Reply to 4th grade math - speed drills??

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Reply to "4th grade math - speed drills??"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Have you looked into tutoring for your daughter? MCPS provides some options for free.

Then on the private side, there's Mathnasium, Kumon, etc.[/quote]

My daughter does not NEED tutoring.  She knows her math facts and understands the material just fine, if anything she is advanced in math - she's just got slow processing.  Rote memorization is not required for math fact fluency, and speed drills are not an effective way to teach - math anxiety actually *worsens* working memory, processing, and problem solving. [/quote]
Being able to access math facts quickly from memory is important. While some educators advocate for fluency through conceptual understanding, this is an inefficient type of fluency; ie, if a student doesn't know what 6x6 is, they should think what 6x5 is and add 6. While kids can get the right answer this way, it is slow and requires using working memory which means there is less limited working memory available for other tasks; when facts are pulled from long-term memory, working memory is not taxed. This is the basis for cognitive load theory. When kids hit algebra and above, having to calculate math facts when factoring would be painful. That's why fluency through automaticity/memorization is important. Echoing what other posters have said, speed is also important when kids hit timed tests later unless they have accommodation.[/quote]

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