Operations of the Cognitive-Metacognitive System in Promoting Learning: a Brief Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

Metacognition helps educators develop better teaching and learning strategies, contexts, and materials. But, the development and use of good teaching and learning strategies and materials as guided by metacognition require understanding of how it promotes the efficiency of the cognitive system in learning. This article proposes a cognitive-metacognitive system that illustrates how the metacognitive system promotes the efficiency of the cognitive system based on pioneers’ research on the subject (1979 to 2009). Cognitive system performs cognitive activities of knowing, understanding, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating of cognitive inputs to reach at cognitive goals. Metacognitive system performs metacognitive activities of assisting the cognitive system to promote its efficiency. The proposed cognitive-metacognitive system enters into a six-step sequence of mental activities to process cognitive inputs (i.e., data, information, lessons, observations, problems, tasks, and other inputs) and yield cognitive outputs (i.e., actions, artifacts, and behaviors). Metacognition promotes learning by identifying and deploying appropriate and effective cognitive strategies and tools for cognitive processing and metacognitive strategies for regulating cognitive processing. This article also proposes that the effectiveness of the cognitive-metacognitive system in promoting learning depends on its ability in helping learners’ generate manageable meta-level models of cognitive inputs for cognitive processing.