Blumberg Center for
Interdisciplinary Studies in Special Education
Project for responsive educational systems
online evidence-based intervention resources
Math: Computation
Beyond "Getting the Answer":
Calculators Help Learning Disabled Students Get the Concepts
Clarifies when students should and should not use calculators.
Concrete-Representational-Abstract Instructional Approach
This brief provides an overview of the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Instructional Approach and discusses how this intervention can be used to improve math instruction.
Students who can be trusted to work independently and need extra drill and practice with math computational problems will benefit from this strategy.
“Errorless Learning” Worksheet
Reluctant students can be motivated to practice math number problems to build computational fluency when given worksheets that include an answer key (number problems with correct answers) displayed at the top of the page.
Explicit time-drills are a method to boost students’ rate of responding on math-fact worksheets. (Elementary)
Increase Accuracy and
Productivity Rates via Self-Monitoring and Performance Feedback
Students can improve both their accuracy and fluency on math computation worksheets by independently self-monitoring their computation speed, charting their daily progress, and earning rewards for improved performance.
Increase Accuracy by Intermixing
Easy and Challenging Computation Problems
Teachers can improve accuracy and positively influence the attitude of students when completing math-fact worksheets by intermixing 'easy' problems among the 'challenging' problems. Research shows that students are more motivated to complete computation worksheets when they contain some very easy problems interspersed among the more challenging items.
Louisiana Department of Education
Tutoring Lessons
Interventions for addition, subtraction, multiplication, multiplying by 10s and 100s, division, working with money, finding multiples, factors, and estimation for elementary students.
Louisiana Department of Education
Tutoring Lessons
Interventions for computation with fractions, decimals, and integers for secondary students.
This intervention is designed to build math fact fluency. This intervention can be
Mnemonic Device for Borrowing in
Subtraction
Mnemonic Device for Dividing
Fractions
Mnemonic Device for Long Division
Mnemonic Device for Multiplying
by Nine
Mnemonic Device for Multiplying
Two-Digit Number X Two-Digit Number
Mnemonic Device for Multiplying
with Negatives
Number & Operations: Broken
Calculator
In Number & Operations: Broken Calculator, students develop computational fluency by solving problems with a "broken" calculator.
Promote Mastery of Math Facts
through Incremental Rehearsal
Incremental rehearsal builds student fluency in basic math facts ('arithmetic combinations') by pairing unknown computation items with a steadily increasing collection of known items. This intervention makes use of concentrated practice to promote fluency and guarantees that the student will experience a high rate of success.
Student Access to Division: An
Alternative Perspective for Students With Learning Disabilities
Using the Interactive Unit approach to teach division.
Teaching Math Facts (Use with Flashcards)
This intervention is designed to
build math fact fluency and increase accuracy and can be used for
addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts.
(Elementary)
This intervention is designed to build math fact fluency and increase accuracy. This intervention can be used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts, for example. Requires approximately 7 minutes each day.
This intervention is designed to build fluency with multiplication facts while simultaneously decreasing errors. Requires approximately 5 minutes each day.
Two Ideas to Jump-Start Active
Academic Responding
Research shows that when teachers use specific techniques to motivate their classes to engage in higher rates of active and accurate academic responding, student learning rates are likely to go up. Here are two ideas to accomplish increased academic responding on math tasks.
used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts, for example. Requires approximately 5 minutes each day.