Using Metacognition Learning to Make Children Smarter

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Hi,
Our children are intelligent and smart! Most of them can learn at a furious pace and perform very well in their classrooms. Most of them also learn and understand their lessons in a productive manner. Academicians believe that most of them possess excellent scholastic capabilities that help them to perform better in their classroom in an academic environment. What they obviously lack is an ability to recognize what they already know, how they know it and later identify certain situations that helped them to achieve their target assignments. In fact, most of them may never think about their own thinking which actually helped them to solve complex problems.

Meta-cognition is a micro cognitive technique that helps your children become high quality learners or the real problem solving learners, who can perform exceedingly well in any chosen field of activities. Meta-cognition is a process of setting up a delicate correlation between academic performance and knowledge and skills monitoring.

Primary education need not be just transfer of knowledge and information, but also focus on the development of meta-cognition. Your children must be able to think on how they achieved their academic or non-academic results, on all those processes or techniques that assisted them in reaching the targets. In simple words, your children must regulate their learning process in such a way that it helps them to perform better both in their classrooms as well as other areas of life. Successful and knowledgeable learning always require a deep understanding of the context of learning and the ability to use the right method at the right time. Have a nice day!

Thought for today:
"Be happy with what you have while pursuing what you want. The key to happiness is not more." - Jim Rohn

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Cognitive Strategies and Metacognition at Different Age Levels
Metacognitive strategies are intricately linked with each other. Our children can improve their cognitive abilities in a remarkable manner. However, most of them lack the knowledge of controlling or monitoring the skills that were used to achieve the results.

Using Metacognition Learning to Make Children Smarter
Metacognition learning is a series of conversations or dialogues that closely focus on how your children achieved their results after working on some intricate assignments. These dialogues can easily create a favorable environment for the creation and formulation of right type of thoughts and conceptions.

Q1: I never thought I'd be the parent who thought their child was gifted because my wife is a teacher and she always has at least one parent every year who thinks their child is gifted (but they really aren't). Anyway, my son just turned 2 years old and he appears to be much smarter than other kids his age. Here are some of the things he can do (has done most of these for at least 6 months):

....Does my son appear to show gifted qualities or can you even tell when they're only 2 yrs old? If so, what should we do or continue to do to nurture his intelligence?

A: From your description, based on age related ability, your son appears to be gifted – and you are definitely not a parent who thinks their child is gifted and really is not! Yes, some distinct traits of the young gifted can be seen when they are very young (studies have shown that gifted traits can be even be obvious with an infant). In your son's case, he surely shows typical gifted characteristics especially when you mention that you are doing what most parents do.... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Nurturing a Gifted Toddler here.

95% on Quant/Cogat** needed a 96%***
97% Creativity
Achiev 94% reading
Math 96%
Motivation 62% needed a 90%***

Do you have any recommendations on how best to retest him so he can get into the TAG program? He needs * a Yes in one of the two areas above***

He is in 1st grade, but was moved up to the 2nd grade Math class. He was evaluated in motivation by a 1st grade teacher- should he be evaluated by his 2nd grade Math teacher....

A: Briefly for all readers, the TAG (Talent and Gifted) program is an academic program that caters to meet the needs of excelling and above average students. Students are required to qualify in three out of four main categories as the following ... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Talented and Gifted (TAG) Testing here.

Q3: I am dealing with a boy who is 14 years of age. The boy demonstrates delinquent behavior such as substance use, picking on his suitor when she dresses up, and running away from school.He scored with an IQ of high average on the WISC-IV, however on the WIAT he scored extremely low and borderline on most tests, what does it prove? How can we explain this contrast?

A: The WISC–IV is used to assess general thinking and reasoning skills of children aged 6 years to 16 years. This test has five main areas that are; Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI), Processing Speed Index (PSI), and Full Scale scores ... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Contrast between the WISC-IV and WIAT scores here.

Children Solving Problems
By Stephanie Thornton

Problem-solving skills evolve through experience and dynamic interaction with a problem. Equally important--as the Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky proposed--is social interaction. Successful problem solving is a social process. Sharing problem-solving tasks--with skilled adults and with other children--is vital to a child's growth in expertise and confidence. In problem solving, confidence can be more important than skill.

Truly, problem solving lies at the heart of what we mean by intelligence. The ability to identify a goal, to work out how to achieve it and to carry out that plan is the essence of every intelligent activity. Could it be, Thornton suggests, that problem-solving processes provide the fundamental machinery for cognitive development?

Knowledge Under Construction: The Importance of Play in Developing Children's Spatial and Geometric Thinking
By Daniel Ness and Stephen J. Farenga

Knowledge under Construction is the first to examine young children's spatial and scientific thinking through their architectural constructions with Legos and blocks. The authors' coding system allows teachers and parents to observe and record children's cognitive behaviors related to spatial thinking.

In challenging Piaget's thesis, the authors illuminate our conceptions of children's emergent knowledge of space and scientific inquiry, and provide new insight into alternative ways to measure cognitive abilities in children based through block play. The Importance of Play in Developing Children's Spatial and Geometric Thinking explores space and how children use it in everyday play to construct knowledge about the world around them.

Breast milk key to child's intelligence
The Med Guru June 28, 2009

For the first time, researchers used sibling data in order to examine whether breast milk is associated with higher intelligence in children by assessing the academic achievements of 191 American sibling pairs.

Memory Development in Children
Article Journals June 19, 2009

Many experts believed earlier, that children did not possess any memory skills till they were eight or nine months old, but many parents have been giving contradictory statements based on their experiences. Recently with the development of technology and latest research into a baby's memory it is found that a baby's long-term-memory can be as long as 24 hours when it is just 6 weeks old and up to four months at sixteen months old. This proves that even a baby has specific memory.

Five Reasons Why Your Child Should Take Music Lessons
Best Online Violin July 4, 2009

Many intriguing studies show that music training has a significant impact on the brain development of a child. Different scientists have presented new findings on the benefits of learning how to play an instrument over the last five years.

The Importance of Toddler Toys in Brain Development
Toddler Activities June 28, 2009

The first three years of a child are crucial to brain development. During this period, the brain triples in weight and establishes billions of nerve connections. At the age of three, kids have twice as many nerve connections than a lot of adults. This is the reason why toddlers are very curious and inquisitive.

Child initiated learning
Teaching Expertise July 3, 2009

Child-initiated learning is an essential part of a range of learning activities that young children need to experience in order to understand the world around them. This range of activities and experiences includes group activities, singing, cooking, listening to stories, re-telling stories, going for walks and interacting with visitors to the setting.

Remember that children are listening, learning
Montgomery Advertiser July 4, 2009

Remember the old adage, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all"? My parents and grandparents, teachers and preachers used proverbs or wise sayings like this to help me develop a sense of morality -- a sense of right and wrong -- in both my developing brain and spirit.

Chatterbox Anika, 6, a rare genius
The West July 4, 2009

Like many six-year-old girls, Anika Hird is a little chatterbox. But few youngsters her age have as much clever talk. Anika, who turned six two days ago, has an IQ of 150 and is WA's youngest Mensa member.

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