Metacognition is often introduced as “thinking about your thinking.” That shorthand is useful as a starting point, but metacognition involves more than awareness alone.
Metacognitive Moves System™ (MMS)
A structured system for developing metacognitive capability through practice, support, reflection, and repeated engagement within authentic academic, learning, and performance environments.
The Five Phases of Metacognitive Regulation
Metacognitive development occurs through five interconnected phases. Learners move among them dynamically while studying for exams, solving problems, managing projects, learning new systems, preparing for presentations, navigating unfamiliar situations, collaborating with others, and reflecting on performance.
As a coach, tutor, advisor, instructor, manager, mentor, or learning facilitator, your role is not simply to provide answers. It is to help make these learning and performance processes more visible, intentional, and adaptable over time.
What am I trying to do? How should I approach it?
Planning helps learners prepare for learning and performance before action begins.
This may include:
- Clarifying goals, expectations, and task demands
- Choosing strategies or approaches
- Organizing time, tools, and resources
- Anticipating challenges before starting
Planning includes processes like:
- Task Framing
- Strategy Selection
- Resource Allocation
What am I noticing while I work? Is this working?
Monitoring helps learners stay aware of understanding, progress, effort, confusion, and performance during active engagement.
This may include:
- Checking comprehension while working
- Noticing confusion, uncertainty, or momentum
- Recognizing when something feels off
- Detecting problems before they grow
Monitoring includes processes like:
- Monitoring
- Diagnosis
What needs to change?
Adjustment happens when learners respond to what they notice by modifying strategies, approaches, effort, or support.
This may include:
- Trying a different strategy
- Changing how they prepare or practice
- Seeking support or clarification
- Revising plans based on feedback or results
Adjustment helps move learners from awareness into adaptive action.
How did it go? What can I learn from this?
Evaluation helps learners examine outcomes, interpret experiences, and make sense of what contributed to success or difficulty.
This may include:
- Assessing whether goals were met
- Identifying what helped and what didn't
- Reflecting on patterns across experiences
- Learning from both successes and setbacks
Evaluation focuses on understanding performance rather than judging oneself.
How can I apply this somewhere else?
Transfer helps learners carry learning, strategies, and insight into future situations.
This may include:
- Applying lessons across environments or contexts
- Recognizing recurring patterns
- Adapting successful approaches for new situations
- Building greater independence and flexibility over time
Transfer is what helps learning continue beyond a single task, role, project, or environment.
These phases do not always happen in order — and they do not need to. Learners may move back and forth between them, revisit earlier phases, or engage several at the same time. Learning is dynamic, and metacognitive regulation works as a coordinated system rather than a checklist.
Recognizing any part of the system is a starting point for a productive conversation.
Want to go deeper? Read Metacognition Is More Than “Thinking About Your Thinking” for a fuller explanation of why metacognition involves the ongoing regulation of learning — not simply awareness or reflection.
Why This Matters for Your Work with Learners
Learners who develop metacognitive capability do more than improve performance on individual tasks. Over time, they become more adaptive, self-directed, and capable learners.
Understanding metacognition helps you recognize what may be happening beneath the surface and respond more intentionally.
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From Solving to Supporting When you can recognize where learners are struggling within the learning and performance process, you can support how they learn — adapt, think, and grow — not just answer the immediate question.
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Making Learning Processes Visible Learners often use metacognitive processes without realizing it. Helping learners notice and name those processes increases intentionality, adaptability, and confidence.
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Supporting Growth Over Time As learners develop metacognitive capability, the kind of support they need changes. They move from needing more direction toward becoming increasingly capable of regulating learning and performance independently.
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Skills That Transfer Metacognitive capability does not stay in one course or one environment. What learners develop here travels with them — into new courses, projects, roles, teams, and future learning situations.
Metacognition helps turn experience into learning — and learning into growth learners can carry forward.
Explore the developmental side. Read How Learners Develop Capability in Learning Practices to see how visible learning practices, guided practice, feedback, and evolving support help learners take increasing ownership of these processes.
Take it into learning design. Read Before We Design for Metacognition, We Need to Define What We Are Developing to explore why supporting metacognition starts with identifying the specific learning practices learners need to become increasingly capable of using.
Why It Matters Beyond the Classroom
The people you work with are developing capabilities that shape how they learn, adapt, solve problems, and improve across environments over time. Professionals who can adapt, self-monitor, and grow from experience are better equipped to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and continued development.
These are not simply academic skills. They are lifelong learning capabilities.
When you help learners strengthen metacognitive capability, you are helping them build the ability to direct their own learning, performance, and development across changing situations, environments, and challenges over time.