What are the most effective classroom practices based on research results and classroom experiences?

Edward C. Rathmell
University of Northern Iowa

Based on many years of classroom experiences, and on the results of research, a curriculum that includes the following has proven to be very effective.

First, provide word problems with a variety of structures to help children understand the meaning of the operation. This helps children learn to directly model the operation and to understand when that operation can be used in everyday problem situations.

Second, provide experiences that promote new thinking strategies. This helps children learn efficient ways to solve the harder basic facts and mentally compute answers to problems with larger numbers.

Third, provide students opportunities to practice the new thinking strategies as needed. Some students may not need much practice; others can benefit from it because that practice speeds up their ability to use the new thinking. Before long, the students are able to use the new thinking to solve fact problems very quickly. Furthermore, they are capable of solving many problems with larger numbers using the same thinking.

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