Metacognitive Development

Author: Deanna Kuhn

Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science, Volume 9, Number 5, October 2000 , pp. 178-181(4)

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Abstract:

Traditional developmental research in memory and reasoning, as well as current investigations in such disparate areas as theory of mind, epistemological understanding, knowledge acquisition, and problem solving, share the need to invoke a meta-level of cognition in explaining their respective phenomena. The increasingly influential construct of metacognition can be conceptualized in a developmental framework. Young children's dawning awareness of mental functions lies at one end of a developmental progression that eventuates in complex metaknowing capabilities that many adults do not master. During its extended developmental course, metacognition becomes more explicit, powerful, and effective, as it comes to operate increasingly under the individual's conscious control. Enhancing (a) metacognitive awareness of what one believes and how one knows and (b) metastrategic control in application of the strategies that process new information is an important developmental and educational goal.

Keywords: metacognition; development; knowledge acquisition

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00088

Affiliations: 1: Teachers College, Columbia University, USA

Publication date: 2000-10-01