Metacognition -- Thinking About Thinking

You have to know what you don't know!

Asking learners thoughtful questions, providing guidance and giving feedback (rather than answers) raises awareness of thinking processes and helps students to categorize challenges into Easy / Medium / Hard.

For example, out of 10 questions, 5 may be easy, 2 medium and 3 hard -- when the student recognizes the type of problem and the difficulty level, effort can be expended strategically. Multiple choice questions are excellent workouts for metacognition as learners work on why the right answer is right, why the incorrect answers are incorrect and what could go wrong to make them choose a "good wrong answer". Some content areas especially suited for "good wrong answers" are exponent rules, fractions, pictographs, perimeter vs area.

Much of the research for this metholodology was conducted informally at Stuyvesant High School, the L.C. Smith College of Engineering at Syracuse University, later as an MBA student at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and over the last 8.5 years working one-on-one and in the classroom to help people build Math Confidence.



Assessments Based on Content but Built for Detail, Accuracy and Stamina

Multiple Choice Physics (points taken off for guessing) -- the question in mph, answer in meters/sec...
Matching Answers Statics and Dynamics -- 36 answers for 25 questions -- computed generated in 1982...
Circuit Theory 1 and 2 -- untimed exams at night starting at 8 PM and on into the night




This process enables the student to maximize potential for peak performance under intense conditions (exams) and contributes positively to their overall academic and emotional well-being.

New Year's Riddle courtesy of Math Notations

"What do you call solving an equation twice on Jan 1st?"We had three "first responders" so I will close the contest down now and announce our winners in the order in which I rec'd their email solutions. By the way the answer can be found "hidden" near the bottom of this post! And the winners are...
SEAN HENDERSON (and his wife!)
JUSTIN TOLENTINO
ROBIN SCHWARTZ











A New Year's Re-Solution