How The Mental Edge works. . . and why it works the way it does
The Mental Edge Reviews
The Mental Edge reviews are self-assessing and can be used as remediation tools. However, they are in their simplest form subject reviews that employ a question and answer technique. In that form they reinforce classroom instruction and help prepare students for a wide range of testing scenarios including weekly tests, six-week tests, semester tests, and state and national assessments. They have been successfully used by elementary, junior, middle, and senior high schools nationwide to improve test scores.The Mental Edge is Unique
The learning process and the assessment process are removed in time. Generally, the more important the assessment the further removed from the learning process it is. That is where The Mental Edge comes in. The Mental Edge is specifically designed to facilitate review and reinforcement. It is the quickest, easiest, and most thorough way to bring the things that have been learned back to mind in preparation for assessment and proficiency testing.The Mental Edge Method
The Mental Edge reviews use a question and answer format to provide review and reinforcement of information and principles taught in the classroom. If a student does not know an answer, The Mental Edge gives the answer and the question is asked again later. When students answer a question correctly they simply move on. A chapter is complete when the student answers 100% of the questions correctly. In this manner, students quickly review the things they know and intermittently work on the things they don't know until they get it right. Thereby, they are building confidence in tandem with improving self-esteem.Learning to use The Mental Edge
The Mental Edge® reports only correct answers, therefore, you can learn how to use it as you go without being penalized. After reading the question, select or type in the correct answer. If you don't know the correct answer, you may guess or skip the question. Remember, there is no penalty if you answer a question incorrectly, you will have an opportunity to try again later.Progress Screen
Under normal conditions The Mental Edge® presents questions in sets of ten. When you complete a set of questions, The Mental Edge® will take you to the Progress screen. After checking your progress you can review any missed questions (missed or skipped questions are re-presented) before returning to answer another set of questions. When all (100%) of the questions in a chapter are answered correctly, The Mental Edge® will take you to the Progress screen one more time on your way out of the review.
Managing Student Usage
The Mental Edge uses a manual method to record chapter completion. Doing so is consistent with our goal of improving confidence. The manual method allows students to be recognized for their accomplishments at the time of their success and in the presence of their peers. Additionally, recording progress at chapter completion, the point at which the student has answered all of the questions correctly, insures that only positive reinforcement is offered. Conversely, it is counter productive to record any score, or make any note of progress, before this point is reached.
As students complete a chapter, they get the teacher's or monitor's attention and show them the Progress Screen that indicates they completed the review. The teacher validates their progress and dates and initials the Progress Log. The positive reinforcement and recognition received at this time goes a long way toward building the students self-esteem.
A hard copy Progress Log can be obtained at the link below.
Progress Log PDF
Best Practices
The Mental Edge is the most effective when it is used throughout the year as subjects are covered. In that manner, it provides the same positive stimuli as other study aids. More importantly it will insure that all relevant subject material is covered and proficiency is obtained, a characteristic not found with other methods. An additional benefit of using The Mental Edge throughout the year is that the weekly investment in time is small, generally less that an hour or two.Fill-in-the-blank
The questions that seem to be incomplete are fill-in-the-blank. Just click your mouse inside the rectangle that appears where the answer buttons usually do and type in your answer. Hit enter when you wish to submit the answer.CAPS or no caps
The Mental Edge® was developed to help students retain and recall the material presented to them in the classroom and in their texts. This is done by providing correct information and positive feedback. In all cases when words should be capitalized they are, and when they should not be capitalized they are not. The Mental Edge® will look for proper capitalization in the answers you provide.Answer Format
Math symbols, abbreviations, and normal variation in answer format offered us a special challenge because they vary from teacher to teacher and textbook to textbook. For instance an answer might be written "29 inches" or "twenty-nine inches. " We decided to let the developing teachers use the form they wanted within their review. In most cases the form expected is stated in the chapter description. If it is not, just answer a few questions to see the format used. Remember, there is no penalty if you answer a question incorrectly, you will have an opportunity to try again later.
Multiple Correct Answers
Many questions have more then one correct answer. Where it can, The Mental Edge® counts the most correct as the correct answer. If neither answer is more correct then the other, The Mental Edge® simply chooses one of them to be the correct answer. That doesn't mean your answer was wrong, it just means you didn't choose the same answer we did. Don't worry about it. Just make note of how we answered it and provide that answer the next time the question is asked. Keep in mind this is just a review, it is not a test, and there is no penalty if you answer a question differently from what is expected.Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Skills
Occasionally we will come across an educator that questions the value of using of The Mental Edge® because it doesn't do much to improve a student's problem solving ability or improve their critical thinking skills. That is true. It was not our intent to do so. We feel those activities are best left to the classroom teacher in the classroom environment. However, to those educators we would ask, "If a student does not have a good grasp of the facts, what are they going to do critical thinking about? Moreover, what problem are they going to solve?" One of the challenges we face in the world today is that we have too many people offering solutions to problems for which they have little or no understanding.Best Use of the Web
We are the first to admit that in most cases you might make much better use of your time on the web than using our program. However, there will be a point in time when you have gathered all your facts, completed your projects and need only to prepare for your tests. It is at that time that The Mental Edge® will prove to be the most valuable resource available to you.Textbooks used for Development
The Mental Edge reviews were developed using the textbooks that were adopted at that time by California, New York, Florida, and Texas. The idea being that those states were the major markets and other textbooks would have to conform to their structure in order to compete. To that end, in the many years The Mental Edge has been on the market, we have yet to discover a school district using a curriculum that deviates from what we review. In most cases they only teach a subset of what we cover. That said, we did not keep a record of the textbooks used and can offer no list.Typos and other Anomalies
In order to keep the cost of adapting The Mental Edge® reviews to the web to a minimum, we did the work ourselves, some by hand and some using automated mechanisms. The consequences are that there may be some symbols that didn't get translated properly and there may be a typo or two. We appreciate your indulgence and ask you to inform us of such anomalies and any changes that might be made to improve the reviews. This includes changing a question, eliminating a question, or adding questions and chapters.