Metacognitive training techniques have been used successfully to improve childrens' problem-solving skills. The concept of metacognition needs further refinement, however, if it is to continue to be useful as an explanatory construct. Specifically, we argue that more attention needs to be paid to how metacognitive abilities are acquired, how this knowledge could be used to help improve the performance of children with learning difficulties, and how metacognition may be related to other selfevaluation processes.Metacognition Reconsidered:
Implications for Intervention ResearchThe term metacognition has generally been used to refer to an individuals' ability to understand and manipulate their own cognitive processes. The inability to manipulate or control one's metacognitive processes is thought, in part, to be responsible for poor performances on academic problem-solving tasks (Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, & Campione, 1983;Brown, Campione, & Day, 1981). Metacognitive training, in the form of teaching general problem-solving principles, has been particularly successful in facilitating the intellectual performance of children with learning problems (Brown & Campione, in press; Campione & Brown, 1978, in press;Belmont & Butterfield, 1977;Palinscar & Brown, 1984;Paris, Newman, & McVey, 1982). Moreover, there is growing interest in applying metacognitive principles in modifying and training clinical "problem" behaviors (cf. Meichenbaum, 1984). We feel, however, that the notion of metacognition needs considerable refinement if it is to continue to be used as an explanatory construct by researchers and practitioners alike.In this paper we consider how metacognitive abilities are acquired, how knowledge of that acquisition could be useful in improving the intellectual capabilities of children with special needs, and how they may be related to other self-evaluation processes. We have chosen to focus on the developmental aspects problem-solver and processor of information, rather than a passive reactor to environmental stimuli that "impinge upon the organism." The active role ascribed to the individual is a major characteristic of the cognitive position. Moreover, it also determines the type of research that is undertaken to modify behavior and, as a consequence, the kind of interpretation used to explain behavior.In its short history developmental-cognitive information processing psychology has undergone a number of changes with many new concepts being introduced, others refined, and still others abandoned (see Brown et al., 1983;Siegler, 1983, for reviews).Moreover, it would be a mistake to believe that the processes of change in cognitive-developmental theory are complete. Much analysis needs to be undertaken before the limits of using this framework to explain behavior can be fully assessed. Siegler (1983) has argued that the information processing approach is, implicitly or explicitly, the leading strategy for studying cognitive development. The information processing approach stresses the importance of an ind...