Under legislative guidelines, children with disabilities are entitled to an education at public expense, with
the added stipulation that the children be in the most contact possible with their nondisabled peers. (AP/
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Lisa A. WertenbergerMETACOGNITION
If cognition is defined as the way we think and process
information, then metacognition can be defined as
the way we think about our own thoughts. In other
words, metacognition is thinking about thinking.American psychologist John Flavell believes that
metacognition consists of metacognitive knowledge
and metacognitive experiences. Metacognitive knowl-
edge can be knowledge about the way you or others
think, knowledge that different tasks or problems re-
quire different types of cognitive demands, or knowl-
edge about strategies that can enhance learning and
performance. Metacognitive experiences, such as re-
flecting on thoughts or analyzing thoughts, examine
how we use strategies to help us regulate and oversee
our own learning.In sum, metacognition consists of planning, eval-
uating, and monitoring problem-solving activities
and the outcome of these activities. Research suggests
that greater metacognitive abilities are associated
with more successful problem solving. This finding
has instructional applications, meaning that it may be
possible to teach students to be more aware of their
own learning processes and performance, how to reg-
ulate these processes, and to learn more effectively.268 METACOGNITION