**1. Introduction**

Chemistry as a science subject is perceived as a very difficult or challenging subject in terms of learning and teaching by both learners and teachers [1]. This perception of chemistry being a very difficult or challenging subject has led to many science learners performing poorly and losing interest in the subject [2, 3]. Therefore, there is need to attract more learners to study chemistry and improve the performance in this subject that is perceived as very difficult. Chemistry metacognition can improve the performance of learners and attract more learners to chemistry education.

### **2. Metacognition**

Metacognition is part of self-regulation in the learning process with cognition and motivation [4]. Cognition are the processes involved mentally in understanding, knowing, and learning. Metacognition is the changes in learning behavior by which learners themselves go through when they plan, monitor and evaluate mentally

during the learning process [5]. Motivation is the willingness by learners to actively engage in metacognitive and cognitive skills [4].

Metacognition is an individuals' skill to utilize prior knowledge to plan a tactic for an upcoming learning task, take required steps to problem solve, reflect on results and evaluate results as well as modifying the approach when it is necessary to do so [5].

Metacognition is the ingenious intentional control of cognitive and affective outcomes of thinking and insight aimed at the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitude during the learning process [6]. Metacognition is when a person can monitor their own understanding and awareness of their cognitive processes as well as having the ability to control them [7]. Metacognition is recognizing the value of prior knowledge with an accurate assessment of the demands of a challenging learning activity or goal and what understanding, and skills are needed as well as the intelligence required to make the right deduction on how to use one's elaborate and systematic knowledge in a specific situation reliably and efficiently [8]. Chemistry metacognition is the recognition of the value of chemistry prior knowledge with an accurate assessment of the demands of a chemistry challenging learning activity and what understanding, and skills are needed as well as the intelligence required to make the right deduction on how to use one's elaborate and systematic relevant prior chemistry knowledge in a specific situation reliably and efficiently.

Metacognition knowledge consists of what a person knows, about their cognitive processing power, about several approaches that are useful in learning and solving a problem as well as the requirements to effectively accomplish the learning task [9]. The definition of metacognition and its components depend on the researchers' context and theoretical tradition such as educational psychology, cognitive science, cognitive behavioral, cognitive developmental, socio-cultural, and social learning, asserts [10]. The socio-cultural theoretical definition and context of metacognition is employed in this chapter. Socio-cultural theory focuses on the impact of culture (beliefs, attitudes etc.) on teaching and learning as well as how peers and adults influence the learning (development) of an individual, making human learning largely a social process [11].

The several different definitions of metacognition have the following in common; knowledge of one's knowledge, the monitoring and regulation of one's knowledge consciously as well as the cognitive and affective states of being [11, 12]. John H. Flavell's model and Anne Brown's model are the most common models of metacognition [13]. These are theoretically distinct but compatible theories of metacognition, presenting a problem in terms of the agreed metacognition terminology and metacognitive processes. There are two major components of metacognition which are further divided into other subcomponents. Metacognitive knowledge (cognitive knowledge) and metacognitive regulation (cognitive regulation) make up metacognition [14–16].

There are three aspects of knowledge which comprise metacognition, there is procedural knowledge and conditional knowledge which are closely related as well as declarative knowledge, which refers to knowing in terms of knowledge, strategies and skills which are important for completing a learning task successfully under different conditions [13, 17]. This is knowledge about the task at hand in terms of prior knowledge, which is useful in the given scenario. Declarative knowledge is divided into person, task and strategies (actions) variables [18]. Person variables involve recognition of one's strengths and weaknesses in the learning process, including information processing. Task variables refer to what an individual knows or might find out in

terms of the nature and mental (intellectual) requirements (demands) to accomplish the learning task [19].

Strategy variables refer to the plans in ones' mind which can be applied flexibly to positively accomplish the learning task [20]. Procedural knowledge is the knowledge of how to put into use procedures such as learning strategies or actions using declarative knowledge to achieve goals and conditional knowledge as knowledge about why and when to make use of various skills, procedures and strategies or cognitive actions [17]. One has knowledge about when and why to make use of declarative and procedural knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge can be changed through adding, removing or revising metacognitive experiences and metacognitive knowledge can be inaccurate, fail in terms of being activated, or may fail to have much or any influence [17].

Metacognitive control/regulation of cognition or executive control are sequences of activities that assist learners to control their own learning or thinking [21]. Metacognitive control is having three components or skills which are planning, monitoring and evaluation [22]. Planning includes the choosing of befitting strategies and provisions that are effective in terms of performance or goal attainment [21]. Monitoring is the judgment of the progress of one's current thinking and task performance. Evaluation refers to assessing or examining the completed task or goal which can demand more planning, monitoring and evaluating depending on the outcome [22].

Planning, monitoring and evaluation as self-regulating processes in most learning situations are not explicit or conscious, as they are automated to a large extent and might develop with reflection being unconscious as well as not having a language for communication between teachers/instructors and learners in this area [23]. Metacognition can be taught to any individual irrespective of age, grade (level) or subject specialization [24–26]. Adult learners usually have more knowledge of cognition and are better able to describe it in a coherent fashion way when compared to adolescents and children [22].

The learners' knowledge of cognition is explicit and develops late in terms of age [22]. Metacognitive skills and their use without assistance develop over time and the experiences of the learner out of the classroom should be taken into consideration because they are significant in the development of metacognitive skills [27]. Knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition are related to each other as an improvement in declarative knowledge of cognition makes regulation of cognition easier [28].

### **3. Benefits of metacognition in chemistry education**

Metacognition has a positive impact in general on learner outcomes in terms of thinking and learning, particularly for learners with disabilities [29–31]. Independent learning leads to self-monitoring of the progress in terms of learning. When learners can monitor the progress they are making, they take control their own learning in the and out of the classroom [5].

Abilities of metacognition assist learners to transfer acquired knowledge, skills and affective states to another context or learning task. Learners with inadequate access to educational resources benefit from metacognition as educational outcomes improve [32]. An increase of metacognition leads to increased motivation states [33]. Metacognitive regulation increases academic performance in various ways such as the application of attentional resources in a better way, application of existing strategies in a better way and a higher awareness of breakdowns in comprehension [28]. Learning is improved significantly when an understanding of how and when to apply the metacognitive skills by learners is achieved [4].

Metacognitive learners have achievement levels that are high and also compensates for those learners who might have cognitive limitations [6]. Independent learning ability of learners is increased as leaners become in control of their own learning in and outside the school through being able to plan, monitor and evaluate their own progress during the learning process [5]. The metacognitive ability of a learner to identify learning strategies that work and those which do not work as well as the ability to identify ones' ones' failures and successes increases the learners' resilience and perseverance [34]. There is no need of specialized teaching and learning equipment in metacognitive teaching making it cost-effective as metacognition trained teachers are required only. Metacognition assist learners in transferring knowledge (metacognitive strategies) across other contexts and tasks in different subjects. Learners of all age groups can effectively learn metacognitive skills and benefit from them.

Lack of relevant prior knowledge or low academic ability might be compensated for by metacognitive knowledge [28]. Resilience is improved by metacognition as learners can identify their own successes and failures, strategies that best work for them or which failed them thereby increasing the learners' perseverance in improving in their work [5]. Metacognition is important to learning that is successful as it allows learners to determine their weaknesses which can be corrected through the construction of new cognitive skills, resulting in learners better managing their cognitive skills [28]. There is social and emotional growth by learners as they get aware of their mental states which allows learners to think of how to be confident, respected, and happy. Metacognition also allows learners to understand other learners or individuals' perspectives better [5].

### **4. Prior knowledge in chemistry learning**

One of the major contributors to learning challenges in chemistry is the learners' prior knowledge (pre-learning conceptions) [35]. Prior knowledge is the foundation on which new knowledge is built on by learners during learning [35]. According to the constructivist learning theory, each learner comes to the classroom possessing a unique experience (prior knowledge, skills and attitudes) [36]. The ability to learn is affected by the learners' background and prior knowledge. Learners construct their own meanings based on prior knowledge when it comes to chemistry explanations from the teacher or textbook and observations from chemistry experiments (chemistry theory and practical) [36]. Relevant prior knowledge gives learners the relevant context for the learning and integration of metacognitive knowledge, skills and attitudes [37]. Metacognition is the capability to apply relevant prior knowledge to plan, monitor and evaluate ones' mental processes during a learning process [9].

### **5. Modeling as a teaching strategy**

Modeling is a very efficient way of teaching and learning any new knowledge, skill and attitude [38, 39]. In human beings from the age of childhood to the age of

### *Teachers' Role in Chemistry Metacognition DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113789*

adulthood, modeling has a very important part in acquiring and developing cognitive and metacognitive skills, interpersonal skills, fine motor skills and later in life professional skills [38]. Observation is the primary process through which cognitive and metacognitive skills, interpersonal skills, fine motor skills and later in life professional skills are acquired. The acquisition and development of motor skills by children happen through observing the interactions of their parents, peers and siblings with their environments (worlds) [38, 39].

Parents, siblings and peers are the children's models whom they observe in terms of learning from the simplest form of knowledge, skill and attitude to the complex [40, 41]. The knowledge, skills and attitudes that are learnt and repeated by the learner depends ultimately on the reinforcement provided and the level of the learner to repeat what was observed. The learning of cognitive skills that are simple such as reading or basic arithmetic skills to problem solving and critical thinking which are more complex are facilitated through thought process verbalization by models when they perform such activities [40, 41]. The models' thoughts become observable, and can potentially be modeled, by conspicuous verbal characterization of the actions of the model.

Modeling both actions and thoughts has a lot of features that are helpful in the terms of contribution to the effectiveness of producing improvements in cognitive skills that are lasting [38]. Attention is gained and held through nonverbal modeling which is normally quite challenging to sustain through talking on its own. This also gives a didactic semantic environment inside which the verbalized rules are embedded [38, 41]. Cognitive abstractions are given meaning by behavioral referents. Furthermore, verbalized rules and approaches can be performed again in different forms as and when they are needed in imparting cognitive skills without the observers' interest being taxed by applying dissimilar exemplars [41].

Additionally, increased, and varied application of modeling deepens an understanding of the generative rules. According to the social cognitive learning theory, the acquisition of self-regulatory and metacognitive skills as well as competence develop first through observational learning which is also called social interaction [42]. There is advocacy for the development of self-regulatory competence by learners, in which learners are given a lot of opportunities to practice the different types of strategies that are associated with self-regulated learning so that they fully develop and become proficient in these set of skills [42]. Proficiency in these metacognitive and selfregulatory skills becomes easy when guidance, social reinforcement and feedback are provided during practice by models [42].

### **6. Metacognitive modeling**

The modeling of metacognition exhibit how one should think during lessons which focuses on deciphering data and information, analyzing and conclusion drawing on what was learned [38, 40]. Metacognitive modeling is very useful especially in a science class where teachers make use of multiple steps in problem-solving. In metacognitive modeling, teachers verbalize metacognition through their own thought processes whilst they are solving the problem on the overhead, board any learning media being used [38, 40]. In the thinking-out-loud approach, the focus of the teachers' talk is to plan and articulate explicitly the thought processes associated with metacognitive learning. Metacognitive modeling can be done also when learners read the chemistry

text whilst the teacher is asking questions that are rhetorical or comments about what is to anticipated in the chemistry text or subtopic that is coming [38, 40].

### **7. Modeling scaffolding technique**

Teachers should consider the learners' position in the teaching and learning process when applying modeling as a technique of scaffolding [38–40]. First the teachers model the chemistry task for learners and then learners begin the task assigned and work through the chemistry task at a pace of their own [39, 40]. The teacher gives learners more demanding tasks which they can now do on their after learning from the less demanding chemistry tasks. The teacher models the chemistry task several times so as to create an environment that is supportive to learners who might have language challenges or learning disabilities [38].

### **8. Teachers' metacognitive knowledge and skills as a learner**

The teacher must be able to motivate them-self and be aware of their strengths and weaknesses as a self-regulating learner [39]. This enables the teacher to motivate them-self when it comes to learning as a metacognitive learner [43]. The metacognitive learner must be fully engaged in learning metacognitively to improve their learning. Teaching learners how to learn metacognitively needs a teacher who is aware of the types of metacognitive learners which are tacit, aware, strategic, and reflective metacognitive learners [44, 45]. Learners who are not aware of their metacognitive knowledge and never think of any learning strategies are called tacit learners. Learners who are aware of some kind of metacognitive knowledge that they do such as generating ideas and finding evidence are called aware learners. However, thinking is not necessarily deliberate or planned [43].

Strategic learners can; do problem-solving, do organized thinking, classify, group, make decision, and seek evidence. They know learning strategies which apply the that assist them in learning [44]. Reflective learners reflect on learning during the learning process whilst taking into consideration of the success or failures of the learning strategy that is being uses as well as revising them the learning strategy when appropriate [45–48].

Developing learners' metacognitive knowledge, that is knowledge by learners of themselves in terms of a learner, the strategies to use in dealing with tasks is a very effective method of improving learning outcomes. Teachers must support learners to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own learning.

### **9. The teaching of metacognition strategies**

Precise, clear, and readily observable teaching on the metacognitive strategies of planning, monitoring and evaluation is done to improve learners' metacognitive learning through a chemistry concept such as concentration. A number of steps that start by the activating relevant prior knowledge of the learner so as to begin the lesson from the known (simple knowledge) (prior knowledge) to the unknown (complex knowledge) new concept [6, 49]. This leads to independent practice by learners as

they monitor their progress in the set goals on the topic concentration which leads to evaluation where learners reflect on their learning of the topic [4].
