LESSON I: LEARNING TO BE A

BETTER LEARNER
Knowing the "self" is not enough. Since "who you are" is partly made up of your choices, you
must also have the ability to choose especially to be better "you." In the school setting, your
knowledge of yourself should at least enable you to become a better student.
We are Homo sapiens or the "wise man." We think in a more complex level than our ancestors
and most, if not all, of the other beings. But being called wise, not only do we think, but we are
also capable to think about thinking, like how we think of things and why we think in a certain
way about things. It is like your brain thinks about itself, then thinks about how it thinks about
itself.
Metacognition is commonly defined as "thinking about thinking" (Livingston 1997;
Papaleontiou-Louca 2003).
It is the awareness of the scope and limitations of your current knowledge and skills
(Meichenbaum 1985 in American Institutes for Research 2010).
Due to this awareness, metecognition enables the person to adapt their existing knowledge
and skills to approach a learning task, seeking for the optimum result of the learning experience
(American Institutes for Research 2010).
Metacognition is also not fimited to the thinking process of the individual. It also includes
keeping one's emotions and motivations while learning in check (Papaleontiou-Louca 2003).
Metacognition has 2 aspect (Paris and Winnograd 1990 in Papaleontiou-Louca 2003).
(1) self-appraisal
Seif-appraisal is your personal reflection on your knowledge and capabilities while self-
management is the mental process you employ using what you have in planning and adapting to
successfully learn or accomplish a certain task. There are several variables that affect how you
know or assess yourself as a thinker:
1. The personal variable, which is your evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses in
leaming.
2. The task variable, which is what you know or what you think about the nature of the task, as
well as what strategies the task requires.

LESSON I: LEARNING TO BE A BETTER LEARNER 1

 3. The strategy variable refers to what strategies or skills you already have in dealing with
certain tasks.

(2) self-management of cognition

According to Waterloo Student Success Office, the following are other sklls, that can help you in
exercising metacognition:

1. Knowing your limits. As mentioned earlier, one cannot really make any significance
advancement in using metacognitive skills without having an honest and accurate evaluation of
what you know and what you do not know. Knowing your limits also looks at the scope and
limitations of your resources so that you can work with what you have at the moment and look
for ways to cope with other necessities.

2. Modifying your approach. It begins with the recognition that your strategy is not
appropriate with the task and/or that you do not comprehend the learning experience
successfully. Recognizing, for example, that you are not understanding what you are reading,
you should learn to modify your strategy in comprehending your material.

3. Skimming. This is basically browsing over a material and keeping an eye on keywords,
phrases, or sentences. It is also about knowing where to search for such key terms. For example,
you might want. to look at the Introduction first or the Abstract. The Table of Contents can also
provide you with a quick guide to the contents of the book. Introductory paragraphs, headings or
subheadings, and conclusions can also provide you with an overview of the whole material.

4. Rehearsing. This is not just about repealedly talking, writing, and/ or doing what you have
learned, but also trying to make a personal interpretation or summary of the learning experience.
One of the fun ways to do this is by imagining yourself being interviewed about your task. As
you try to convey what you have learned from the resources. you also insert your opinions or
other personal take on the matter. Just be sure that the key concepts are well understood and are
still in line with the source material even with multiple rehearsals.

LESSON I: LEARNING TO BE A BETTER LEARNER 2

 5. Self-Test. As the name implies, this is trying to test your comprehension of your learning
experience or the skills you have acquired during learning. While some materials aiready come
with tests like this book, you can still create tests for yourself. You can make essay questions or
definition of terms test while you are reading or watching a material

Other strategies that you need to develop include asking questions about your methods, self-
reflection, finding a mentor or support group if necessary, thinking out loud (though you have to
be considerate of others also when doing this), and welcoming errors, as learning experiences.
For clarification, welcoming errors” does not mean seeking them or consciously making them as
much as possible. It means that when you commit a mistake, you do not dismiss it as
insignificant or you do not try to avoid responsibility of the results.
Using these strategies, you can at least identify four types of metacognitive learners (Perkins
1992 in Cambridge International Examinations 2015)

First, the “tacit” leamers are unaware of their metacognitive processes although they know
the extent of their knowledge

Second, the aware” leamers know some of their metacognitive strategies but they do not plan
on how to use these techniques
Third, “strategic” leamers, as the name implies, strategize and plan their course of action
toward a learning experience.

Lastly, the “reflective” leamers reflect on their thinking while they are using the strategies
and adapt metacognitive skills depending on their situation.

The goal of metacognition is for the student to be a self-regulated learner. Education should not
be limited by the capabilities of the teacher, the content of school textbooks, the four comers of
the classroom, and the duration of the academic year or courses.
This is one of the benefits of using metacognitive techniques and strategies. Another benefit is
the compensation and development of cognitive limitations of the learner because the student is
now aware of his/her capabilities.

Other tips that you can use in studying are the following (Queensland University of Technology
Library n.d.):
1. Make an outline of the things you want to learn, the things you are reading or doing, and/or
the things you remember.

LESSON I: LEARNING TO BE A BETTER LEARNER 3

 2 Break down the task in smaller and more manageable details.
2. To enhance learning experience, incorporate varied schedules, change reading materials
every hour, avoid combining similar topics, and incorporate physical activities into your
planning.
3. Incubate your ideas by writing a draft without editing, leaving it overnight or for a week.
Return to the draft after a period for fresh perspectives. Record ideas in a notebook and review
the draft after the incubation period.
4. To minimize cramming in the last minute, revise, summarize, and take notes before
rereading. This technique helps energize the brain and prevents desperate attempts to learn. Some
people may feel motivated to review the day before an evaluation or exercise, but this should not
be a desperate attempt.

6. Engage learning by highlighting key phrases, writing opinions, creating diagrams, copying key
paragraphs, and comparing materials to enhance understanding.

As you were reading this topic, were you aware of your metacognitive processes? What
changes did you feel as you try to use the metacognitive strategies and skills? We encourage you
to utilize and adapt the aforementioned techniques in whatever learning experiences you are
about to accomplish and find enjoyment and success in leaming

LESSON I: LEARNING TO BE A BETTER LEARNER 4