Should U.S. students be doing more math practice and drilling in their classrooms? That’s the suggestion from last week’s most emailed New York Times op-ed. The op-ed’s author argued that more practice and drilling could help narrow math achievement gaps. These gaps occur in the U.S. by the primary grades.
Yet others worry that more math practice and drilling will stifle creativity. They argue that routine practice and drill interferes with understanding underlying mathematical concepts. Instead, young students should acquire a good understanding of mathematics concepts before being given practice opportunities to become procedurally fluent.
Yet increasingly there are good reasons to believe that more math practice and drilling would help U.S. students do better in math, particularly those who are already struggling in elementary school.
So, should U.S. students do more math practice and drilling in their classrooms? At least to an extent, and particularly for elementary school students who are already struggling. Doing so in ways that are brief, fast-paced, and that provide corrective yet supportive feedback should result in greater procedural fluency and, over time, the conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking skills that we want all students to have.
Excerpts from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/children-who-struggle/201808/should-us-students-do-more-math-practice-and-drilling
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