Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement

Chapter 14. Metacognition, Self-Regulation, and Adaptive Expertise

They know enough who know how to learn.

—HENRY ADAMS

METACOGNITIVE SKILLS

help learners and workers set goals, select strategies, monitor results, and adjust based on outcomes. In other words, these skills serve as the mind's operating system. In this chapter I focus on metacogni-tion applied to (1) self-regulated learning skills and (2) solving job-specific far-transfer problems. Experts who are able to go beyond what they know and invent new and creative solutions are called adaptive experts. Metacognitive skills are an important element of adaptive expertise.

Cognition, Metacognition, and Adaptive Expertise

Consider the following math problem: An army bus holds thirty-six soldiers. ...