CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A researcher at the University of Illinois is counting on a unique computer program to make it easier and more enjoyable for elementary school students who are at risk of academic failure to learn basic addition and subtraction facts.
Traditional instruction often relies on rote memorization to teach children basic mathematics - a process that can be monotonous for students, and inefficient, ineffective and frustrating for teachers and students alike, according to Arthur Baroody, a professor emeritus in the department of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education at the U. of I. Baroody has developed Number Sense, a computer program that builds on children's natural tendency to seek out patterns and relations and enables them to learn reasoning strategies that, with practice, can be applied efficiently, even to new, previously unpracticed addition or subtraction facts.
"Everyone agrees that kids need to learn the basic facts, but there's far less agreement among educators about how this can best be accomplished," Baroody said. "Many drill and practice programs have been developed to help kids memorize the basic combinations by rote. The theory is that if children hear or practice 9 plus 7 equals 16 repeatedly, they'll eventually just remember it.
However, that approach makes memorizing the combinations much harder for the children than it has to be. If we take advantage of myriad patterns and relationships in the number facts and build on what the child already knows to help them create reasoning strategies, the child can be proficient with math much more quickly."
Most kindergarteners know the counting sequence well enough to readily indicate that the number that comes after 7 is 8, yet many children can't readily specify that 7 plus 1 is 8, and they either count to determine the sum, guess or don't respond, Baroody said.
"However, once children connect with their existing knowledge that adding 1 results in the next number in the counting sequence, they can reason out any adding-1 combination, including those they've never practiced before," Baroody said. "As children practice this reasoning strategy, it eventually becomes automatic and they can figure out any add-1 sum very efficiently."
Likewise, adding 8 or 9 to another number is "notoriously difficult for children to solve," Baroody said, but a Number Sense technique teaches them how to think about such problems as easier 10+n and subtract-1 problems: for example, if 10+7=17, then 9+7 is 1 less than 17, which is 16.
Baroody developed the software over the past seven years with funding from the U.S. Dept. of Education and with the participation of students and teachers from several elementary schools in the Champaign-Urbana area. This year, first graders at Champaign's Carrie Busey and Stratton elementary schools and Prairie and Thomas Paine elementary schools in Urbana are participating in the program. Participating students meet with Number Sense instructors for two 30-minute sessions of individualized training each week.
The project involves a preliminary assessment of each child's mastery of basic addition facts, one-on-one or one-on-two training on the developmental prerequisites for mental addition and computer-assisted training on mental addition. Follow-up assessments of each participant along with the curriculum, instructional activities and assessment tools developed during the project will be shared with participating teachers and school administrators at the end of the program.
The project is in the fourth year of a five-year grant from the Department of Education. Baroody said he hopes to obtain another multi-year grant when the current one expires so that he can test the software nationwide and put it on the market shortly thereafter.