“Brain Talk” is a specific mentoring strategy designed to help students identify their cognitive “braking points” and develop a deeper awareness of their own thinking processes.
To best uncover a student’s metacognition, the following specific questions could be used during mentors’ conversations with participants:
- “Which exercise was the most frustrating today?”. This question prompts the mentee to reflect on cognitive challenges and emotional responses to difficulty.
- “What happened to your concentration right before you made a mistake?”. This helps students pinpoint the exact moment their focus wavered, allowing them to analyse the internal or external causes of the error.
Beyond these direct “Brain Talk” prompts, several other reflections and strategies can serve to uncover and enhance a student’s metacognitive awareness:
The “Focus Check” Reflections
Following a training session, mentors are encouraged to ask mentees to rate their focus on a scale of 1–10. This is followed by a discussion aimed at uncovering metacognitive insights:
- “What internal or external distractions lowered your score?”
- “How can you mitigate those distractions next time?”
Academic Bridging Questions
Metacognition is also uncovered when students are asked to reflect on how their cognitive gains transfer to academic subjects. Specific prompts include:
- Maths/Science: “Since you’ve been working on Working Memory in BrainHQ, have you noticed it’s easier to hold those multi-step equations in your head?”
- Sports/Music: Mentors can ask students to relate “Visual Sweep” exercises to their ability to spot teammates on a pitch or sight-read music.
- Languages: Students can be asked if they have noticed an improved ability to decode spoken foreign languages due to gains in “Processing Speed”.
Growth Mindset Connections
Finally, a key part of these conversations is framing difficulty as a sign of progress. When a student identifies a level as “hard,” mentors should reinforce the metacognitive realisation that “this is where the most growth happens,” treating the brain as a muscle that is currently being strengthened.
Overload demands on the body are needed to improve physical fitness and this is something that athletes and sports-focussed students are well aware of. This same stimulus effect is needed to develop brain fitness and learning stamina. Effective mentors help participants to reach this training threshold and remain at the training threshold during ENHANCE sessions.
