Promoting Student Metacognition
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Learning how to learn cannot be left to students.It must be
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The CREATE techniques build students' metacognition-the ability to track their own understanding.
“These approaches also build students’ metacognition—the ability to track their own understanding (Tanner, 2012).”
From CREATE Cornerstone: Introduction to Scientific Thinking, a New Course for STEM-Interested Freshmen, Demystifies Scientific Thinking through Analysis of Scientific Literature (2013) · cites this paper as Tanner, 2012
The Introducing Metacognition section defines metacognition in terms of monitoring and evaluating one’s own learning, and Building a Biology Classroom Culture Grounded in Metacognition describes ways to foster those habits. These passages support the definition and the general value of such teaching approaches, but do not establish that CREATE techniques specifically build students’ metacognition. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLow-stakes writing assignments can provide students with a method to analyze their past and present performances and plan their future approaches, leading to greater awareness of themselves as learners.
“Low- stakes writing assignments can provide students with a method in which they can analyze their past and present performances and plan their future approaches, leading to a greater awareness of themselves as learners (Tanner,2012 ).”
From Promoting metacognition in an allied health anatomy course (2023) · cites this paper as Tanner, 2012
Metacognitive demand contributes to cognitive load, but so do other aspects related to cognitive processing at the object level.
“Metacognitive demand contributes to cognitive load, but so do other aspects related to cognitive processing at the object (non-meta) level (i.e., metacognitive demand is sufficient but not necessary for increasing cognitive load).”
From The Metacognitive Demands and Opportunities of Generative AI (2024) · cites this paper as [178]
The paper’s “Introducing Metacognition” section describes planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning, but does not address whether metacognitive demand increases cognitive load or whether object-level processing can increase it independently. Searches for cognitive load, metacognitive demand, object-level processing, and mental effort found no passage establishing that relationship. (LLM, conf=0.74)
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Cites
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“…expand on Flavell’s original definition to include an emphasis on planning, monitoring, and evaluating one’s own learning processes—are likely related to the relative youth of the metacognition research field and the associated growing pains of an emerging discipline (Flavell, 1979; Schraw, 1998).”
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“However, what different instructors mean by active learning and what active learning actually looks like in a different classrooms has not been well documented or investigated (Ebert-May et al., 2011; Tanner, 2011).”
Flagged first, then by citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Trujillo, G., & Tanner, K. D. (2014) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.13-12-0241 · Cited by 419 · see citing works
Self-citationThe power of internal feedback: Exploiting natural comparison processes
Nicol, D. (2021) · Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314 · Cited by 402 · see citing works
The Metacognitive Demands and Opportunities of Generative AI
Tankelevitch, L., Kewenig, V., Simkute, A., Scott, A. E., Sarkar, A., Sellen, A., & Rintel, S. (2024) · Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642902 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
“Studies have shown that improved metacognition helps individuals with management of time, focus, and effort [212], problem-solving [67], academic performance [45, 52, 106, 126, 180, 214], emotional well-being [200], and overall decision-making [206].”
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“In each case, they also need metacognitive awareness—the ability to determine what they do and do not understand, as well as “how we know what we know” (Tanner, 2012), another skill developed through practice during the semester.”
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“Tanner (13) places emphasis on three components of metacognitive regulation, suggesting students approach class, assignments, and exams by taking the time to think about their cognitive processes before (Planning), during (Monitoring), and after (Evaluating) each activity.”
Promoting metacognition in an allied health anatomy course
Cale, A. S., Hoffman, L. A., & McNulty, M. A. (2023) · Anatomical Sciences Education · doi:10.1002/ase.2218 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Lowstakes writing assignments can provide students with a method in which they can analyze their past and present performances and plan their future approaches, leading to a greater awareness of themselves as learners (Tanner, 2012).”
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Effect of Exam Wrappers on Student Achievement in Multiple, Large STEM Courses
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Vemu, S., Denaro, K., Sato, B. K., & Williams, A. E. (2022) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.21-08-0216 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“While the instructor did not emphasize metacognitive skills in general in their course, the encouragement to reflect on the effectiveness of studying is recommended as metacognition (Tanner, 2012).”
LLM-based System for Technical Writing Real-time Review in Urban Construction and Technology
Cruz Castro, L. M., Castelblanco, G., & Antonenko, P. D. (2024) · EPiC Series in Built Environment · doi:10.29007/d9j3 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Tanner, K. D.
- Affiliations
- San Francisco State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tanner, Kimberly D.
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2012-06
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 113-120
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3366894
- OpenAlex
- W2138949691
- Cited by
- 618
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 61 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 82 · 2021: 72 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 32.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Social Sciences › Education › Reflective Practices in Education
- Keywords
- student metacognition, meta-learning, student self-regulated learning
- MeSH terms
- Biology, Cognition, Curriculum, Humans, Learning, Students, Teaching
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