Metacognition During Discourse Merry Wilson, Scottsdale
Community College In my classroom, I often marvel at how much I
learn while teaching, but I get frustrated when I realize my
students are not having a similar experience. The reality is
that I am not learning because I'm listening, I'm learning
because I'm talking and explaining. I'm learning because I'm
engaged in higher order thinking skills and processing
information, and this is metacognition. Benjamin Bloom
identified three types of learning: the cognitive (knowledge-
based), affective (emotional), and the psychomotor (physical
skills). Most academic teaching focuses on the cognitive domain,
especially in the sciences, as this is the where most formative
assessment occurs. Within the cognitive domain, more value is
placed on higher order thinking skills (evaluation and
synthesis), but the reality is that most teaching and evaluation
occurs at the lower order (knowledge and comprehension). How do
we get students to ascend this ladder of cognitive deve