3 Metacognition and Reflection: Is there a Difference?

Metacognition Vs. Monitoring

As mentioned in the Useful Definitions section, metacognition is an awareness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and outcomes. Flavell, in his landmark paper on metacognition, explains “cognitive strategies are invoked to make cognitive progress, metacognitive strategies to monitor it.”† He goes on to distinguish between metacognitive knowledge (thoughts on prior knowledge and strategies), and metacognitive experiences (thoughts on feelings and events); but it is here, in this first occurrence of tying metacognition to the term monitoring, that we fall down the terminology rabbit hole.

Researchers have made note of the many overlapping terms for concepts that may be metacognitive. Looking back to our two SRL models, Zimmerman has, across years of SRL research, used the terms self-reflection, self-monitoring, metacognitive monitoring, and metacognitive reflection in describing an SRL skill of successful learners.^19,20,22 Winne and Hadwin opt for the term monitoring²⁷ in their SRL model—despite the model being known as strongly metacognitive in nature. Regardless of which term to place bets on, studies involving digital learning show that continuous monitoring is essential through all phases of SRL.^17,25

What about Reflection?

The process of monitoring one’s thinking has its origins with John Dewey,¹² frequently noted as the originator of educational thought on reflection. In writing on the importance of reflection, Dewey states that “all reflection involves, at some point, stopping external observations and reactions so that an idea may mature.”‡ Further hallmark work by philosopher Donald Schön, who in evaluating how both professionals and “ordinary people” adapt and improve, distinguished between monitoring thought within a moment and after the fact, labeling the two situations reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Schön moves on to illustrate that reflective practice is the foundational strategy for all skill improvement.²

The term reflection is also defined in different ways in the research. While one researcher,³¹ investigating reflective practice in high school, discusses stimulating metacognition with reflective activities, a second researcher,⁵ studying reflection in university around the same time period, discusses stimulating reflection with metacognitive activities. While these researchers seem to put the opposite ideas as subordinate to the main, there is agreement that metacognition and reflection are interwoven. The OECD, in documents from its Future of Education and Skills 2030 project,¹¹ firmly superordinate metacognition by identifying reflection as a method of practice for developing metacognition—a position supported by other researchers^14,32—stating that “reflection is the thread that makes continuity of learning possible.”§

It would seem that research on monitoring, metacognition, and reflection are all discussing the same basic learning strategy and in fact I have yet to read anything explaining another monitoring or metacognitive “strategy” that wasn’t really just reflecting. In addition, there is loads of research that discusses that most educators lack training and understanding of metacognition and are apprehensive to promote it as a learning strategy.³ So, that’s it. I may make academia mad, but I’m calling this one—let us just use the term reflection. Most people (students included) already have a common understanding for this term as opposed to ideas like SRL and metacognition, which means if we want to give educators and students the language and skills to make this part of their learning strategy toolkit, it’s probably best to simplify the language.