“One of the most powerful growth processes during this stage is the development of metacognition, or the ability to reflect on one’s thoughts. Caine and Caine (1994) describe metacognition as ‘thinking about the way we think, feel and act’ (160). When a seventh grader doesn’t understand something, he or she can suddenly think about not understanding. Such thinking may not lead to understanding and may in fact lead to frustration. Indeed, many of the frustrations middle school students experience may result from this new reflective thought–this thinking about thinking. They may even worry about why they are thinking about their thinking.” (Brown, Knowles 2007)
This passage is one that not only is useful in many different areas of teaching, but also can be applied in a much broader sense to the question of what exactly it means to grow up. In a sense, the idea of metacognition strikes me as perhaps the most important cognitive element that marks the transition from childhood to something much closer to adulthood (closer, certainly not the same). Metacognition, as I understand it, is essentially the capacity for higher thinking which develops in early adolescence. This is the kind of thought that can be, like the reading indicates, used in an academic or logic driven way. However, it is just as if not more important in its emotional and philosophical implications. Metacognition is what allows teens to wonder, sometimes painfully, what life holds for them. It allows one to reflect on who they are, and question whether they are headed in the right direction. Together with physical maturation and the accompanying awkwardness, I believe the development of metacognition in young adolescents is the cause of so much angst and frustration characteristic to the teenage years.