TECHNIQUES of TEACHING

MATHEMATICS
Lecture 5
• Drill and Practice
• Oral and Written Work
• Assignment and Home Work
• Discussions/ Group work
 Technique
• Technique is a procedure or skill for completing a specific
a specific task
• Examples
o Mind mapping: You apply guidelines for devising content
in a holistic way. This is a technique that can be used in an
individual working situation, in a group work, or by the
teacher as a means of demonstrating something.
o Brainstorming: is a group centered interaction method.
The brainstorming technique describes a way of collecting
ideas or information in a creative and uninhibited way
 Drill and Practice
• Gaining mastery requires acquisition of habits
• Hence drill or practice plays an important role in
acquiring mastery
• Three types of practice lessons
o First category; subject matter e g (addition
combinations, equivalents of decimals and
percentages, factorization, construction in geometry
etc.)
o speed and accuracy is ensured on which future
learning can be based
 Cont.
• Second category ; mastery of procedures
o systematic arrangement of steps, follow
correct algorithms
o label appropriately parts in a diagram
o sort out data
o translate problems into symbolic form
o practice short cuts
 Cont.
• Third category, intellectual stimulation
o Include lessons which strive to develop the
power of thinking and reasoning
o increase the concentration and interest
o E g quizzes, puzzles and historical material
which does not form part of a regular lesson.
CONSIDERATIONS for Effective Drill Lesson

• Drill should
o follow learning and understanding of basics, rather
than rote memorization
o be varied, to catch interest
o individualized and rewarding to each pupil
o be short and should be frequently tested
o thought-provoking to avoid the repetition of any
process mechanically
o may also provide diagnostic information about pupils
 Oral and Written Work
• Oral work
o maximize optimum rate of accuracy for students
o both oral and written work should mingle freely
o provides a rapid drill designed to habituate a
fundamental process
o a mode of thinking, or a set of facts
o helps in completing more work in any given period
o for oral work data should not be read from a
textbook
• Written Work; Necessary to give children practice in
independent work
• Requirements
o accuracy in computation
o Legibility (clear enough to read) of figures and symbols
o speed consisted-with accuracy
o proper algorithm
o neatness of work
o correctness of results
• can also be kept as a collective record which may help in
assessing the pupil's progress over a period.
 Assignment and Home Work
• Home work
o provides additional time for practice
o develops the habit of self-study and self-reliance
o home work presents a number of problem
a. encourages the use of cheap notes and guides
unsupervised home work
b. develops undesirable study habits
o home work assigned to pupils should be corrected and
kept as a cumulative record in notebooks rather than on
loose sheets of paper.
 Criteria for Good Home Work
• Dr. Lorene Fox suggested following criteria for good home work
1. Is the home work challenging to the students?
2. Does it grow out of or is it related to the everyday life and
interests of the students
3. Does it encourage individual choice and creativity?
4. Does it foster the habits of working together, planning and
execution through democratic ways?
5. Does it encourage discovery and the use of a variety of sources
and ways of learning?
6. Is it well adjusted to the available time frame of the child and
inculcates good study habits
• Assignment
o recent years the concept of home work is
being replaced by differentiated assignment
o It is devoted to
(i) organizing a task to be done
(ii) Selecting an appropriate procedure for
accomplishment
Principles Governing a Good Assignment

• The assignment should be

o clear and definite
o anticipate difficulties in the work to be done and suggest
ways to overcome
o connect the new lesson to past experiences and
correlate the topic with all related subject matter
o should be interesting, motivating and thought provoking
o be varied and adapted to the needs and interests of the
students.
 Discussions/ Group work

• group comprised of two or more people who have

relationships among themselves and share common values
• Group work helps social development and the feeling of
responsibility and the enjoyment of participating in a group
• fundamental principle of group work depends on that each
person should do what he/she is supposed to
• efficiency of group work increases in the intensity of the
communication and free from teacher-centred studies
• it is appropriate to divide the class into smaller groups of
students.
 Benefits of Group Work
• learn to respect others' opinions.
• are encouraged to express the new concepts of the work doing together.
• get rid of individualism and acquire the skills of working with others
• experience of learning, participating in groups and having the pleasure
of being useful.
• make new friends and reinforce the existing friendships.
• overcome the fear of making mistakes.
• gain self-confidence.
• comprehend more easily their personalities and what they are able to
do.
• improve expressing themselves.
• learn to help each other.
Importance of Group Work in Mathematics

• According to the report of NCTM (National committee of

teachers of mathematics) in 1989, group work in
mathematics education plays an important part in
o students asking questions
o discussing opinions
o Listening
o having the responsibility of what to learn
o criticizing constructively
o And constituting an atmosphere of mathematical
learning
• group work becomes useful for social reasons
as well as the positive effects on mathematics
learning
• helps to improve the attitude towards
mathematics and get over the anxiety of
mathematics
Questions/discussion