Metacognition

Metacognition is bringing real life experiences to the classroom.  Dewey says it is “the intimate connection between the knowing and doing.”  Many students come to believe that school consists of mastering formal procedures that are completely divorced from real life, from discovery and problem solving.  All students need real life experiences to make those connections in the classroom.

For example, a child sees caterpillars turn into chrysalis then butterflies, see Butterfly Garden by Insect Lore.  When they are in science class and open the text about the metamorphism of a butterfly, they are going to connect the stages of egg, larva (caterpillar), and chrysalis and butterfly quickly. 

When a child unearths a dinosaur skeleton, see I Dig Dinosaurs T-Rex Skeleton, with a hammer and chisel, they are going to understand what a paleontologist does.  It may inspire them to be an archeologist or paleontologist in the future!

Creating the alphabet with Wikki Stix is another example of metacognition.  When the child can create, feel and touch the alphabet, the child will remember that experience when he or she opens a book and sees the letters.