**2.1 Metacognitive teaching**

One of the most important factors underlying teachers' ability to provide strong and effective teaching is their ability to develop students' metacognitive awareness. Metacognitive development is a complex process. As a result of the research, three basic rules have been put forward for successful metacognitive teaching: (1) giving metacognitive teaching by connecting it with the content, (2) informing students about the

usefulness of metacognitive activities so that they spend more effort, (3) providing a long-term training for successful metacognitive activities. Provision of education. For teachers to provide metacognitive development in students, they must have three important teaching skills [34]. First, the teacher can give the student tasks or tasks that he can think about intensively. Secondly, it can provide a classroom environment where students can think and reason without fear and with mutual respect and are encouraged to do research. The third teaching skill is to give students time to express their thoughts about what they have learned. The teacher, who plays a central role in the metacognitive development process, encourages students to think and answer questions such as how and why during learning [14]. However, research shows that teachers and university academics have little knowledge about metacognition [35, 36].

### **2.2 Metacognition and measurement-evaluation**

In education, in addition to summative assessment to measure learning outcomes, formative assessment that provides information about the learning-teaching process has become a necessity. With formative assessment, teachers enable students to engage with thought-provoking questions by providing a discussion environment and accelerating learning through various activities such as peer and self-assessment, observations, quizzes, and portfolios [37]. The formative assessment approach improves learning with five important features [38, 39]: (1) providing effective feedback to students, (2) enabling students to learn actively, (3) assessment to organize teaching according to the evaluation results, (4) to improve students' self-esteem and motivation, and (5) to allow students to evaluate themselves and understand how they develop. Formative assessment, which provides an opportunity for students to evaluate themselves and monitor their development, also implicitly helps the development of students' metacognitive awareness [40].

Sadler [41] emphasized that formative evaluation depends on two important factors. First, students need to understand the range between the learning goal and their current level. Second, students need to close this gap. Although the teacher activates this process and guides the student, learning must occur by the students [42]. In other words, students need to be active in the learning–teaching process. Students must take an active role during learning, teaching, and evaluation for the development of metacognitive awareness [43]. A learning-focused assessment-evaluation approach, in which the student plays an active role and provides feedback for learning, enables the student to learn more deeply and effectively [38]. Therefore, learning-oriented assessment and evaluation can ensure the metacognitive development of the student. For example, through self-assessment, which is one of the learning-oriented measurement-evaluation methods, the student reflects and creates feedback during the learning process. Thus, self-assessment helps students understand what they have learned more deeply and improve the teaching strategies they use, contributing to their metacognitive development and activities in future lessons [44].

Measuring metacognition is very difficult for many reasons: (1) metacognition is a complex structure, (2) metacognition cannot be observed directly, (3) metacognition can be a mixture of both verbal ability and memory capacity, and (4) existing measurements tend to be more narrowly focused and distant from learning [45]. For this reason, the assessment-evaluation practices that teachers will use when measuring metacognitive knowledge will tend to be informal rather than formal [46]. Pintrich suggested that when teachers measure metacognitive knowledge informally, they usually do so by listening to students' cognitions and what they have learned.

### **2.3 Metacognitive strategies**

Hartman [47] compared cognitive skills to "workers" and metacognitive skills to "bosses" and stated that cognition brings about the mental activities decided by metacognition. Accordingly, while coding (recording information), inferring, comparing, and analyzing constitute cognitive strategies, planning, monitoring, and evaluation constitute metacognitive strategies. Metacognitive strategies include thinking about the learning process by consciously following one's cognitive strategies to achieve specific goals, planning learning, monitoring understanding as it occurs, and selfevaluating learning [48]. That is, these strategies consist of planning, monitoring, and evaluation [17, 32, 49–51].

The proper planning process includes selecting appropriate strategies and organizing resources. As you mentioned in the reading example, the student can make predictions and list strategies before starting to read. It can also achieve a more effective reading experience by selectively distributing time and attention. Planning helps the student better organize the learning process and achieve their goals [52]. In other words, it can be said that the individual's making arrangements for his learning before learning is within the scope of this strategy. The sentence "I prepare for the topic to be covered before the mathematics lesson" can be given as an example of planning [53]. The planning strategy is divided into four different sub-steps [50]: (1) advance organizers, (2) organizational planning, (3) selective attention, and (4) self-management. According to Zhang and Seepho [50], metacognitive strategies play an important role in the reading comprehension process. These strategies are used in three stages: preorganization, organizational planning, and selective attention.

In the advance organizers phase, the student understands the meaning and nature of reading, determines reading goals, and plans the purposes of secondary reading tasks. At this stage, the student also details the preliminary information about the reading task.

In the organizational planning phase, the student plans the content of each task, divides specific reading tasks into sections, plans strategies for completing the tasks, and details preliminary information about the reading tasks. In the selective attention stage, the student sorts strategies for completing tasks and selects appropriate reading strategies to focus on a particular task. These metacognitive strategies make the student's reading comprehension process more effective. The student uses reading strategies relevant to a particular task and adjusts those strategies to achieve his or her goals. This is an indicator of self-management because the student realizes, controls, and directs his cognitive processes [50].

Monitoring is a cognitive process that reflects progress in line with goals and feedback [54]. Lv and Chen [55] defined monitoring as being aware of what one is doing. According to Mahdavi [56], monitoring includes the self-testing capability necessary to organize learning and learning environment. It also refers to critical analysis of the validity of strategies or plans being implemented. Thus, this strategy allows the individual to evaluate learning demands and outcomes to inform the construction of a higher-level mental model [57]. Thus, learning is increased by monitoring cognition [30]. The monitoring strategy is divided into two different sub-steps [50]: (1) monitoring comprehension and (2) monitoring production. When using the monitoring strategy during reading, checking one's meaning, accuracy, and appropriateness of the reading process, as well as one's capabilities and difficulties in each reading task, helps to monitor comprehension; inspection by the teacher to see whether the reading strategies used in the classroom can solve comprehension problems, monitoring

selected reading strategies, and adopting alternatives when they do not work also indicates monitoring production [50].

Evaluation mentions evaluating the efficiency and products of one's learning [52]. According to Mahdavi [56], evaluation refers to examining the progress made toward targets that will enable planning, monitoring, and evaluation. In other words, it is a review of the learning itself at the end of learning. In mathematics, the sentence "After studying the combination subject, I will give myself an exam on that subject" can be given as an example for evaluation [53]. The evaluation strategy is divided into three different sub-steps [50]. These are (1) self-monitoring, (2) self-evaluation, and (3) self-reflection. Accordingly, when using the evaluation strategy after reading, evaluating whether the reading target was successful or not is a self-control; selfassessment of how well one has learned to read and one's use of reading strategies; thinking about whether he needs to go back to understand better is also given as an example of self-reflection [50].

It has been stated that metacognitive strategies are related to success and learning in many disciplines, especially in reading, mathematics, and science [58]. The use of metacognitive strategies in the teaching process allows students to take ownership of their learning and become active participants in the evaluation and improvement of their knowledge and skills. By engaging in metacognitive activities, such as self-assessment and reflection, students can identify any gaps or misunderstandings in their understanding of the content. This self-evaluation process enables them to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and make necessary adjustments to their learning strategies. For instance, when a student completes a study session, they can employ metacognitive strategies to assess their comprehension of the topic. They may ask themselves questions like, "Can I explain this concept in my own words?" or "Can I solve problems related to this topic?" This self-checking process helps the student become aware of their level of understanding and identify areas that require further attention. If the student finds that they have a strong grasp of the material, they are likely to continue using the same learning strategies in future situations. This reinforces their confidence in their approach and enhances their learning efficiency. On the other hand, if the student realizes that they have not fully understood the topic, they are likely to reevaluate their learning strategies and make necessary changes. For example, they may decide to seek additional resources, ask for clarification from the teacher, or adjust their study techniques. The student must be aware of metacognitive strategies and use these strategies to control his learning and make adjustments when deemed necessary and to achieve the goal of learning. According to Avargil et al. [59], students' use of these strategies can also improve their learning strategies. Therefore, it is argued that metacognition has a big capability to enable students to become successful learners [60].

### **2.4 Development of metacognition**

So, can students' metacognition levels be improved? According to Mahdavi [52], the answer to this question is definitely "yes". It is argued that metacognitive development, with individual differences, begins at an early age (5/7 years old) and develops during the teaching process [61, 62]. Because between these ages, children begin to have the awareness that they are thinking and learning as individuals [61]. Promoting metacognition; it starts with creating awareness among students that the existence of metacognition is different from cognition and that it develops academic achievement in an appositive way. The next stage is to teach the strategies and, more crucially, to

### *Cognition and Metacognition in Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114857*

answer students' needs to create clear information about determining the time and place of using strategies [63]. For all these, students need to gain some experiences regarding their metacognition.

According to Papaleontiou-Louca [64], metacognition, like everything else, develops with practice. According to Fouché and Lamport [65], for metacognition to be effective, classroom environments that support students' metacognitive expectations must be created. Because a metacognitive classroom environment supports thinking awareness [26]. In addition, metacognition should be included among the teaching objectives, as well as a suitable classroom environment to activate and develop the knowledge and strategies that students have but do not use. Using accurate, metacognitive strategies gives students a broader repertoire of strategies. Students have the opportunity to try and apply different learning strategies. These experiences help students determine which strategies are most effective and make them more likely to use those strategies in future learning situations [7]. Considering the period in which metacognition begins to develop, it is possible to say that it would be beneficial to enrich learning environments, especially at preschool and primary school levels, with activities aimed at developing metacognition.

### **2.5 Benefits of metacognition in education**

It was stated in a study by Blakey and Spence [26] that metacognitive behavior or metacognitive behaviors come into play when faced with situations that cannot be solved with learned reactions. In these situations, when habitual responses are not successful, individuals need metacognitive skills. Metacognitive skills, if recognized and applied through guidance, help students successfully solve the problems they encounter. Considering that individuals in today's twenty-first century need to have skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and responsibility, the importance of metacognitive skills comes to the fore. In other words, metacognition is extremely important in the twenty-first century [26]. This situation makes it necessary for personal, social, cognitive, and metacognitive development to be included in the scope of learning goals, even though academic success comes to mind first when learning goals are mentioned [66].

Metacognition has the potential to empower students to take responsibility for their learning and increase the meaningfulness of their learning. With this feature, it gradually frees students from dependence on teachers who guide their learning [67]. In short, metacognition makes students responsible for their learning. In this case, it can be said that students with better metacognitive development will be more independent in the learning process.

The development of metacognition increases competencies in cognitive areas [62]. Because metacognition promotes the cognitive level by activating monitoring and control factors [68]. Therefore, metacognition helps children make the most of their mental resources [61]. With metacognition, students try to use their thinking skills not only for the information they will acquire but also for the learning process. For example, a student who aims to learn multiplication tables should think about how best to acquire this information rather than the information in this table, plan his learning, and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy he uses. It requires much more mental skills than just acquiring the information in the table. Students' reflection on their learning helps them perform many academic tasks more effectively [69]. Because the student managed his/her learning process. In this way, students with metacognitive skills can manage the learning process more effectively. When

determining learning goals, they can develop strategies that suit their own learning styles by taking a constructive approach [61]. In addition, Schraw [57] stated that students with metacognitive awareness are generally more convenient because they act more determinedly in the learning process, experience less anxiety, use more strategies, and attribute their success to controllable reasons.
