How do most teachers teach the basic facts?

Edward C. Rathmell
University of Northern Iowa

Teachers usually supplement the textbook with good manipulative activities during the initial textbook lessons. This helps students learn to directly model the operation. Then, typical teachers begin using the practice pages that are provided in the textbook.

After using many of these practice pages, some teachers begin using timed tests. Unfortunately, the students do not have any way to quickly figure out how to solve the harder problems that they have not yet memorized. They are forced to guess, skip problems, or count all. Counting all takes too much time for students to use it and still be successful on timed tests. Many teachers continue to use a combination of practice pages and timed tests for the next several years. Despite the fact that teachers drill students for hours on end through all the elementary school years, nearly half of all adults still count on their fingers to solve addition and subtraction facts above ten.

In contrast, many of the teachers who use manipulative programs do not believe in using timed tests. They believe that timed tests put too much stress on children. They continue to encourage children to use counters to model the problems. This is meaningful to the students, but does not promote new levels of thinking. They often continue to count their fingers into adulthood.

Neither of these approaches is successful with many students. With traditional methods of drill and practice, some students memorize the basic facts rotely, often forget them, and are not able to use their knowledge in new problem situations. With manipulative programs that do not promote the development of thinking strategies, students often use counting far too long.

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