Practice Makes Perfect or Does It?

How many times have you hear the phrase "Practice makes perfect."?  I've heard it from my grandmother, my parents, my teachers, just about everyone.  I even heard it the other day from another teacher.  He commented the new math program did not have enough practice problems.

I realized one thing about practice and that is you have to learn to do it correctly the first few times or you will impress the wrong moves in your muscles or in your brain. If a student learns the process incorrectly, it takes about 21 days to relearn it correctly.  Imagine 21 days.

Have you taken time to actually analyze the mistakes of your students?  I haven't but I have noticed that certain students make the exact same mistake every time they do the problem.  For instance, when rewriting a two variable equation into slope intercept form, they always combine the x variable and the constant into one term.  Every time.  This means they have the incorrect process imprinted in their brain and it becomes harder to reteach it.

This means you have to reteach the concept which is almost like having to break them of one bad habit and replace it with a better habit. This means you have to reteach the material and have students practice the correct process over a 21 day period so hey have a chance of learning to do it correctly.

Sometimes, they develop the incorrect process because they were absent while other times  its because they didn't learn it properly the first time or perhaps they got careless and just started doing it wrong.  It doesn't matter because we have to make sure students learn and practice it correctly.

I'm figuring out I have to break it down so they practice say the last step on their own, then I have them do another step plus the last step independently until they can work the whole problem on their own.  In addition I try to spread the lesson over several days while practicing previously taught material.  I use homework as another place to practice previously taught material so they have a better chance of learning it properly.

The current thought on this topic is not "Practice makes perfect"  but "Perfect practice makes perfect." Next week I'll provide some ideas for helping students learn the material correctly the first time and looking at effective ways of reteaching.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think about this idea.

Math DJ into to Algebra app

I down loaded the free version.  Again the free version has only one chapter included with 30 problems to practice.  Each problem is for the most part a single step equation the student has to solve.  These problems are solved the same way as yesterday's app.  The student selects the correct number of bubbles with the letter so as to get the correct answer for the variable.  The problems start out easy but by problem 17 or so, they become much harder.  One example is 5G - 36 = -G which takes a bit more thought to solve.  If a student comes up with the wrong answer, it tells you that your answer is incorrect and to retry so a student must rework the problem till he gets it correct.  This app is one I could easily use in my lower  level algebra I class to help scaffold students who struggle with solving simple one step equations.  I much prefer this over the pre-algebra app for practice.

Hup Algebra app

I found this line of apps by HUP.  The one I am looking at is HUP algebra.  It is a nice app which could be used to help flip the class and have students use the app at home.  It has several sections starting with "What is algebra?".  Then it has sections on solving single step equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.  Each has a pictorial example using tiles, a written example and you can try problems.  There is a section on solving multi-step equations and on solving equations with the distributive property.  All sections have practice problems.  I like this app as I can use it to flip the class or I can use it to scaffold some of my students who need additional help or practice. It is free at iTunes.  I just got a Nook and I am starting to find neat apps there so I will review some of those.

Algeboats lite

Found a nice little game called Algeboats lite for students to practice evaluating one and two step equations.  There are boats with equations such as x-3.  On the dock are four loads each with numbers you could substitute in for x and there are four flags at the top with the answer to the problem based on which value of x you choose.  Once the value for the variable is substituted and the correct answer is put on the flag pole, the boat moves away. There are three levels, rowboat, speedboat and yacht and each level has three sublevels which are unlocked as the first sublevel is completed.  The student can get a fair bit of practice.  The only thing that might frustrate students is that the loads and the flags do not always move as directed and it can sometimes take a while before moving.
I mention games because my students love playing games and this is something that could be done when there is time left in the class after they have completed the assignments or done after the weekly quiz on Friday or perhaps to obtain an exit pass.
Games provide possibilities for students, especially the lower performing ones, to practice in a fun and safe environment.