Metacognition

Imagine you accidentally blurt out the wrong answer in front of the whole class. It’s not a huge deal—your professor corrects you and moves on—but you can’t stop thinking about it. For days afterward, the moment replays in your head on a loop: Why did I say that? What must everyone think of me? You might know this particular unproductive pattern of reflection as rumination, but this spiral of overthinking is also a common example of metacognition—thinking about your thinking.

Metacognition refers to our ability to reflect on and keep track of how we think, learn, and solve problems. You can think of metacognition as a kind of internal feedback loop that shapes our mental performance during thinking processes. This is something you do all the time—without even thinking about it, you think about your thoughts. The term “metacognition” combines the prefix “meta,” meaning “beyond” or “about,” with “cognition,” or thinking. Together, it refers to the process of thinking about your thinking, like reflecting on how you approached a math test or analyzing why you're feeling anxious.

Engagement with metacognition is more crucial than merely thinking about thinking. Rather than relying purely on intuition, metacognition helps us choose learning strategies, recognize when we're stuck, and course-correct when our current approach isn’t working. For this reason, strategies for supporting metacognition are applied in classrooms and other educational settings around the globe. We can investigate how all learners utilize different metacognitive skills, but it is vital to look at children for a clear and distinct idea of their importance.

When a kid can apply metacognitive processes to anything from the nightmares of long division to the confusion surrounding semicolons, thinking becomes less stressful. Feelings surrounding learning change from frustration to confidence as students learn to wield tools of emotional self-regulation for higher self-efficacy.¹ Thanks to metacognitive thinking, the negative self-talk of “I just can’t do my times tables, I’m stupid” may instead become “I just need to practice my times tables, I’ll set a goal to learn them for next week’s test.” With children, it is imperative that their parents also encourage their engagement in metacognitive thinking by asking them to reflect on their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions that are involved with metacognitive outcomes. 

Components of Metacognition: Knowledge and Regulation

Metacognition is not necessarily limited to cognition itself, it also shapes our emotions and behaviors as we interact with other minds. To understand this better, let’s jump into the two broad components of metacognition that we experience:^2,3,4

Metacognitive knowledge and self-regulation help us break down metacognition into distinct components, so that any learner can engage in metacognitive thinking in tailored ways that are best for their learning style. We can break down metacognitive knowledge even further and take a closer look at specific types to apply them with success.

Metacognitive Knowledge

Following the stream of thought on metacognitive knowledge, we can define the three types of knowledge it encompasses: declarative, procedural, and conditional. These subtypes of metacognitive knowledge can be understood by what you know when thinking about your own thinking, including whether you have awareness of what strategies work for you. Let’s take a closer look with some examples:⁵

Metacognitive Strategies at Home and in the Classroom

Finding the right metacognitive strategies for you doesn’t have to be hard. Strategies like planning, monitoring, and evaluating are also collectively known as metacognitive regulation.⁵ Instead of getting stuck in the loop of thinking about thinking about thinking, let's look into some ways to actually use these metacognitive skills:^4,6

How to Nudge Metacognition

Metacognition doesn’t magically happen for everyone. Every learner and their cognitive development is unique, especially when we are children. From a behavioral science standpoint, we can think of these forms of encouragement towards successful metacognitive thinking as nudges for child and adult learners alike. These small, strategic prompts don’t force reflection—they gently steer attention inward, helping learners notice their own thinking in real time:

• Keep it open-ended. Prompt reflection with gentle curiosity, nudging kids to explain their reasoning without rushing to conclusions. “What made you think that might happen?”
• Avoid blame. When emotions run high, reframing questions can help kids examine their behavior without feeling judged. “What do you think made that moment so frustrating?
• Focus on solutions. Metacognition becomes easy to act on when kids are guided toward future choices. “What might you try instead next time?”
• Highlight the process. Encourage awareness of how they think, not just what they think. “What helps you decide when your drawing feels done?”
• Let it take time. Self-awareness doesn’t flip on like a switch—nudging reflection means making space for slow, steady growth.