SUMMARY OF QUESTION 2 FROM THE SUPPLEMENTAL COURSE EVALUTION

The course was far less successful in encouraging students to consciously monitor their thinking which is essential to using their resources more efficiently. More than one student admitted to not understanding what it meant to "monitor their thinking." Others suggested things they did but these may be more accurately described as general heuristic principles than metacognition. However, a couple of students do articulate aspects of this skill. It was intended that students would submit annotated problems in which they explained how that found the path to a solution but this requirement was the most resisted by the students. A few students cooperated during the first few weeks of the class while most demurred. Even those students who turned in annotated work indicated that they found this the most difficult part of working on a problem.

"I'm not sure what is meant by monitoring my thinking but I did learn about watching my train of thought."

"I definitely learned to take my time on a problem, to try many different methods to solve the problem, to come back to problems, to not let my frustration get in the way of doing the problem as well as to realize that I can do he problem and that every problem is worth trying on."

"Yes I learned that even if a problem looks to complicated at first that by looking at smaller examples first or breaking the problem down the problem becomes easier to solve."

"Before this class if a solution to a problem was not immediately apparent, I did not know where to begin. This class helped me to first find what I need to solve and than find clues in the problem that suggest a particular approach. I also learned to try several different approaches, to not give up when initial attempts seem to fail. I learned to reduce a difficult problem into simple sample cases or an easy problem. I also discovered new ways to do simple procedures (such as counting) which made solutions apparent or a pattern more recognizable."

"I'm not sure what is meant by 'monitoring' but when working on a problem I would first completely clarify each word such as 'what was being asked' and then think about which strategies we were introduced to or already knew in order to attempt to solve the problem."

"Just to make sure that I look at every approach."

"Yes, I do think I have learned something useful about monitoring my thinking when working on a problem. I believe that I became more skilled at 'standing back' and watching my progress. In effect, having part of my mind function as an objective editor, making sure I stayed focused on the goal. This is important because I believe I have a tendency to lose focus and therefore stray from my goal."

"I learned to be a bit more open and willing to try completely different approaches. It's very easy to get stuck in a though pattern, and now I find it easier to wipe the slate clean and begin again and learned to give all ideas a try no matter how unlikely it may appear."

"Yes, especially how to restructure my approach to a problem. This really helped me to figure one particular problem that none of my friends were able to by restructuring the approach."