An investigation of the effects of precision teaching on building math fact fluency in 3rd--6th-grade Christian home schoolers.

摘要

Purpose, scope, and method of study. Research studies using Precision Teaching in the public school classroom have shown significant increase in student learning by students charting their daily practice results and practicing facts to fluency. The purpose of this study was to look at the effect of Precision Teaching on the fluency of multiplication facts in the home school setting. Two components of learning, fluency and endurance, were addressed. Forty Christian home school students from the Tulsa metropolitan area, ranging from 3rd through 6th grade, participated in the study. Students and their parents volunteered for the study but were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group did timed drills daily, charted their results on celeration (rate of learning) charts, and made educational decisions using those charts. The second group practiced daily but only did time drills when completing the weekly probes. Parents in this second group examined the weekly data, but they did not chart the data. One-minute probes were administered weekly throughout the twenty-eight day study as a pre- and post-test to assess fluency. Five-minute endurance probes were also administered as a pre- and post-test. Probes consisted of multiplication skill sheets from Sopris West Educational Services Basic Skill Builders and were used with permission. Analysis of the data was two-fold. Means of celeration, fluency (speed and accuracy), and endurance were statistically analyzed using a t-test at the .05 significance level. Probes were also charted on standard celeration charts and celeration lines were drawn and analyzed using the mid-day, mid-rate method.; Findings and conclusions. The numerous statistical analyses performed for this researcher's study yielded no significant results. Both groups progressed in fluency although neither group achieved a fluency of 80 digits per minute. Daily practice, whether timed or untimed, produced similar progress in fluency and endurance. The precision teaching components of charting and timed practice did not produce significant results over the control group.