Reclaiming the power of metacognition in the digital age

An insightful chapter on how metacognition (mind and concept mapping) can help students take control of their learning process and objectively observe their knowledge. Interesting reflections that can stimulate teachers in considering to introduce this approach in their educational strategies.

Metacognition is the learning method that improves one's self-awareness, perception and regulation. "Reclaiming the Power of Metacognition in a Digital Age" explores metacognition from the teachers' perspective, giving them the necessary information, tricks and tools to make their lessons promote an active, competent, and autonomous role of the learner.

The paper presents an academic and methodological approach, and two teaching experiences focused on the elaboration of mind maps. The latter were tested in 2020/2021 at the University of Milan in the context of distance learning (COVID-19 pandemic).

The activities allowed the study of subjective and intersubjective dimensions of the learning practices, later useful for teachers to be taken as suggestions to plan their lessons and respond promptly to students' difficulties and gaps.

The case-studies proposed serve as roadmap for the teachers to promote the use of mind, as a guide to plan their lessons and respond promptly to students' difficulties and gaps. Teachers can apprecaite the papers as it provides both, academic references and concrete example on how to adopt metacognition in class.