📷 Photo Story: I took this photo in the heart of the Langjökull Glacier in Iceland. It is Iceland’s second largest glacier. Like walking through this glacier tunnel, meta-thinking reveals new layers the further you go, turning an initial view into a deeper, more informed understanding of the problem.
Meta-thinking is the goal that ties everything together in the Tide Pool approach. The environment and the learning journey were both designed to make this kind of deeper thinking possible. Even with these supports in place, students still need to learn how to question assumptions, reframe problems, and decide what really needs to be solved.
This chapter explains how these design choices work together to make meta-thinking an expected part of their work, pushing them beyond surface-level answers and helping them practice questioning and refining their ideas.
- Framing and Reframing: I learned early on that clients often approach us with a pre-framed problem statement. However, a core tenet of meta-thinking is the ability to frame and reframe. My initial meetings with clients are dedicated to helping them shape their problem statements beyond a single discipline, encouraging a more comprehensive business model perspective. Within the classroom, I constantly challenge students to ask "Why is this the problem?" and "Is there another way to see this?". The iterative nature of the course, with its distinct ideation and validation phases, naturally encourages this. Students generate initial ideas, then critically test them with actual customers and partners, quickly realizing that many of their initial assumptions "may not hold true". This necessitates pivots and adjustments, forcing them to re-evaluate their initial frames and embrace the idea that "the market ultimately holds the final judgment". This process moves them beyond simply delivering a piece of work to truly understanding what problem they are trying to solve. A student reflection captures this shift in action:
“Early in our capstone, my team fell into a single‑loop trap: we leaned heavily on classroom models to process the client's interview information, believing that a "silver‑bullet" framework would deliver a neat solution. We ended up getting stuck in the exploratory process. Yet Singapore's food‑and‑beverage (F&B) landscape…proved too complex for purely analytical tools. We were being unrealistic and too analytical with our expectations. Finally, we resolved this dilemma when one of our team members suggested reframing the problem from a psychological perspective. Switching our perspective led us to apply double-loop learning by questioning if the frameworks had already considered the qualitative needs of the market.” - Extract from student reflection from class of Jan 2025
- Detecting Gaps in Reasoning: This capability involves a critical evaluation of inputs. I actively push students to "debunk our 'beliefs' with actual facts and evidence". For instance, I use sanitised past client projects as case studies, presenting scenarios where a seemingly "good idea," might have flaws due to implicit bias. By discussing these examples, students learn to view things from a wider perspective and resist the urge to jump to solutions too quickly. My role as a facilitator means I don't provide answers; instead, I probe them to explain their thought process. This constant questioning forces them to identify and address weaknesses in their own reasoning and assumptions.
- Designing Questions that Reveal What is Missing or Misdirected: Meta-thinking is fundamentally about asking the right questions. In the initial stages of client engagement, when students are seeking clarification, I oversee their Q&A process through a shared Google Sheet. This allows me to give them feedback on the nature and quality of questions asked. It guides them towards formulating questions that truly uncover missing information or redirect their focus to more critical areas.
- Reflection as a Catalyst for Mindset Shift: To ensure that these deeper thinking capabilities truly "stick," I've integrated a mandatory, graded reflection process at the end of each class session. Students respond to a set of questions on Padlet, reflecting on new knowledge gained, mindset shifts experienced, and key frameworks. This collective, visible reflection fosters peer learning, as students can see and extract value from each other's insights. Crucially, it makes the transformation tangible. By Week 5, for example, I pose a specific question: "How has today's lesson changed the way you think about your approach in managing this project?". It’s fascinating to observe students who initially saw "no hope" for a client's business or felt it was "beyond recovery" begin to express mindset shifts in their reflections, exploring fresh possibilities and alternative approaches. This deliberate structuring of "aha" moments helps cement the learning, transforming abstract concepts into concrete, personal insights.
This continuous cycle of questioning, challenging, and reflecting is how "The Tide Pool" cultivates true meta-thinking, preparing students not just to solve problems, but to critically define them in a rapidly evolving world.
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