How Formative Assessment Supports Metacognition in College Teaching

Students learn the concepts in a given subject better when they are also able to develop learning goals for themselves, monitor their own progress, and evaluate and adjust their learning strategies. This ability to reflect on and develop learning skills is called metacognition.

Formative practice activities such as quick polls, reviewing drafts, and low-stakes knowledge checks are one way to enable students to reflect on and develop their own learning. That combination of two evidence-based teaching practices was the theme of a recent webinar, Thinking About Thinking: Using Formative Practice to Grow Metacognitive Learners, presented by Every Learner Everywhere as part of the Transform Learning webinar series.

Transform Learning is a resource on digitally enabled, evidence-based teaching practices (DE-EBTs) for faculty seeking ways to integrate technology to enhance and support teaching methods grounded in empirical research. It elaborates on eight DE-EBTs and offers a growing library of instructional examples submitted by faculty.

The February 2026 Thinking About Thinking webinar drew on the experience of a panel of veteran educators sharing how they combine two of those DE-EBTs — formative practice and metacognition — to help students learn course material by also helping them learn to reflect on and direct their own learning.

Comparing responses to encourage metacognition

Classroom polling is a unique opportunity for reflection and metacognition in synchronous class settings, said Derek Bruff, Associate Director at the Center for Teaching Excellence at University of Virginia. A traditional pencil-and-paper knowledge check activity transitioned to a digital tool allows an instructor to view and display the summary results instantly. That creates new ways for students to engage with and discuss the course materials.

For example, an instructor might pose a single multiple-choice question through a polling tool and display the results as a bar graph. When both incorrect and correct answers are represented, students can then discuss those with their neighbor or in small groups until a consensus is reached.

“The structure you build around the question is often where you get to hear students’ reasoning for different answers and how they’re thinking,” Bruff says. “You can’t just ask the question and move on. You want to build some interaction around it where you get to hear from students.”

Revision that encourages metacognition

Jessica Bernards, Professor of Mathematics at University of Oregon and Portland Community College, builds reflection opportunities into formative assessment by allowing students to resubmit missed quiz questions for partial credit. Bernards explained that reflection does not occur automatically, so instructors need to design it into their lessons. “A lot of students end up interpreting struggle as a sign that they’re not capable, rather than understanding that it’s just a part of learning,” she said.

In lab sessions, Bernards encourages metacognition through a cycle of draft, peer review, revision, and reflection. Students first attempt to solve problems independently, including their steps and work, which she grades for participation. Next, students post on discussion boards where their peers provide feedback based on a rubric Bernards designed to ensure meaningful and equitable feedback. From there, students revise based on peer feedback.

Students begin to internalize this weekly routine and plan more carefully in the draft stage for the peer review, and build real connections from these interactions, Bernards said. And by showing their work and explaining what they learned, students make their thinking visible to themselves.

DE-EBTs are mutually reinforcing

Several of the examples in the webinar involved peer collaboration, which is another of the eight DE-EBTs outlined on Transform Learning. When a student compares notes with peers or attempts to explain their work to peers, it promotes awareness of their own learning practices.

Another DE-EBT that came up in the webinar was fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion. Jennifer Byall, Mathematics Instructor at Southeast Technical College, teaches an online course, and in the orientation period she has students record “introduce yourself” videos, then schedule a five-minute meeting with her. Building a personal connection with individual students supports metacognition later because it opens lines of communication, allowing Byall to troubleshoot with an individual student when they are struggling.

“I kind of already have a sense about them,” she says. “If in their introduction they’ve talked about how they have kids and are working, I can use that as a bridge to start talking about how they’re going to manage their time this semester.”

Making time for metacognition in college teaching

For Christiana Durón, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Pepperdine University, supporting metacognition meant learning to “underschedule” the disciplinary content during a term. By focusing on key concepts and shedding some ancillary material, Durón created breathing space in the term to slow down, revisit material, or even pause when students need more support.

For example, she now has time to pause when she notices nonverbal cues such as blank expressions or lack of attention. She uses free-response questions requiring written work that asks students to reflect on and identify how they are doing.

Durón also uses scaffolded problems that allow students to retake questions which lowers the felt risk of failure and shifts attention to how they learn. “I want to allow them to be reflective about what they missed rather than be reactive to a letter grade that they got on the exam,” she said.

Planning time for metacognition

One underlying idea from the examples of formative practice from the webinar is that it works well when students have a structured way to act on feedback. Polling helps students compare reasoning with peers. Revision activities help students return to missed work and explain how they are changing it. Instructors make time early in the term to talk with students about study habits and managing time while it can still influence grades. Those examples show faculty building in moments when students pause, name what they understand, identify where their strategy broke down, and decide what to try next.