Metacognition in primary school: using digital rubric to promote thinking and learning

Research about metacognition and its implications for learning and instruction have become a central issue in education. The call for teaching metacognitive skills is considered one of the main implications for instruction that has emerged from over three decades of research about how people learn. A method to promote the development of metacognition in pupils is to ask them to assess their own work. Pupils who assess their own work will spot areas that need improvement. A rubric is a scoring tool that lays out specific expectations. Moreover this assessment tool conveys effective feedback and promotes student learning and self-assessment. Few of the existing research efforts have focused on the ways in which rubrics can serve the purposes of learning and thinking as well as they meet the demands of evaluation and accountability. This article examines the concept of metacognition and its development in primary school pupils. It analyzes the relationship between writing and metacognition and focuses on the teachers’ role in the enhancement of metacognitive strategies of primary school pupils through writing. In particular, it focuses on how through planning and using digital rubrics it is possible simultaneously to promote students’ writing skills, to develop self-assessment and, therefore, to develop metacognition.