Perhaps the most important reason for developing metacognition is that it can improve the application of knowledge, skills, and character qualities in realms beyond the immediate context in which they were learned…
Research has identified three levels of reporting on metacognitive processes:
1. Verbalization of knowledge that is already in a verbal state (such as recalling what happened in a story).
2. Verbalization of nonverbal knowledge (such as recalling how one solved a Rubik’s Cube).
3. Verbalization of explanations of verbal or nonverbal knowledge (such as explaining how one makes use of the rhetorical structures of a story as one reads).
Only this third level of metacognitive process has been linked to improved results in problem solving.
21st Century School Journey 