Metacognition - thinking about your thinking (Y2/3)

Today in maths we went into the learning pit. We were doing our division basic facts at speed to see what our brain did under pressure. We stood at the front of the class in groups of three and Ms Brand gave us timed questions to answer. We were racing each other to answer.

Afterwards, we reflected by ourselves about what our brain was actually doing under all that pressure, and then made meaning as a group. We decided that most of us actually used some strategy to work out our basic facts. Which meant that they weren't actually basic facts that we knew and we needed to practice more.

We used reversibility to solve some tricky 9 times tables. Which meant we made it a 3 step process rather than a 1 step process. For 4 times tables we halved, then halved again.  This is good to know that our brain doesn't just go blank but finds a way around to solve a problem.

Now that we understand what our brain does under pressure in maths, we are hoping to improve how we answer division basic facts questions.