Voices from the Classroom: Thinking aloud to support pupils’ mathematical problem-solving

Recommendation 3 of the EEF’s ​‘Improving Maths at Key Stages 2 and 3’ guidance report highlights that, to help pupils develop problem-solving skills, we need to explicitly teach metacognitive strategies such as the ​‘Think Aloud’. 

​During a ​‘Think Aloud’, teachers narrate their thought processes to demonstrate how they – as ​‘expert’ learners – approach a problem. This provides clear models of how and why we select particular problem-solving approaches, making these invisible processes and decisions visible and accessible to pupils.

We asked Emma Barker – Year 6 teacher, maths lead, and assistant headteacher at Amberley Primary School – to talk to us about how she uses the ​‘Think Aloud’ approach to model her thinking. Emma highlights the importance of showing learners why she makes particular decisions so that, over time, pupils can build a bank of ideas which they can use in their own independent problem-solving.

We hope this latest ​‘Voices from the Classroom’ video helps colleagues to consider how they can model metacognitive thinking to support learners in their own classroom practice.