metacognition
Awareness of reasoning
Metacognition is thinking about thinking—awareness and understanding of your own mental processes.
It involves monitoring how you learn, recognizing when you don't understand something, and adjusting your approach: Her metacognition kicked in when she realized she'd been reading without absorbing anything.
The term appears frequently in education and psychology, where metacognitive skills are considered essential to effective learning.
Returned light or thought
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
- deliberationCareful weighing of choices
- ponderingThinking deeply about something
reasoning · analysis · evaluation · judgment · consideration · assessment · musing · cogitation
Insight into one's psyche
- self-monitoringTracking your own states
- self-observationExamining one's own mind
- self-reflectionExamining one's own mind
- self-examinationScrutiny of one's thoughts
self-assessment · self-regulation · self-questioning · introspection · consciousness · mindfulness · insight · clarity
Arranging for future events
- goal-settingEstablishing intended outcomes
- self-correctionFixing one's own errors
- understandingMental comprehension of something
- scaffoldingTemporary exterior work platform
transfer · retention · encoding · retrieval · elaboration · summarizing · note-taking · test-taking
Ongoing observation of something
- planningArranging for future events
- adjustmentAlteration to improve fit
- flexibilityAbility to adapt easily
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
Theory of knowledge
- schemasConceptual organizing structures
- Dunning-KrugerOverconfidence from incompetence
- overconfidenceUnjustified certainty in oneself
- calibrationAdjusting for measurement accuracy
reflection
Returned light or thought
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
- deliberationCareful weighing of choices
pondering · reasoning · analysis · evaluation · judgment · consideration · assessment · musing · cogitation · examination
self-awareness
Insight into one's psyche
- self-monitoringTracking your own states
- self-observationExamining one's own mind
- self-reflectionExamining one's own mind
self-examination · self-assessment · self-regulation · self-questioning · introspection · consciousness · mindfulness · insight · clarity · perceptiveness
planning
Arranging for future events
- goal-settingEstablishing intended outcomes
- self-correctionFixing one's own errors
- understandingMental comprehension of something
scaffolding · transfer · retention · encoding · retrieval · elaboration · summarizing · note-taking · test-taking
monitoring
Ongoing observation of something
- planningArranging for future events
- adjustmentAlteration to improve fit
- flexibilityAbility to adapt easily
adaptation · inhibition · prioritization · correction · calibration
epistemology
Theory of knowledge
- schemasConceptual organizing structures
- Dunning-KrugerOverconfidence from incompetence
- overconfidenceUnjustified certainty in oneself
- developmentgrowth, progress, advancement, expansion, improvement
- thinkingthinking, reasoning, thought, ponder, contemplate
- child developmentbaby, toddler, newborn, infancy, milestones
- cognitionthinking, reasoning, thought, remembering, memory retrieval
- literacyliteracy, reading, spelling, alphabet, writing
- mental processesthinking, think, reasoning, pondering, attention
metacognitionunawareness
State of not knowing
mindlessness · unconscious thought · ignorance · nescience · incomprehension