During my teaching career I taught 7th grade math, from below grade level through two years above grade level. I truly believed each student could learn the math concepts that were being presented, especially at the 7th grade level. So why didn’t all my kids learn? Why didn’t all my kids exceed on standardized tests?
There were many factors of course, but I put them in these categories:
- Lack of Effort (this is the biggest one!)
- Lack of Confidence in themselves (second biggest issue!)
- Lack of Proficiency in fundamentals
However, it wasn’t until I “saw the light” on fluency, that I added a new category:
- Lack of Fluency (which is closely related to fundamentals)
In my previous post, I referenced this statement concerning math fluency:
“Educators and cognitive scientists agree that the ability to recall basic math facts fluently is necessary for students to attain higher-order math skills… If a student constantly has to compute the answers to basic facts, less of that student’s thinking capacity can be devoted to higher level concepts than a student who can effortlessly recall the answers to basic facts.”1 Computational Fluency is part of an essential foundation for more advanced performance.2
As I mentioned, this paragraph changed my view on why fluency is so important.
The sentence made perfect sense to me– “If a student constantly has to compute the answers to basic facts, less of that student’s thinking capacity can be devoted to higher level concepts…”
“Compute” is the key word here, and I compare that to “Recall”. If a student spends so much mental energy on computing 6×8, 9×7, or 3+9+7+1, and etc., then there will be less mental energy to work through word problems or process-oriented calculations such as:
- Operations with Fractions
- Long Division
- Finding Means/Averages
- Word Problems
- Solving Equations
But, if the basic operations and skills are automatic (fluency), then there literally is no mental energy spent on that part of the problem because the values are memorized, and students can devote all of their thought processes to solving longer and more complicated problems. This also leads them to know when a solution is incorrect or (probably) correct, the ability to check their work, and the ability to communicate their thought processes to others.
What else results from this? If students realize that they are ‘getting it’, that builds confidence in themselves. They are more willing to tackle the next math topic, which makes learning easier for them. Which in turn means they are more willing to apply effort.
And that makes it much easier to teach students!
In the next post, I’ll discuss another result of fluency, and how students can go even faster…
1 http://www.scholastic.com/administrator/math/pdf/FM_White_Paper.pdf
2 http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/downloads/other/acad-math/research_math_fluency.pdf
Even through it is for ages 9+ my four year old has been able to play on her own and has rlleay enjoyed the Zoombinis Logical Journey game. It involves thinking logically and is totally different to most of the other software available for children. I also found the game very enjoyable and a challenge at the hardest levels, my four year old plays on the easy level, my seven and six year old are at the second level. The game advances with the child. The child has to successfully complete a path of three games with all 16 zoombinis for a total of four times before the game progresses to the next level so they do not get moved up to quickly. They love making there zoombinis as they can pick the eyes hair feet and nose colour of each zoombini. Some of the puzzles are based on the zoombinis appearence, There eyes hair feet or nose help you decide the bridge/path/seating position etc and no two games are the same. Then there are the games that are not based on the zoombinis features such as deciding what toppings you put on the pizzas so that each of three characters gets the pizza it likes, which path the frogs can take based on colour or leaf shape or pattern on a leaf, which row and colomn you splash mud on that will bounce your zoombinis over the wall. There are a total of nine different games. This game is different from most I have seen in that it requires a different type of thinking. The games are quite different than the ones you find in a lot of other software. This is quite a hard game to describe. For a game that makes a child think and be observant while having fun this is one game that you should have in your childs game collection. It is also a game that will last with your child getting years of use.
Thanks for the heads up! I will check that out!