The Goal of Modern Day Math Classrooms

The goal of modern day math classrooms is to equip students to solve everyday math problems.

Importance of Core Numeracy Skills

There are lots of approaches to developing problem-solving skills. But without a foundation of numeracy, students won’t be able to reach their full problem-solving potential. Good problem-solving is dependent on core numeracy skills.

Numerical Fluency and Its Impact

In some ways, numerical fluency is like reading fluency. Both are building blocks. Reading fluency – being able to decode words – impacts reading comprehension. Many language arts teachers have observed that students with poor phonetic decoding and sight word recognition skills read so slowly that they are unable to understand the very sentence they just read.

Poor numerical fluency has the same negative effect in mathematics. When a child’s numerical ability is lacking, they struggle to solve multi-part math problems. Numerical fluency is the ability to work fluidly with numbers in a variety of mathematical situations. Kids competent with numeracy can hold a multi-part problem in their working memory, use their skills to resolve each part, and solve the problem as a whole.

Solving Multi-Step Problems

Numerate students are capable of solving multi-step math problems – and importantly – evaluating the reasonableness of the solution. For example:

Joseph saves pictures in a 4 page photo album. He has 102 pictures in the album – 28 pictures on the first page, and 23 pictures on each of the last two pages. How many pictures are on the second page of Joseph’s photo album?

The numeracy math skills needed to solve this problem are:

  • The ability to double (or multiply by 2) – 23 x 2 = 46
  • Summing two two-digit numbers with carrying: 46 + 28 = 74
  • Subtracting with regrouping: 102 – 74 = 28
  • Evaluating the reasonableness of the solution (adding them all together to verify they sum to 102).

If your students struggle with one of these skills, they’ll be incapable – or extremely slow – to solve the problem as a whole. Most tests these days are timed – so speed matters.

Reinforcing Core Numeracy Skills

So what’s a school to do? Be sure to put a little time into reinforcing the core numeracy skills that your students will need to draw upon to solve the problems they tackle in class. A little investment in numeracy goes a long way.

Learning from Games and Feedback

Measurement is prevalent in the classroom. Unfortunately, the feedback can take a long time for students to receive. It can take time before a paper is returned, a test is graded, or your average grade for the quarter is given. What we can learn from the games we play is that the faster the feedback, the easier it is to attribute that feedback to a behavior. Formative Loop is a daily math practice. Each day we see our students getting the feedback as to whether they have passed to the next level.

Points System in Formative Loop

Learning from games, we have added a new points system to Formative Loop. This system gives students points for practicing their math skills (5 points) and even more for making progress (10 points when they master a skill). Each day, students will see their total points earned on the top of their practice paper.

Educators then build real-world reward programs off of these points. Having a large array of options is beneficial to the students. Here’s some typical items in the reward system:

  • 100 points – large reward (trip to the treasure box, lunch with the teacher, Hershey kiss from the principal)
  • 50 points – medium reward (line leader, shoes off day, bring a toy from home)
  • 25 points – small reward (get a sticker, choose the story to be read, choose your seat)

Encouragement in Practice

You may ask why we give points even when students don’t master a skill. The reason is, we want the students to feel encouragement even for trying. This is a daily practice, not the final exam. The more engaged in practice our students are, the better the overall outcome will be.

Subtraction Facts

Kids learn single digit addition and multiplication facts quickly due to the commutative property of mathematics. Not true with subtraction facts: subtraction facts are kids’ main adversary.

A Method for Learning Subtraction

Is there a method to help kids to quickly learn many of their subtraction facts? Yes. There is! Students must learn single digit from single digit subtraction facts, but there is a method that is very helpful when subtracting a single digit number from a double digit number.

New Feature: Achievement Certificates

We wanted to make you all aware of a new feature we released this week: Achievement Certificates. When a student progresses through a skill level, we will automatically include a printed certificate you can use to recognize their achievement.

When the feature is enabled, you will also find a new menu item under Manage Students -> View Achievements. This allows you to create a certificate at any time.

We hope your students are motivated by the new feature! Please share any feedback you have!