Multiplication Fluency : Multiplication Fluency By
Irosha Pathirage
Description of the School : Description of the School The school was located in a working class neighborhood
Pre-kindergarten to fifth grade are offered by this school
The student population was made up of 469 students and 27 teachers
Among the students, eighty percent qualified for free lunch
Characteristics of Study Participants : Characteristics of Study Participants The classroom consisted of 26 students
15 Regular students
9 ESL students
2 Special Education Students
The Problem : The Problem Staten Island fifth graders were struggling with multiplication facts
Unable to solve complex math problems
Lack of motivation at home and in school
Research Questions : Research Questions Will multiplication rap music and online websites, such as www.coolmath4kids.com, http://mrsdell.org, and www.multiplication.com help students to improve their knowledge of multiplication tables?
What effect will multiplication rap music and online websites have in children's ability to solve complex math problems?
Research : Research “Basic multiplication facts are considered to be foundational for further advancement in mathematics” -Evans & Wong (2007)
“In practice, the students continually worked harder to earn increasingly faster reaction times, despite the 3 second criterion, and the majority of the students were responding to multiplication facts within one or two seconds per problem”
-Wittman, & Marcinkiewicz(1998)
Literature Review : Literature Review I was able to find 25 articles that had a positive effect on students’ learning multiplication facts using computers and music.
After analyzing all the articles, the theme of each of them to improve multiplication fluency was practice. Whether it was done using computers or worksheets, and other resources and with or without teacher intervention, practice helped students learn multiplication facts.
Data Sources : Data Sources
Music and Web Sites : Music and Web Sites
Data Analysis : Data Analysis Will “Rock N Learn” multiplication rap music and online websites (www.coolmath4kids.com , http://mrsdell.org, and www.multiplication.com) help me to improve students’ knowledge of multiplication tables?
by the third day of listening to multiplication rap music most of the students recited multiplication facts along with the rap music tape
students were able to apply their knowledge of the multiplication facts to the new multiplication facts that they were listening to
the students competed against the Rap Music tape by trying to sing the answer prior to the tape (i.e. JH was trying to compete with the tape by singing “Nine times six is sixty three” and then said “oh…no it’s fifty four”)
the ELL students were not interested in rap music and they were caught doing other things during the time of the study.
The students showed a more positive attitude toward the interactive websites as they all played cooperatively with their partners
The first day of the implementation of online based multiplication games, one of the special education students (ED) who rarely engages in any classroom activities was enjoying and participating with his partner RE ED and RE successfully completed the two times tables interactive game and received a score of ten out of ten
Data Analysis : Data Analysis Sometimes the students figured out the answers to their online games as a group. Sometimes, the partner gave answers to specific questions
students were competing with the computer and each other to answer each question accurately
EB, MD, JH, SP, KD and few other students were rapping the multiplication facts to find an answer to questions posed in the interactive online games
2. What effect does the implementation of technology have in children's ability to solve complex math problems?
During the implementation of the web games, the students were able to grasp the relationship between multiplication and addition, multiplication and division, and multiplication and fractions to complete in class math problems and homework
16/20 (61%) students received scores of threes and fours on their unit six test
Majority of the students participated during classroom activities and were able to answer multiplication facts related questions within few seconds
Slide 12 : Data Analysis More students (68%) obtained a grade of four for the post test than the pre test
None of the students received a grade of one for the post test compared to the pre test.
Only one student was unable to pass the post test compared to the 18 students that were unable to pass the pre test.
According to the Survey,100% of the students stated that online games helped them to learn multiplication facts and they also said that they can apply their knowledge of multiplication facts to compute other problems such as addition, division, and fractions.
: Action Plan
Since this study had a positive effect on students’ learning and retaining multiplication facts, in the future I plan to:
Inform colleagues about the effectiveness of online based interactive websites to educate students
Inform and encourage parents to allow their children to play online educational games
Share my findings during faculty meetings
References : References Evans, D. & Wong, M. (2007). Improving basic multiplication fact recall for primary school students. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 19(1), 89-106. Retrieved October 16, 2008, from http://www.eric.ed.gov.
Marcinkiewicz, H. R., Wittman, T. K. (1998). Computer assisted automation of multiplication facts reduces mathematics anxiety in elementary school children. Reports – Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers, 479-487. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from http://www.eric.ed.gov.