Kevin Dohmen's Learning Newsletter #3
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Hello, and welcome to issue #3! Each Tuesday's newsletter will include a Tuesday Tip, book review, or an article on education or science or the arts. If you've received a forwarded copy of this message from a friend, be sure to subscribe, so that you will continue to receive my newsletter directly from me. Just click on the "Join Our Mailing List" button above and to the left of this paragraph. In each mailing will be an unsubscribe link, so that you can opt out at any time. You can also subscribe from my website: www.kevindohmen.net. |
Tuesday Tip: Memorization for Math 01
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Rote memorization should not be mistaken for real understanding, but it can be a very important part of learning. In math, for example, being able to automatically recall the basic multiplication facts enables thought about higher level concepts without breaking the train of thought to retrieve -- or worse yet, to count out -- a particular fact.
Songs, rhymes, and finger manipulation methods can help to commit math facts to memory, but to be truly useful, the facts must be automatized. An automatized fact or activity is one that can be performed almost without conscious awareness, like the the act of walking down the street while talking with a friend. A math fact is most helpful when it requires no calculation. If when thinking 6 x 9, for instance, the first number to come to mind is 54, then that fact has been automatized.
Here's one method for memorizing multiplication facts.
Buy or create flash cards that have only one fact on each. (Most flash cards on the market put unrelated facts on opposite sides of the same card, which saves paper but also prevents the essential sorting the cards.) Write the problem on one side of the card and the answer on the back. Shuffle the cards thoroughly so that the student is not tempted to count, for instance, that 3 x 7 is three more than 3 x 8. (Knowing this counting principle is very important and is essential to understanding what multiplication is and how it works, but is counterproductive when memorizing.) Show them one at a time, and have the student say the entire fact aloud, "5 times 8 is 40," for example.
Separate the cards into two piles, those that were answered correctly within about two seconds and those that were not known or took longer. When in doubt which pile to put a card in, put it into the 'not known' pile.
When learning new facts, work on at most five cards at a time. Again, the student should say the each problem and answer aloud.
Limit memorization sessions to 15 minutes or less. If a fact isn't known, just give the answer aloud. Don't give time for counting in the head or on fingers. The goal is to have the correct answer to pop into the student's head immediately when he reads, hears, or says the problem.
Once the first five new facts are learned, stop. Review those cards four or five more times that day which should take literally about one minute each time. When reviewing the five new cards, hold each up for reciting, and if the answer is correct, put the card face down on the table. If the answer is incorrect or takes longer than a couple of seconds, give the answer aloud and have the student repeat the entire fact correctly. Put that card at the back of the pile. When all five cards are down on the table, that session is finished.
At the very end of that day, add the new cards to the 'known' pile. The next day, begin with the entire known pile. Again, if a fact is recited correctly, put it face down on the table. If a fact is missed, have the student say the entire fact correctly, and put it at the back of the pile. If all of the facts in the known pile are remembered easily, choose five new cards to learn that day. If getting through the known pile is a struggle, do not add any new cards that day. Just work on becoming fluent with the known pile.
Once the entire set of multiplication facts can be recited quickly and correctly, continue to review the entire stack once a day for about eight weeks.
Note that this same method can be used for memorizing other math essentials like the midpoint formula, distance formula, quadratic formula, geometry formulas for area and volume, and common trigonometric values.
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I hope you have found this issue helpful. Please feel free to forward
this newsletter to friends, family, teachers -- to anyone who has in
interest in, or a passion for, learning. I welcome your feedback.
Sincerely, 
Kevin D. Dohmen, M.Ed. Learning Consultant21 West Caton Avenue Alexandria, VA 22301-1519 --- 703.683.9617 kevindohmen@verizon.netwww.kevindohmen.netthe art of learning for the information age |
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