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Extra Use of Calculator/Math Table

Tags

Study Skills & Tools All Ages Strategy

Skills

Working Memory Processing Speed Spatial Perception

Extra Use of Calculator/Math Table

If your student is still struggling with automaticity of math facts and you are moving on to harder lessons

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students who do not have automaticity with foundational math facts will use a calculator or math table as a tool, at relevant times, so they can put their energy toward understanding and mastering new, higher order math concepts.
  2. Teacher Takeaways: a) Students with weaker working memory, processing speed or spatial perception could easily experience difficulty in learning new concepts if they are spending more time and effort than their peers handling basic math calculations. b) While it is essential that all students develop automaticity with math facts, when teaching new concepts allow these students more leeway to use a calculator or math facts table so they can focus their mental energy on understanding the new material, rather than the more rote math calculations. c) Separately, make sure to give these students extra practice to build automaticity with math facts.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

Every student has a maximum cognitive load that they can handle at any given moment in time. If a student needs to use mental energy to handle basic math that other students can do effortlessly, they will not have as much energy to spend on learning and applying new concepts. In addition, if they are anxious about their ability to do the rote calculations, that will also exhaust mental energy that can be better used for building higher order problem solving skills.