Your student is falling behind in math
There are many reasons why a student might be struggling with a topic, and therefore many paths to helping them. To handle them, it makes sense to take a step back and explore your options.
Complex problems are often vague and have many possible solutions. The Meta-Problem Method may lead you far away from the dilemma that started your quest. That’s because the method forces you to clarify what you really want and what you are willing to give up. It enables you to compare objectively the possible pathways and their trade offs. It prevents you locking into solutions mode too early and then doubling down on solving a low-yield problem that does not serve your goals as well as the alternatives. At the end of this process, you will have a better understanding of your priorities and how to achieve them.
Steps in the Meta-Problem Method
Dilemma
The high-level issue you are trying to address
Make math accessible for every student.
Goal
The changes you want to make to address the dilemma. There are usually many options.
Supporting goals
- Improve their test scores.
- Improve their math fluency.
Other goals could include reducing their math anxiety, improving their homework completion, or identifying learning differences that impact their success.
Problem Space
The set of problems you could chose to solve to advance your goals, plus the constraints that hold you back.
Example Problems
- How could we help the student improve their test scores? Maybe the problem to solve is “How can we increase their test-taking skills?”
- How could we help the student improve their math fluency? Maybe the problem to solve is “Which earlier concepts did they not understand well enough to ensure mastery?”
There are many other potential problems to solve related to making math accessible for every student. Each goal has many possible problems we could link to it. Are there other problems linked to these first two goals? Which options come to mind for the other goals?
High-Yield Problems
Sometimes solving one problem helps make progress towards several goals. In this step, we identify these “two-for-the-price-of-one” problems.
Which options will advance more than one goal?
- Introducing a lesson on test-taking strategy could help students improve their test scores and may reduce their anxiety. However, it would not increase their fluency or other non-test related goals.
- Conducting an assessment to identify any holes in their knowledge and then filling those gaps will improve their math fluency and may reduce their math anxiety. However, if the problem is their test-taking skills, they may not improve their test scores.
There are many potential solutions that will have varying effects on the set of goals. Which alternatives improve the most important goals? How might the unknown change the right path forward? What other possible solutions are there to address the dilemma?
Problem Selection
Which of the many possible options in the high-yield problem step is the best set to address the dilemma?
- Which solutions make the most sense as an educator?
- Which solutions will best address the dilemma?
- Which solutions will deliver the best outcome for the least amount of time, effort and money?
Implement, Learn and Adapt
Check continuously that you are still solving the best problem, as new information emerges.
Observe and learn as you go. As new information reveals itself, check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem.