An Essay On Metacognition

Humans are naturally curious beings. This curiosity occasionally generates interest into why we think a certain way. What compels us to value one thing over another? Why are some of us naturally better at a certain subject than others? All of these questions are topics that metacognitive research has strived to answer. Metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes, or, in other words, what we think about thinking. Metacognition has been a topic that has not generated much study until the 1970s, but at that point most of the research was geared towards the memory aspects of metacognition instead of applied use (Sieck 2013). Over the last forty years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of studies conducted on metacognition, but that number is nowhere near the amount that it should be. There are so many ways in which increased study on metacognition can improve our day-to-day lives, as John Flavell said, the ideas brewing in the area of metacognition could someday be used to teach â€Å"children (and adults) to make wise and thoughtful life decisions as well as to comprehend and learn better in formal educational settings† (Sieck 2013). To this end is why it is crucial for the Department of Neuroscience to allocate more funds towards increased research on metacognition, specifically towards how metacognition can assist depressed people in getting rid of unwanted thoughts. The practical applications of metacognitive research are still being discovered. In a study conducted by German scientist Markus Paulus, he and his team discovered that older subjects were more prone to display significant developmental effects in recalling information, compared to a younger age group (Paulus 2014). Paulus shows us how as people grow older, their rate of learning grows as well. Human curiosity is a part of this too, while children can display signs of wondering about oneself, these signs are far more prominent in older people. It has long been thought that the education of our youth should be one of humanity’s foremost priorities, and methods to improve said education should be at the forefront of our minds. What hope do we as a species have if our youth do not surpass us in many ways? This thinking is what caused researcher Bennett Schwartz to conduct a study to discover the implications of metacognition for student learning. Schwartz decided to focus his research on how metacognition can â€Å"influence decisions about studying and how we might use [metacognition] to improve our learning efficiency† (Schwartz 2012). Schwartz discovered that the preconceptions students have towards whether or not something deserves to be studied are usually overconfident, and in many cases â€Å"fail to reflect variables† that could improve efficiency. His findings on how metacognition can affect the education of the youth, mainly the efficiency with which to study, will help said youth become more we ll-organized and disciplined in the future. We do not yet know the full extent to how metacognition affects our moods, but with further study this knowledge can be easily attained. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that one in eight children are affected with some form of anxiety. They also found that Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) affects 6.8 million American adults (Anxiety and Depression†¦). If the Department of Neuroscience would allocate more funds towards research on metacognition, we could study more the application of using metacognition to change the way we think. This would further allow us to better treat all the people with some form of depression or anxiety, maybe even going so far as to completely eradicating the disorder from human life. Without further research, we will never know the extent to which metacognition can help people. There is much that is yet to be known about metacognition, because, we still do not understand much about the science behind our thinking. The age-old argument of nurture vs. nature continues to go on, and increased research towards metacognition would go a long way towards possibly settling that argument for good. As you can see, allocating the grant money towards amplified metacognition research would be one of the best choices the Department of Neuroscience could do as improved knowledge of metacognition would allow there to be no limit to what humans could do. Once we learn how we learn, we will be able to learn even more efficiently. References Sieck W. 2013 Feb 13. Metacognition is Knowing Your Mind [Internet]. Global Cognition; [2013 Feb 13, cited 2014 Sep 18]. Available from: http://www.globalcognition.org/head-smart/metacognition-is-knowing-your-mind/ Paulus M, Tsalas N, Proust J, Sodian B. 2014. Metacognitive monitoring of oneself and others: Developmental changes during childhood and adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology [Internet] [2014 Jun 1, cited 2014 Sep 5] 122:153-165. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096513002749 Schwartz B, Efklides A. 2012. Metamemory and memory efficiency: Implications for student learning. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition [Internet]. [2012 Sep 6, cited 2014 Sep 6] 1(3):145-151. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368112000617 Anxiety and Depression Association of America [Internet]. Silver Spring(MD):Anxiety and Depression Association of America; [cited 2014 Sep 28] . Available from: http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

Leadership in the NHS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership in the NHS - Essay Example It is in this regard that application of the effective leadership quality is necessary to upgrade the operational skills of the employees and to achieve the desired objectives. Emphasizing similar value attributes concerning its leadership roles, the Local’s Children’s Centre hosts an interactive session with respect to the progress of wean process as a measure to reduce obesity rates among children. This initiative has been undertaken by the NHS to create awareness amidst the society with respect to child obesity and its dreadful implications. The study intends to discuss about the various measures undertaken by National Health Services (NHS) to ensure about the nutritional benefits to the society, especially the children (Bevan, 2012). In addition, the NHS healthcare service organization attempts to practice various leadership qualities in order to manage the change with respect to the wean process that results in childhood obesity. Accordingly, the study discusses about the various initiatives been undertaken by NHS to create awareness within the society with respect to the nutritional benefits. NHS needs to mitigate various changes, likely to occur while transforming the traditional processes pertaining to weaning into progressive for deriving better nutritional benefits for reducing the risks of childhood obesity. In general, the ‘weaning’ process conveys about the process of involving the nutritional, biochemical and immunological adjustments by providing complementary food items in the child’s diet. Contextually, it has been noted that the breast-milk has been traditionally perceived as the most essential as nutritional food diet for infants. Traditionally, the children in their early years were provided only with breast milk. Feeding breast milk to the children has always been considered as the best source of providing nutrition. However, changes observed in the lifestyle choices in recent scenario have apparently influenced the

Graduate Work and Becoming a Better Manager Essay

Graduate Work and Becoming a Better Manager - Essay Example Additionally, I realized that being a better manager required effective professionalism, which is achievable through furthering my education. Present day business environment is characterized by excessive competition. This requires managers to have professional strategies that will enable them to compete with other businesses effectively. Additionally, I realized that enrolling for MBA at Walden University would enable me to understand the ethical and legal requirements of the business society which facilitate becoming an effective member of the business community (Walden University, 2012b). Graduate school is quite different from the undergraduate programs. In graduate school, the level of training is more rigorous and oriented toward professionalism. As opposed to undergraduates in business courses who study broadly, graduates specialize in a specific area. By enrolling in MBA, I hope to acquire skill in corporate hunting skill, coaching of employees as well as skill on how to analyze benefit for effective decision-making. In my opinion, being an effective manager requires one to be able to bargain collectively, relate well with employees, encourage employee development programs, and understand employment laws as well as business policies. By enrolling for the MBA, I believe I will be able to attain the above skills and apply them later. This will make me a professional and better manager (Walden University, 2012b). After reviewing the list of â€Å"Student Conduct and Responsibilities,† I realized there are a number of similarities and differences between scholarly conduct and business conduct. Scholarly conduct is different from business conduct in that scholarly conduct I based on the level of education while business conduct is professionalism. Both scholarly conduct and business conduct are similar since they center on trust, responsibility,