Metacognition in Early Child Development

This commentary provides a brief review of the history, theoretical significance, and application to early childhood education of research on metacognition in early childhood. It particularly focuses on the issue of whether metacognition in early childhood needs to be explicit, conscious, and available to be articulated or whether it can be implicit. The role of observational methodologies in advancing work in this area is highlighted. Theory and research on the different developmental trajectories of subcomponents of metacognition is also reported, and evidence of their relationship to maturational and experiential influences is discussed. Evidence of educational applications of work in this area concludes the commentary, highlighting research on parental and teacher modeling of metacognitive strategies and the role of play in supporting metacognitive development in early child development.