative games or play. During this process, children tend to engage in imaginative games where they pretend with toys or pretending to be handling certain roles. Among adolescents, cognitive strategies may involve referring to case studies that are characterized by the resolution of problems that are similar to a previous experience. Adolescents also tend to emulate behavioral characteristics or actions portrayed by their parents and other close relations. These behaviors are repeated in future to facilitate the resolution of similar problems.
Rehearsal
In an article posted by the Kansas University, rehearsal is described as a common cognitive strategy among learners, particularly children and learners in the adolescent period. This strategy is characterized by the use of repeated practice of certain activities or information as a means to acquire relevant knowledge associated with the practice (Whitmarsh, Barendregt, Schoffelen & Jensen, 2014). The objective of repeating a particular information or activity is to ensure that the information is memorized on a temporary basis. In the learning environment, rehearsals are mainly used learn or acquire brief information. Even though this strategy does not promoting in-depth understanding of concepts, it is a critical step as a foundation for knowledge acquisition. In adolescent learning, it has been recommended that learners should expose to the appropriate techniques of rehearsal. An example of rehearsal as a strategy for learning among toddlers is usually observed when toddlers repeat certain words spoken by adults or people around them; these words are temporarily memorized and repeated in near future during similar events. For adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 years, rehearsal as a cognitive strategy is commonly observed in classrooms where they tend to memorize ideas temporarily for exam purposes.
Organization
In this type of cognitive strategy; learners acquire knowledge by establishing relationships. Children between the ages of 3 and 4 years tend to establish a cause-and-effect relation. That is, the relationship between their actions and outcomes i.e. identifying activities that would generate positive outcomes or those that would generate negative outcomes. Many stakeholders in the education have mentioned that organization as a cognitive strategy is critical because it enhances the acquisition of knowledge for long-term purposes. An example of organizational learning is common among children between the ages of 4 and 5 years is evident in an event where a toddler engages in an act that would harm them; such negative results are usually remembered for an extended period of time. Therefore, the toddler may avoid participating in similar acts in the future. Adolescent children between the ages of 13 years and 19 years is also common in the learning environment where teachers expose the students to cause-and-effect aspects of learning such as the consequences of engaging in pre-marital sex.
Elaboration
In this strategies, children and learners tend to apply tenets and elements of acquired knowledge to expand on the already acquire information (Whitmarsh, Barendregt, Schoffelen & Jensen, 2014). This may be achieved by relating particular information to other issues that have been previously learned in the classroom. It enhances learning in the sense that it creates a correlation between the information that should be learned by children and the knowledge that the children have acquired in the past. An example of elaboration learning for children between the ages of 3 years and 4 years is evident in the preschool environment where learners are taught on the roles of a certain individuals such as a president by indicating that he is the head of a country; this information may be related to previous information that have been acquired by the children. Another example of elaboration learning is evident among adolescents where there are taught on the relationship between sex and sexually transmitted diseases.
References
Knight, V. F., Spooner, F., Browder, D. M., Smith, B. R., & Wood, C. L. (2013). Using systematic instruction and graphic organizers to teach science concepts to students with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities, 28(2), 115-126.
Murayama, K., Pekrun, R., Lichtenfeld, S., & Vom Hofe, R. (2013). Predicting long‐term growth in students' mathematics achievement: The unique contributions of motivation and cognitive strategies. Child development, 84(4), 1475-1490.
Whitmarsh, S., Barendregt, H., Schoffelen, J. M., & Jensen, O. (2014). Metacognitive awareness of covert somatosensory attention corresponds to contralateral alpha power. Neuroimage, 85, 803-809.
