Chapter ten, “Developing Basic Fact Fluency,” explores how a teacher can help students develop fluency of the basic facts. The chapter notes that a teacher needs to understand the three phases of fluency in basic facts and several approaches to teaching those facts. These approaches include effective teaching and assessment practices. Generally, teachers can use number relationships to lay a foundation for students' mastery strategies of basic facts (Van et al., 2018 p. 218). Further, the chapter highlights the strategies and activities that a teacher can use to assist students in develop, remember, and master the basic facts for different math concepts.
Developing fluency for different basic math concepts begin at different stages. For addition and subtraction, it begins in kindergarten, while for multiplication, it begins in grade two (Van et al., 2018 p. 219). There are three developmental phases for basic fact fluency. The first is the counting strategies phase; the second is the reasoning strategies phase, and the last is the mastery phase (Van et al., 2018 p. 218). In the counting strategies, students use objects such as fingers or blocks to do their counting. Apart from using objects, students can count verbally (Van et al., 2018 p. 219; Foster, 2018 ). The reasoning strategy phase involves using known information to solve an unknown problem, while the mastery phase involves a student's ability to provide efficient responses.
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According to chapter ten, “Developing Basic Fact Fluency,” teachers can use several approaches to teach the basic facts. A teacher can use the memorization approach, which involves presenting students with additional and multiplication concepts for memorization rather than sparing time to develop strategies (Van et al., 2018 p. 220). However, this strategy has shortcomings (Van et al., 2018 p. 220). The shortcomings include the strategy's inefficiency, inappropriate application, and inflexibility. In addition to memorization, a teacher can use explicit strategy instruction. Several studies have shown support for this strategy ( Foster, 2018) . It involves the students learning a concept and then explore and practice the concept or strategy for mastery (Van et al., 2018 p. 218). Lastly, teachers can use guided invention where a teacher guides the student in selecting strategies based on the knowledge they have on number relationships (Van et al., 2018 p. 221). Furthermore, teachers need to teach and assess basic facts effectively. They can come up with experiences that help students navigate the three phases effectively.
After effective teaching and assessment of students, the teacher needs to reinforce the basic fact mastery. Different approaches exist, including games and drills (Van et al., 2018 p. 238-242). Games provide a fun experience, and students would want to play repeated times. Therefore, they provide a wonderful experience for students to learn and reinforce their facts (Van et al., 2018 p. 238). The drill involves giving students repeated activities that do not involve reasoning. Although drill strengthens memory, it only works b after students know strategies and have entered phase three ( Foster, 2018) . Other ways of reinforcing the students’ mastery of facts include explicit teaching of reasoning strategies, provision of hope, inventory of the known and unknown, providing engaging activities, and building in success (Van et al., 2018 p. 243). Also, the chapter highlights what to and what not to do when teaching basic facts.
References
Foster, C. (2018). Developing mathematical fluency: comparing exercises and rich tasks. Educational Studies in Mathematics , 97 (2), 121-141.
Van, . W. J. A., Bay-Williams, J. M., McGarvey, L. M., Karp, K. S., & Wray, J. A. (2018). Elementary and middle school mathematics: Teaching developmentally . Toronto: Pearson Education Canada
