Practicing Metacognition in Children's Cognitive Development

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“I can’t do it.” These are four little words that carry immense weight with them. No parent wants to hear their child say these words. But, frustration in children is rampant, especially with the growing pressures to outperform their peers.

Often, when kids are faced with a difficult challenge, they feel distressed and are tempted to give up. However, according to the Child Mind Institute on Social and Emotional Learning, the right approach to frustrations is to replace the “I can’t do it,” with “How can I.

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” The transition from the negative is imperative for a child’s growth. To shift from a negative mindset to a proactive one, a lot of thinking is required. This is metacognition, where thinking about why you’re stuck, how to get unstuck and also thinking about their own thinking. Thinking about thinking is something everyone does subconsciously.

Metacognition is one of the ways that humans gain insight into our feelings, behaviors, and needs.

Through metacognition, kids can learn, adapt to new situations, setbacks, and challenges as well as manage emotional setbacks. In other words, metacognition is the conversations that go on in our heads, our mental soundboard where we make plans and think out situations before jumping into them. Everyone has these internal conversations and parents should help kids learn how to use it proactively to tackle challenges. According to Marc Gladstone, a learning specialist at the Child Mind Institute, metacognition is a powerful tool that is a lot like a goal.

Learning early enough how to use metacognitive strategies helps kids exercise their independence and develop self-advocacy skills.

According to Judy Willis, Practicing neurologist and former teacher, the first human response to anything usually offers a limited perspective. Willis further explains brain neuroplasticity and how it can limit a child’s development. Neuroplasticity strengthens memory circuits that hold related information. This is especially strong for information experienced together frequently. These associations often inhibit the development of expanded and creative thinking in children. Therefore, Willis advocates for flexible thinking.

How Metacognition Works

It is possible for parents to help children build their brain control systems. This helps reduce impulse first responses and jumping to the first half baked solution that comes to mind. Tamara Rosier, a learning coach who teaches metacognitive techniques, says that metacognitive thinking helps develop self-awareness which in turn helps refine perspectives and entertains change.

In an ever-changing world, the questions have shifted from generalizing problems to narrowing it down. What about it makes me anxious? Teaching kids to have a fixed mindset robs them of the ability to proactively approach stressors. Instead, it is vital for children to learn that they have the ability to change outcomes. Metacognitive kids have a mindset that allows for change and promotes resilience and better control over situations.

How to Build Cognitive Flexibility in Kids

Metacognition coupled with flexibility provides powerful skills that help kids remain open and receptive to new experiences and approaches to situations. Also, kids are more open to getting information from various sources and more than one interpretation.

To build a child’s cognitive flexibility, parents ought to encourage their kids to think about things they read and information they amass over time. For instance, after reading a book, or a chapter, parents can evaluate characters with their kids. Sometimes, parents can help kids develop alternative endings to the book.

The primary purpose of this exercise is to help kids resist their first response to the story and characters. Through analyzing the story, it can evoke empathy and a deeper understanding of the plot line. An active imagination also helps develop cognitive flexibility. Therefore, caregivers should encourage kids to imagine different possibilities. For every activity, explore different meanings behind objects, words and anything else.

Another way to develop cognitive flexibility is through questions. After their initial answer, ask a child, “what else?” This question often prompts deeper thinking into the question and answer. It is one of the most powerful ways of building flexible thinking. At the core of metacognition is problem solving. It is finding alternative solutions to things that seem fixed. Multiple interpretations help analyze situations from different perspectives. This is very important for children. Every child should know that there is always more than one way of looking at a problem.

The challenge for parents is to keep their children thinking. Once a child gets accustomed to settling for the first response, they become limited to seeing different angles of the same question, situation or piece of information. By practicing the use of metacognitive strategies, kids learn how to monitor their progress, control their impulses and solve problems in a better and systematic way. Moreover, metacognition is one of the most potent influences of intellectual ability. Metacognitive practices help compensate for any cognitive limitations that a child may have and by so doing, a child is more self-aware.