Skills and drills have been traditionally used to teach students, following the old proverb of "practice makes perfect." This set of teaching styles takes the form of getting students to memorize concepts, using ideas to acquire familiarity, and engaging in a repetitious review (Lehtinen et al., 2017). Teachers across the world widely use this set of methodologies for its benefits. Nonetheless, it would not be as applicable to my math class. "Drill and skill" is only based on memory and is thus less likely to benefit all my students.
One outstanding disadvantage of using "skills and drills" is that it undermines the learning process and does not push students' true learning. Since students are taught to memorize, this methodology pushes students to memorize for the sake of passing tests and examinations. This implies that such students would not be in a good position to understand their material. Students end up memorizing terms that they do not understand just because they are the book terms. Subsequently, if tests are twisted, the student will not answer the questions right. For example, a student has memorized that ½ multiplied by the whole number 4 is 2. Given the same problem, presented as ½ of 4, a student who only memorizes would not comprehend the problem.
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Drills are also less effective for disadvantaged students, such as ELL students and students with certain disabilities. In most cases, memorizing takes a high-speed form, and some students, especially ELL students and students with speech disabilities, maybe in no position to keep up with speed. Therefore, it fails to incorporate the special needs students and is thus less appropriate for my math class. Apart from that, drills apply mostly in teaching basic knowledge and would be less effective in teaching more concepts with a high level of complexity (Wenno, Wattimena & Maspaitela, 2016). In my fractions class, "drills and skills" may only be effective in teaching the basic structures of fractions and not more. It would not be easy for students to memorize the concepts of multiplication and division of fractions without understanding the concepts. Moreover, "skill and drill" creates a lack of focus on students if done too often. Practicing drills naturally create boredom for students. This is common when a teacher teaches something that has already been mastered. Such classes become boring, and students lose concentration.
Therefore, I will not use a drill for my class. Instead, I will strive to provide platforms and opportunities for my students to understand the concepts through modeling with area grids. Area grids are specific in understanding fractions as sections of areas. In addition to that, I will pose investigations that apply to the concepts of fractions to enable my students to explore and understand the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions (Sönmez & Alptekin, 2020). For example, if I draw an area grid of a circle, divided into eight equal parts. I can shade one of them and ask the students to count the remaining to understand the concept of subtracting fractions from whole numbers. I will also focus on certain properties of problems that simplify them to ensure that students understand them—for example, changing mixed fractions to improper fractions before working on a problem involving them. I will also create an interactive class where my students engage with each other and me throughout the class. Specifically, I would line various problems and ask students to understand how they are related—for example, asking the relationship between ¾ divide by ¼ and ¾ multiply by 4. The ability of students to outline such relationships can be a good indication of their understanding.
References
Lehtinen, E., Hannula-Sormunen, M., McMullen, J., & Gruber, H. (2017). Cultivating mathematical skills: From drill-and-practice to deliberate practice. ZDM , 49 (4), 625-636.
Sönmez, N., & Alptekin, S. (2020). Teaching a Student with Poor Performance in Mathematics to Recall of Multiplication Facts Using Simultaneous Prompting with Systematic Review and Corrective Feedback. World Journal of Education , 10 (3), 33-46.
Wenno, I. H., Wattimena, P., & Maspaitela, L. (2016). Comparative Study between Drill Skill and Concept Attainment Model towards Physics Learning Achievement. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education , 5 (3), 211-215.
