Muddiest Point is a quick classroom assessment technique that asks students to identify what was most confusing or unclear in a class session, reading, or assignment. It is especially useful in challenging science and mathematics courses because it normalizes confusion, surfaces specific sticking points, and gives you timely information to guide your next instructional moves.

How It Works

Muddiest Point is typically administered as a very short, anonymous prompt delivered on paper, in Canvas, or through an online form. At the end of class or an activity, you ask students to briefly answer a question such as “What was the muddiest point for you today?” or “Which idea or step in today’s problem-solving process is still unclear?” and then review the responses to identify patterns.

Why Use It

Because Muddiest Point focuses on specific concepts or steps rather than global judgments, it can help students see struggle as part of learning rather than as a sign that they cannot succeed. For instructors, it offers a low-effort way to target follow-up explanations, design additional practice around persistent trouble spots, and signal that persistence and questions are expected in the course.

Example

At the end of a unit on multivariable integration, you might ask students to respond to “What was the muddiest point for you in today’s class on changing variables in triple integrals?” In a lab-based biology course, you could prompt “Which part of today’s data analysis workflow still feels unclear or hardest to apply on your own?” Opening the next class by addressing common muddy points allows you to model strategies for working through confusion and reinforce a growth mindset.

Implementation Tips

• Introduce the activity in class, explain that the goal is to support student learning in a challenging course, and emphasize that you are looking for specific, learning-focused comments rather than global evaluations.
• Give students a few quiet minutes to reflect before writing so that responses are thoughtful rather than rushed.
• After reviewing responses, look for themes, decide on one or two realistic changes or clarifications, and close the loop by sharing with students what you heard and how you plan to respond.

Web Resources

For additional guidance and sample prompts, explore these resources:

• “Growth Mindset in the Higher Education Classroom” (MIT Teaching + Learning Lab)
• “Clearest and Muddiest Point” (Trefny Innovative Instruction Center, Colorado School of Mines)
• “Muddiest Point” (University of Wyoming