ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the meta-thinking zone. It also focuses on the nature of transfer and why it is so difficult to achieve. Transfer is the ability to use understanding and knowledge constructed during one activity and transfer that understanding and knowledge to other similar tasks. Creating a metacognitive learning environment involves changes both to the culture and the physical space of the classroom. The meta-thinking zone is a physical part of the classroom, usually a wall display. It consists of a series of cards with single mental state words on them; a series of cards with questions and statements; and a selection of visual images, photographs and cartoons depicting people or animals thinking. Developing metacognitive knowledge is about developing awareness of our thinking processes and the conditions pertaining to them. The ability to transfer learning across contexts marks the development of expertise in a subject and is clearly linked to self-regulated learning.
