1. Rapid review on instruments to measure metacognition

Metacognition has been recognized as a crucial component of effective teaching and learning and has consequently received much interest from multiple education systems.

Metacognition has been the subject of numerous studies, which have used a wide range of metrics to explore its nature and to gauge the effect of metacognitive interventions.

In this rapid review commissioned by the department, we offer a comprehensive overview of the current instruments available to measure metacognition. In doing so, we have summarized the literature for each instrument, providing details on the aspects of metacognition measured, practical considerations, and any evidenced reliability and validity.

Read the rapid review measuring metacognition in children and adolescents (PDF 1 MB) .

2. Rapid review on interventions to improve metacognition

The ability to develop metacognitive skills holds the potential to establish a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

Intervention studies have shown that children’s metacognition can be improved. Consequently, there has been a growing focus on this topic, with researchers, educators and policymakers all striving to uncover the most effective ways to best support children’s metacognitive learning.

In this rapid review commissioned by the department, we investigated the effectiveness of metacognition interventions in relation to:

• the age of the students
• contextual factors
• intervention characteristics
• delivery methods.

The new knowledge generated by this work is a comprehensive understanding of the diverse range of metacognition interventions in primary and secondary education.

Read the rapid review metacognition interventions (PDF 2 MB) .