PLE 7: Metacognition

In my cohort class, we discussed the significance of communication in helping students understand, value, and apply mathematics.  One strategy that our teacher introduced was Math Talk.  Essentially, this program helps students verbalize their thought process in order to reveal understanding and misunderstanding.  Additionally, it facilitates communication in the classroom as students are encouraged to agree and disagree with their peers.  This allows students to consider other processes of solving a problem, which can boost confidence and increase understanding in problem solving.  By having students verbally explain their thought process and ask questions, teachers avoid reinforcing misconceptions and tap into a student's metacognitive thinking.

This video, developed my Marilyn Burns, demonstrates how Math Talk can be implemented into a first grade math lesson on combining three numbers.  Given three numbers, each child solves the problem and explains her thought process to the class.  Then, the teacher selects another student to repeat how the first child solved the problem.  If the students does not understand how the student arrived at her answer, he or she may ask her to repeat her thought process.  I like this lesson because it encourages students to be aware of their thought process.  On thing that I noticed about this lesson was that it was not rushed.  Students were entitled to disagree or ask questions.  Clearly, the teacher's focus was on having each student fully understand the material.