The Leviathan Grook.
|  |
| M e t a c o g n i t i o n | |||
One last thing. Every knight has to have a horse. My horse is named Intuet. Metaphorically speaking, Intuet represents intuition and the willingness to jump into any subject matter and fully immerse oneself in it ( intuition + into it = intuet ). As you can tell from the name, it is a fairly whimsical horse, apt to do whatever it wants at anytime it wishes. Where Intuet goes I follow. Intuet concerns himself mostly with subjects that I've developed an interest in. On our first long trip together as horse and knight, he leapfrogged a giant chasm and crossed the borders into the land of psychology, closing the gap between who I am and what I thought I was.  I hope that was an interesting diversion, now back to psychology... I researched several topics during my foray into psychology. It is an ongoing 'project', and probably will never be finished. To explain each of these in detail would take several man hours, and several web-pages, which I am having trouble trying to sustain in the cooling down of my initial fervour ( see my defects ). It was a journey of incredible self-discovery. The search brought me first to Mount MBTI, then down the valley of Attention Deficit Disorder, where I had my first Aha ~! experience in psychology. From the ideas about ADD ( mainly from the Explorer website and the Explorer mailing list ), I proceeded to research giftedness, learning disabilities, mood disorders and creativity. At the end of the journey, I am still as clueless as ever. I've found my way to these topics because the certain descriptions of symptoms and experiences resonate deep in my psyche. Each taken on its own own terms alone seems an inadequate account of my experiences. I could identify with each condition at first in the heat of the Aha ~! moment, but after some time spent on reflection, realised it isn't a snug fit, but definitely not snug enough. Since there is so much Aha ~! type information in each of these research topics, I decided that it would be interesting to see if there are other people with similar experiences who can identify with my indecision. Also, by writing it all out, I hope to be able to see better what the true answer might look like. O b j e c t i v e s This site attempts to put up Aha ~! type links and information about certain subjects in pyschology, as listed below, with a final page devoted to analysis of how (if) they might be correlated... and I believe it is of special interest for those individuals who have been diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder. Mood disorders : cyclothymia, bipolar mood disorders, major depression. I think if you are very familiar with type theory, that you can probably tell that I'm a classic INTP. Hardly any arguements can come to a complete close for me unless about daily mundane decisions. Like all INTPs, the ideas here will still receive attention from time to time, and I will explore and put up leads related to the above as and when Intuet sees something worth investigating. Just check out the Updates Page. Metacognition is very important to me. It is a concept that many ADDers ( Attention Deficit Disordered folks ) are familiar with : "Thinking about thinking." Their discussions with each other center on the differences between how normal people and ADDers see the world. Here's the more groovy definition of the concept. METACOGNITION " Thinking about thinking. " Involves one's knowledge about and control over their own cognitive processing system. Two fundamental aspects of metacognition are typically identified. A. KNOWLEDGE relevant to the way in which individuals process information. Three types can be identified: 1.PERSON KNOWLEDGE or knowledge about the way in which YOU AND OTHER PEOPLE learn and/or process information, such as: a."I learn best when I study in the morning." b."People need feedback on the adequacy of their current understanding if they are to learn effectively." 2.TASK KNOWLEDGE or knowledge about various types of learning tasks, a."It is easier to recognize whether or not something is correct than to recall correctly the same information." 3.STRATEGY KNOWLEDGE or knowledge about the effectiveness of various learning strategies. B. EXECUTIVE CONTROL of one's own learning process. Four types of executive control are usually recognized: 1.PREDICTING such things as how difficult a particular learning task -- e.g., a chapter in the textbook -- the goal toward which one is working, etc. 2.PLANNING what you will do during the learning task, selecting appropriate strategies, etc. 3.MONITORING the learning process, including: a.What you currently know about the material being learned, b.What you don't know but need to know in order to achieve your learning goal, c.The extent to which you are understanding the material you are studying. 4.EVALUATING the results of the various activities listed above. Metacognition is very highly developed in gifted persons, and can be taught to children. Even children of modest intellectual ability will benefit greatly from learning techniques of metacognition, and needless to say, should be of even greater help for people with learning disabilities. How does metacognition work ? Let's get a bit philosophical. Human beings have the ability to distance themselves from themselves. That is, they can be observers of themselves and all that they are accomplishing while it happens. For example, I have a recorder, a cognitive recorder that monitors and notes down all cognitive processes that take place in my brain. This is quite akin to the concept of conscience or subconcious. Studying of psychology, religion and philosophy greatly increases metacognition. This is why philosophy is always useful even if commerically not viable, it teaches a person to think, to be flexible and recognise fallacies. And some people recognise this, and hire philosophy grads because they value this. With the recorded information, one can build a library of heuristics ( another one of my pet interests, heuristics ). Heuristics is almost central to metacognition : Main Entry: heu�ris�tic Pronunciation: hyu-'ris-tik Function: adjective Etymology: German heuristisch, from New Latin heuristicus, from Greek heuriskein to discover; akin to Old Irish fo-f�air he found Date: 1821 : involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods Analysis of the recorded data yields information which a person can arrange and compile into a heuristic. For example, after a successful venture, one may use metacognitive skills to analyse which components of your behaviour were critical to the success. You can then make a note to do the same again in that kind of venture or situation, based on the fact that it worked before, while allowing for variances in the situation, which would call for flexibility and adaptation. This last sentence describes a heuristic, while the sentence before describes one type of metacognition in action. There are many more aspects of metacognition. |
. |
The Razor's Edge Relevant Links posted in this panel...its also my little gallery.
Dark Ages Websites
Darkwoode Brewery Medieval Weapons & Armour Websites Christian Fletcher Medieval Armour Knight Fall ( a punny story i wrote ) He watched the knight come into the valley from atop a high ledge. Pumas are generally not very good at hunting during the daytime, as their prey tend to have very sharp eyes, and spot a big cat like the puma easily, camouflage or not. They might be sleek and stealthy, but the sneakiest of them wouldn't try to bring down a man as well hung as this one, with his metal breast plate, ridiculous helm and other assorted paraphernelia decorating his body. Night fell quickly enough, and the knight set up camp in front of a grassy knoll. He started his fire, and that was when the puma decided to make his move. Running half crouched, he made the distance to the knight with all the stealthiness he could muster, and, finally satisfied that the meal was right where he wanted him, put on a final spurt of speed, expecting to hit the unfortunate man with the full force of his six feet long 250-pound body. Unprecedentedly, he missed, however, and ended up snapping his teeth in mid air where the knight should be. With a snarl, he realised that he had misjudged, and the knight was now bearing upon him with his sword and with a mighty swish just managed to miss the very tip of his tawny tail. He lighted out of there like a cat out of hot water.  Back in his lair, he wondered what had gone wrong, and just before nodding off to sleep, his subconcious supplied him with the answer - The knight is darkest before the lawn. |
|
|
. |
 The author is a member of
|
Member of the Explorer Webstar ~!  . Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate All rights reserved. Copyright � 1998 by Vinc Wong Chee Wai. |  |