The role of metacognitive skills in learning to solve problems

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to learning to solve problems. This approach comes close to the methods
described at the task-level.
The task-level consists of task knowledge and methods. Task knowledge
is concerned with knowledge about various classes of generic tasks.
For generic tasks different task structures exist that decompose them into
subtasks and activities. The activities are executed at the object-level.
This decomposition of a task is called the method. The method thus
concerns all relevant activities and the control mechanisms in order to
achieve the task goal. The method resembles the notion of compiled
task models.
The highest level in the problem solving process is the meta-level.
This is a generic level that is domain-independent. It consists of metacognitive
knowledge and skills. Metacognitive knowledge in this model
involves knowledge that classes of tasks exist and that problem solving
methods exist for those classes. It also contains knowledge about when
and how to use problem solving strategies. The regulatory component
of metacognition concerns domain-independent metacognitive skills that
deal with monitoring and controlling the problem solving process in a
generic way. Metacognitive skills distinguished in the theoretical model
are: Reflecting on the nature of a problem, Comprehension monitoring,
Predicting consequences of activities, Planning, Monitoring, Checking
plausibility and Evaluating the problem solving process.
Two ways of learning are predicted in the theoretical model, depending
on whether a task-level is present. When this level is not present, a
learner applies metacognitive knowledge and skills directly to the objectlevel.
This results in the execution of cognitive activities relevant for
solving a specific problem. Through the process of generalisation, learners
may develop their own generic task knowledge and methods based
upon the cognitive activities. When no task-level is present, the use of
metacognitive skills can have a lot of impact on learning because learners
have no choice but to use their metacognitive skills, if available.
The presence of a task-level takes over the function of the meta-level.
In that case, learners may internalise task knowledge and methods to
such an extent that it is used automatically when problems from the
same class occur in the future. Instead of using any cognitive activity at
any time, learners may then be acquainted with a compiled task model
specific for the class of problems that helps them in regulating their
learning and problem solving process.
The main corollary of the theoretical model is that including a task
model in a constructivist learning environment could provide sufficient
support to the learner how to go about solving a difficult problem. Given
that learning effects of games and simulations are suboptimal, this might