TEACHING MATHEMATICS Using retrieval practice in a Mathematics classroom By Katie Jackson, Mathematics Teacher We all have a preconceived idea as to what a Mathematics classroom should look like. When we were at school, we were taught Maths by block practice. We learned the concept in class, practiced from a textbook and probably had a topic test at the end of that learning episode – let’s take the example of learning fractions. You would probably be taught to add in one lesson, in the next to subtract, then on to multiplying before a few more lessons on dividing fractions.
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locked practice is important for students when they learn a new concept or skill. Many students easily understand the work and complete the practice with few problems. They mistakenly think they can solve any problem. For example, if students are learning about finding sides in a right-angled triangle using Pythagoras’ theorem, they have a lot of success in block practice as the cue is that all questions in the lesson relate to Pythagoras’ Theorem. These students feel they have mastered the topic but fail to recognise Pythagoras’ Theorem when sitting a test of many mixed-up topics. This is because the cue of knowing what to do in advance is missing. A test may include many different types of triangles and being able to find area, a side in a right-angled triangle or a side in a non-rightangled triangle. This combination of questions means that the cues
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Illuminate EDITION 4 2020
are missing and the students do not know which method to use. When it comes time for the test, students and teachers mistakenly believe students have mastered the work but the results are often disappointing. This can be a case of students’ grasping the work at the time because of cues from the lesson, which can be classified as performance, but it does not mean they have stored the information into long-term memory and thus the learning has been forgotten. WHAT IS INTERLEAVING? Educational scientists have found that blocked practice is initially useful in learning new concepts, but it is not the best way to retain that understanding. The best way to interrupt a cycle of disappointing results in Mathematics is to use interleaved practice, which forces students to choose an appropriate
strategy to solve a problem and helps them to store the information in long term memory. Interleaving is working on mixed Maths topics where the student must firstly identify which concept of Mathematics is relevant and then choose the appropriate strategy to solve the problem. This strategy has been shown to help students not only retain information, but it also helps them to apply their learning to different contexts. This strategy is particularly useful in Mathematics where students have to use their skills for problem solving. One way of using interleaving in the classroom is to set some homework each week that is not based on the current topic under study – but has previous Mathematical ideas in another order. This forces students to think deeply and to come back to previous learning, effectively interrupting the cycle of forgetting.
Pymble Ladies’ College
