Metacognition: A big word for thinking about thinking. We all do it but we don't necessarily spend the time to analyze what we think about. We make decisions whole day, some good, some bad. Many times we reflect on those decisions and then move on, except when they affect us negatively.

Do children think about their thinking? Sure. But are they seriously thinking about what they do in Maths, Physics, Science or even sport? Do they write notes to themselves? Do they remind themselves of what they did well today and where they could improve? I was doing engineering management and there they taught us to reflect on a blog what we have read. it was stressful but necessary to assess what we know, understand and where we fall short.

Years ago when teaching the STEM subjects, I was an advocate of drawing thick margins on the righthand side of pages in notebooks. That was your headspace. Write in it, doodle in it, "kattekrap" if you must-but these were reminders to yourself. Was it practiced by learners? I doubt it.

I'm an advocate for recycled paper for STEM subjects, or what we called scrap paper. In the old days this was called, "the back of the cigarette box calculations/writing. All a STEM person requires is a pen, anything to write on, a brain and a problem. Write notes to yourself.

I'm also an advocate of walking while thinking or is it the other way round? Not sure. I do my best thinking that way or I do driving. I remember in my student years walking up and down my grandma's stoep, talking to myself, gesturing calculations in the air. These days I think whle walking my dogs. My younger son did something similar, walking around a large table frequently, either listening to lectures or watching notes he made to himself. He doesn't talk though and uses electronics. I don't.

This morning my younger son and I chatted about metacognition, and Maths. Maths is taught too mechanically-I admit I do it the same way. What time is not spent on is how we think about Maths problems? How did we solve them? Which methods were used? Do they work? Will they work all the time? Did I understand the problem properly? What if I didn't? What do I do about it? How do I find a way/method to solve problems and apply them to any other problem?

In any case. I'm writing this not to myself to remind myself that I must practice what I preach. In my case I should be using electronics more productively. When I think about thinking, I should note it via Whatsapp or Copilot. How things have changed. Also, I usually don't walk with any mobile devices-but this needs to change. The overriding idea is to think about thinking.