Page 145 - Keys to College Success

“one must ask questions that stimulate our thought. Questions define tasks, express
problems and delineate issues. . . . only students who have questions are really think-
ing and learning.” 7

Thinking Means Questioning
As you answer questions, you turn information into material that you can use to
achieve goals. A Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Best Innovations Are Those
That Come from Smart Questions” relays the story of a cell biology student, William
Hunter, whose professor told him that “the difference between good science and great
science is the quality of the questions posed.” Now a physician, Dr. Hunter asks ques-
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tions about new ways to use drugs. His risk-taking has helped his company reach the
reward of developing a revolutionary product—a drug-coated mesh used to strengthen
diseased blood vessels. How can you question effectively?

Know why you question. To ask useful questions, you need to know why you are
questioning. Define your purpose by asking: “What am I trying to accomplish, and
why?” For example, if Chanda’s purpose for questioning her life expectancy were to
extend it, that would generate an entirely different set of questions than if she intended
to plan for end-of-life health needs.

Question in different ways. Use questions to:
■ Analyze (“How bad is my money situation?”)
■ Come up with creative ideas (“How can I earn more money?”)
■ Apply practical solutions (“Whom do I talk to about getting a job on campus?”)

Want to question. Knowing why you are questioning also helps you want to think.
“Critical-thinking skills are different from critical thinking dispositions, or a willing-
ness to deploy these skills,” says cognitive psychologist D. Alan Bensley of Frostburg
State University in Maryland. In other words, having the skills isn’t enough—you also
need the willingness to risk using them. Having a clear understanding of your desired
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reward can motivate you to work to achieve it.
5 Metacognition: A Tool for College and Life Success
CHAPTER METACOGNITION Metacognition is the foundation for the kind of self-knowledge and self-management

that enables you to perform higher-level thinking skills. It is essential for sucessful
An awareness and
control of one’s cognitive lifelong learning.
One way to explain metacognition is to call it “thinking about thinking” or “know-
processes and the
regulatory mechanisms 10 ing how you know,” including taking action based on the information you have
learned. When you explore your learning preferences, you are being metacognitive.
used to solve problems.
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When you find a certain note-taking strategy more helpful for information retention
than others and you use it in class, you are being metacognitive. Any time you examine
what your brain is doing and consider how to do it better, you are putting metacogni-
tion to work toward accomplishing a meaningful goal.
This text uses the term thinking skill. Thinking is a skill that can be improved
with focus and effort, much as shooting a basketball, drawing a face, chopping
vegetables, organizing a schedule, or painting a room are improvable skills. Meta-
cognition allows you to figure out how to deploy your skills to get where you want
to go.
As you read and work, keep in mind your sense of where your strengths and
challenges lie in the three thinking skill areas. If you are using the MyStudentSuccess-
Lab, you may also want to complete the My Thinking Styles inventory to get a view of
your thinking skills in terms of the seven styles this inventory evaluates (insightful,
open-minded, timely, analytical, inquisitive, systematic, and truth seeking).

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