Will
engaging students in activities designed to increase fact fluency for math help
their overall performance?
Needs
Assessment
I
used our math assessments and multiplication tests to determine that due to
students’ lack of fact fluency of multiplication facts, they were unsuccessful
on math tests that were timed. I also found that this lack of knowledge left to
guessing and frustration for the students.
Many students were spending countless minutes in the margin of their
paper counting up by multiplies of 7 to figure out what 7x8 was. Often times
they missed one count and ended up getting the problem wrong. When it came to
bigger problems such as 156x12, I often found they guessed or gave up
completely and circled an answer. This seemed like a big problem to me that
could be simply solved by going back to the way I learned my multiplication
facts, memorization.
Objectives
and Vision
My
vision is that I will empower students to find math easier and less frustrating
to do. I want to eliminate the missed problems due to missing multiplication
facts and the amount of time students were spending trying to solve basic facts
in order to solve higher level algebra equations or geometry problems.
Review
of the Literature and Action Research Strategy
Margaret
Groves, M.Phil., M.Ed. ELS. (2012). The
Benefits of Memorizing Math Facts. Retrieved from
http://www.quickreckoning.com/math_research.htm
David
Ginsburg. (2012). Procedural Fluency: More Than Memorizing Math Facts.
Retrieved from
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coach_gs_teaching_tips/2012/07/procedural_fluency_more_than_memorization.html
Articulate the Vision
I
communicated the vision and goal of my action research project to my students,
campus math teachers and my department head.
When presenting my ideas and activities to strengthen fact fluency, I
stressed the importance of the goal that the students experience success in
math and not be frustrated by it. If something as simple as memorizing math
facts can lead to that then we need to try. I was met with great enthusiasm and
support.
Manage
the Organization
To
manage my project, I left the responsibility solely on myself. My project was
only used in my classroom for this year. My advisor asked that I only research
my 4th period class as this is a longer class due to lunch being during this
period. I had twenty minutes daily to implement the project. I tested them
every 3 weeks with a timed mad minutes test over multiplication. I charted
their progress using a spreadsheet. I had various games set up that we used
different days. It was not a strict regime of what to use and I allowed the
students to choose which activity they would use on Fridays.
Manage
Operations
I
will use data to lead this project. Our data will clearly show that something
needs to be done to improve math skills. Together with the math department, we
will show the need of such a program to our staff. Our hope is that they will
be excited to have a program that could lead to an improvement in student
motivation.
Respond
to Community Interest and Needs
The
project allowed for children who have switched schools often or been in out of
school, common on our campus, with huge gaps in their math learning catch up.
They were able to be successful and enjoyed playing the math games while
learning at the same time. The more apathetic learners enjoyed themselves by
using online math games, cards and dice.
