Drill & Practice

“The real voyage of

discovery consists not in

seeking new lands, but in

seeing with new eyes”

Marcel Proust

Drill and PracticeDrill and Practice

Much of what is taught by us requires practice to promote proficiency

and fluency.

Practice provides

performing target skills

feedback regarding performance

remediate those skills that students do not perform well.

Drill and PracticeDrill and Practice

Drill takes the form of Worksheet.

Very little attention can be paid to an individual students response at

the moment of response. It is difficult to monitor process.

Immediate feedback assures that practice have positive instructional

value.

Computer-Based Computer-Based Drill and Drill and PracticePractice

DP provides

practice for defined skills.

immediate feedback to the students for each response given.

some form of correction and remediation for incorrect response.

maximum interaction between learner and instructions.

Features of Effective Features of Effective Computer-Computer-based based DPDP

has clear directions for responding

reinforces or strengthens the correct response.

has nature of brief response and can be produced rapidly

focuses on one or two-well-defined skills rather than on several

skills simultaneously.

Features of Effective Features of Effective Computer-Computer-based based DPDP

offers individual response feedback and other kinds of feedback

that can be used to gauge performance.

is well focused for such variables as; learner age, sophistication,

preferences in dictating ways in which the computer features will be

required.

provides storing of the students’ data and progress

Advantages Advantages

ability to provide an intensive, controlled opportunity for students to

refine skills.

ability to generate progress reports.

Disadvantages Disadvantages

do not in themselves teach, they only provide an opportunity to

respond.

often appear much like tests of the learning.

don’t facilitate the transfer of those skills to meaningful

problems.

Drill and PracticeDrill and Practice

Best rationale for using DP was automaticity. Why?

To learn complex, higher order skills it is necessary for learner to first

able to perform the lower level subskills automatically.

Drill and PracticeDrill and Practice

How to use DP: Motto How to use DP: Motto

USE DP FOR GAINING AUTOMOTICITY.

Spreadsheets Spreadsheets

They are computerized, interactive and numerical record-keeping

systems.

Primary functions: storing, calculating, verifying, modeling and

presenting information.

Spreadsheets Spreadsheets

How can we use spreadsheets as mind

partner?

They are an example of a cognitive technology that

amplifies and reorganizes mental functioning.

Playing “WHAT IF” games

Spreadsheet construction and use engage a variety of mental

processes that require learners to use existing rules, generate

new rules describing relationships and organize information.

Spreadsheets Spreadsheets

They are powerful problem-solving tools.

Building spreadsheets requires abstract reasoning by the learner.

Spreadsheets are rule-using tools that require that users become

rule-makers. Spreadsheets promote more open-ended investigations,

problem-oriented activities, and active learning by students. They are interactive.

Spreadsheets Spreadsheets

Use forms of Spreadsheets as Mind partner

1. Mathematics comprehension tool

2. Computation, analysis and reasoning tool (for analyzing data)

3. Simulation modeling tools

Spreadsheets Spreadsheets Mathematics comprehensionMathematics comprehension tool tool

They support numerical thinking and they provide a powerful

manipulation for representing values and developing formulas

to interrelate them which enhances learner’s understanding

SpreadsheetsSpreadsheets

Computation,analysis and reasoning Computation,analysis and reasoning tooltool

Sp support problem solving activities

Spreadsheets Spreadsheets

Simulation modeling toolsSimulation modeling tools

Sp provides direct and effective means of understanding the

role of various parameters and of testing different means of

optimizing their values.

Coaching the Construction of Coaching the Construction of Spreadsheets in the Classroom?Spreadsheets in the Classroom?

1. Provide a spreadsheet template or adapt an existing

spreadsheets.

2. Students make a plan3. Students create and complete a problem-oriented spreadsheet

4. Students extrapolate from spreadsheets

5. Students reflect on the activity

Lab ExerciseLab Exercise

Topic: Graphs of Parabola

Create a Excel template to model the velocity of the vehicle with

accelaration of 2 and inital speed 10 m/s. The model should

calculate

(i) Velocity of the vehicle at any time

(ii) Plot the graph of the motion