Teaching Students with Learning Problems in Math to Acquire, Understand, and Apply Basic Math Facts

Abstract

Students with learning problems (i.e., students with learning disabilities or emotional disabilities and those considered at-risk for school failure) are not making acceptable math progress in the nation's schools. Fortunately, instructional practices exist that help these students achieve in math. Ten instructional components that have research support for promoting math achievement are presented. A math curriculum, the Strategic Math Series, which incorporates the research-based teaching practices, is described. Next, the results from field-testing the Strategic Math Series with 22 teachers are presented. The field-test results indicate that 109 students with learning problems were able to (a) acquire computational skills across facts, (b) solve word problems with and without extraneous information, (c) create word problems involving facts, (d) apply a mnemonic strategy to difficult problems, (e) increase their rate of computation, and (f) generalize math skills across examiners, settings, and tasks. Finally, issues in math instruction are discussed, and the need to include best practices within instructional materials is highlighted.

Effective Programs in Elementary Mathematics: A Best-Evidence Synthesis

“…What is important is that we use what we know now at the same time that we work to improve our knowledge base in the future so that our children receive the most effective mathematics instruction we can give them. Mason & Good (1993) (MMP, two-group and whole-class teaching) Mercer & Miller (1992) ( …”

Building Mathematical Fluency for Students with Disabilities or Students At-Risk for Mathematics Failure

“…Researchers show CRA-SI as a beneficial instructional method for teaching students with diverse backgrounds, students with disabilities such as specific learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and emotional disabilities as well as students who are at-risk for mathematics failure (Butler, Miller, Crehan, Babbitt & Pierce, 2003;Flores, 2009;Peterson, Mercer, O'Shea, 1988;Maccini & Hughes, 2000;Mercer & Miller, 1992;Morin & Miller, 1998;Strozier, Flores, Shippen, & Hinton, 2012;Witzel, Mercer, & Miller, 2003). Research has shown that CRA-SI is effective in building mathematical fluency with place value, addition and subtraction of numbers, multiplication, regrouping, fractions, integers and algebra (Bulter et al, 2003, Flores, 2010Peterson et al, 1988;Maccini & Hughes, 2000;Mercer & Miller, 1992;Morin & Miller, 1998;Strozier et al, 2012;Witzel et al, 2003).…”

“…Research has shown that CRA-SI is effective in building mathematical fluency with place value, addition and subtraction of numbers, multiplication, regrouping, fractions, integers and algebra (Bulter et al, 2003, Flores, 2010Peterson et al, 1988;Maccini & Hughes, 2000;Mercer & Miller, 1992;Morin & Miller, 1998;Strozier et al, 2012;Witzel et al, 2003). A summary of the research studies chronicled by date is provided in Table 1.…”

“…In CRA-SI, the strategy usually involves a mnemonic that helps students remember the steps or procedures in solving the mathematical problems (Flores, 2009;Kaffer & Miller, 2011;Miller, 2009). Mnemonics used as a strategy in CRA-SI are DRAW, RENAME, FASTDRAW, STAR, and SUMLOW (Flores, 2010;Harris, Miller, & Mercer, 1995;Kaffar & Miller, 2011;Maccini & Hughes, 2000;Mercer & Miller, 1992;Strozier, Flores, Shippen, & Hinton, 2012;Witzel, Mercer, & Miller, 2003). These strategies will be discussed in more depth later in the manuscript.…”

Helping a Special Needs Student Learn Place Value in the Hundreds

“…Mercer and Miller [19] used ten lessons. The concrete manipulatives were used in Lessons 1-3, the representational phase was used in Lessons 4-6.…”