Realistically, I view this as the same problem students who “highlight everything” have. It’s not a problem with the nature of highlighters — it’s a problem of metacognition.

To be a successful physicist requires mastering how to make all 29 decisions, but the reflection decisions (decisions 23–26) are arguably the most difficult to learn.

for a lot of people, the issue isn’t not knowing “how” to take notes, it’s not being able to perform the metacognition necessary to determine “what” to take notes on, because getting that “instinct” for “what’s going to be on the test” or later on, “what’s going to be important later” is rarely what “note-taking systems” cover, but really it’s the most important part. Knowing what to pay attention to is way more important than the precise method you used to record the information for later, and that hueristic will vary from field to field, class to class, person to person, and frankly, year to year.

This is the theory of the extended mind, introduced more than two decades ago by the philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers. A 1998 article of theirs published in the journal Analysis began by posing a question that would seem to have an obvious answer: “Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?” They went on to offer an unconventional response. The mind does not stop at the usual “boundaries of skin and skull,” they maintained. Rather, the mind extends into the world and augments the capacities of the biological brain with outside-the-brain resources.

During the evaluation phase, learners can ask, How well did I do? What did I learn? Did I get the results I expected? What could I have done differently? Can I apply this way of thinking to other problems or situations? Is there anything I don’t understand—any gaps in my knowledge? Do I need to go back through the task to fill in any gaps in understanding? How might I apply this line of thinking to other problems?

During the monitoring phase, learners can ask, How am I doing? Am I on the right track? How should I proceed? What information is important to remember? Should I move in a different direction? Should I adjust the pace because of the difficulty? What can I do if I do not understand?

Recommended Instructional Strategies Instructors can encourage ABE learners to become more strategic thinkers by helping them focus on the ways they process information. Self-questioning, reflective journal writing, and discussing their thought processes with other learners are among the ways that teachers can encourage learners to examine and develop their metacognitive processes. Fogarty (1994) suggests that Metacognition is a process that spans three distinct phases, and that, to be successful thinkers, students must do the following: Develop a plan before approaching a learning task, such as reading for comprehension or solving a math problem. Monitor their understanding; use “fix-up” strategies when meaning breaks down. Evaluate their thinking after completing the task.

Some instructional programs encourage students to engage in “metacognitive conversations” with themselves so that they can “talk” with themselves about their learning, the challenges they encounter, and the ways in which they can self-correct and continue learning.

Elements of Metacognition Researchers distinguish between metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation (Flavell, 1979, 1987; Schraw & Dennison, 1994).

Metacognition is "thinking about thinking"

I know quite a few STEM folks who ungrade in various ways. Some specific stuff I’ve seen work in STEM classes: project-based learning with self-assessment, process notebooks (like a lab notebook but with an emphasis on metacognition), and collaborative exams.

they are often more adept than you at understanding what beginning students need in order to understand the material

Mindfulness has been shown to be a valid approach to treating mental health disorders,” she says. “It has strong scientific support for its effectiveness in the prevention of depression relapse and in reducing rumination. It has been studied quite extensively in chronic pain management, addiction relapse prevention, appetite awareness for binge eating disorder — the list goes on and on.”

The act of putting your observations into specific word choices and then reflecting on them, whether through conversation or rereading your journal entry, is an important part of the process,” she adds. “This is why, while I like apps like Calm and Headspace, I really recommend that people find some way to verbalize their experiences after using the app.”

Mindfulness involves metacognition, which is thinking about the thinking, and recognizing each thought or moment in its broader context.”

Growth Mindset

To successfully learn something new, people must evaluate their understanding, monitor for confusion or inconsistency, plan what to do next based on those observations, and coordinate that plan’s execution. This often falls under the category of “metacognition,” though prefer to unbundle its phenomena.

Your teacher may require you to use tags for a variety of reasons.

self-reflection, that is, realizing the famous poetic phrase, ‘know thyself’

Effect of a metacognitive scaffolding on self-efficacy, metacognition, and achievement in e-learning environments

Digital humanities is all about creating new knowledge and understandings including delving into different ways of thinking in a discipline.

give a student an individually-controlled space for reflection and growth

By giving student data to the students themselves, and encouraging active reflection on the relationship between behavior and outcomes, colleges and universities can encourage students to take active responsibility for their education in a way that not only affects their chances of academic success, but also cultivates the kind of mindset that will increase their chances of success in life and career after graduation.

Metacognition activities in support of metacognitive practices

metacognitive knowledge consists of personal insights into how cognitive tasks such as memory or writing are accomplished, about what makes particular tasks difficult or easy, and about personal cognitive characteristics and capabilities.

Technology offers ways to address metacognitive weakness.

At some point, it will have to figure all this out. But by then, it may well be too late for it to pull out of its self-inflicted death spiral.