metacognition and study skills: a guide for teachers

Pupils often make poor choices when it comes to independent learning because they don’t intuitively understand how to learn. In the classroom too, they typically misjudge how well they understand new concepts, overestimate the accuracy of their own examples and underestimate how much they forget. This book reveals how a metacognitive approach to teaching can help overcome these challenges and support pupils in their learning. This approach can help them in developing the skills to become successful, self-regulated learners.

Drawing on key research from cognitive science, this book explores how metacognition works in practice and argues that it is a complex skill best developed over months and years at school. It provides a blueprint for how ’learning to learn’ alongside ’quick wins’ that teachers can implement straight away. Chapters cover:

- The metacognitive processes that underpin effective learning

- Myths about learning, and how pupils’ memory really works

- Quick-to-apply classroom strategies for before, during, and after tasks

- Different independent study techniques and how to embed them

- Developing a culture of metacognition

Full of practical strategies and case studies, this is essential reading for all teachers who want to help their pupils become successful learners in school as well as independent learners for their exam revision and beyond.

Jonathan Firth is a teacher, author and researcher. Having taught psychology at secondary school level for many years, he now works at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, leading lectures and seminars on undergraduate and postgraduate courses, carrying out research, and supervising students.