Technology Tools for Mathematics

Learning & Barriers

Learning & Barriers

Math is a language that struggling students and many students with disabilities have problems “speaking.” Students who are considered “high achievers” generally have excellent memory and pattern recognition skills. They are able to filter through the information they receive in the classroom and match it to previous learned knowledge. And they are able to practice successful problem solving activities. As a result they become fluent in this language of numbers, shapes, and patterns.

Learning & Barriers

However, for students who have problems with memory, abstract reasoning, and pattern recognition, mathematics can be difficult to master. These students may need tools and scaffolds to help understand basic mathematical concepts and successfully problem solve. They may need visual tools to manipulate and change variables; watching the results in real time. For students with physical disabilities just writing a mathematical problem or drawing a geometric figure can be a severe challenge.

Learning & Barriers

To be fluent in math, students need to build their mathematical proficiency. Much like reading, students need to successfully practice mathematic activities repeatedly in order to become fluent. A report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008, p. xiv) stressed the “mutually reinforcing benefits of conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and automatic recall of facts.” Student who struggle to complete mathematical activities have severe problems developing mathematic automaticity and becoming fluent.

Learning & Barriers

There are a variety of learning barriers students may experience that hinder mathematic fluency. Some of these barriers are:

• Visual perception - students may have problems processing what they see.

• Language perception - students may have problems processing what they hear.

• Integration - students may have problems organizing, ordering and sequencing information. They may also struggle with abstraction.

Learning & Barriers

• Conceptual understanding - students struggle to understand mathematic concepts. They may be able to use a procedure to solve a problem but may not know why that procedure worked.

• Memory - students may have difficulty maintaining new knowledge from one day to the next.

• Writing - student may struggle to physically write and may struggle with formatting; arranging numbers and symbols appropriately.

• Independence - students may become so dependent on a teacher for help that they cannot independently problem solve, strategically select tools needed to help solve problems, or complete assignments.

Learning & Barriers

Consider the “Mathematical Practice” domain for grades K12. As you look at these clusters, think about what learning barriers may be hindering your student from becoming fluent in these skills.• Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.• Model with mathematics.• Use appropriate tools strategically.• Attend to precision.• Look for and make use of structure.• Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Next Steps

Complete the Exploration and the Instructional Plan activities on this page. Then proceed to the next module, Strategies & Tools.

Exploration Instructional Plan