Date Approved

4-26-1999

Embargo Period

8-8-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in Learning Disabilities

Department

Interdisciplinary and Inclusive Education

College

College of Education

Advisor

Urban, Stanley

Subject(s)

Mathematics--Study and teaching (Primary); Second grade (Education)

Disciplines

Disability and Equity in Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to prove, through a systematic approach, that teaching addition facts to mastery would improve the mathematics scores of second grade students. This study attempted to demonstrate that if a desired level of automatic recall of basic facts was achieved students would show improved scores on a nationally standardized test.

Basic math facts were taught to a group of students over several months and they were tested daily on speed and accuracy. Standardized test scores were then compared from the end of first grade (prior to the intervention) and end of second grade scores (after the intervention) for each child who participated in the experimental group. This group was then compared to a group that had no intervention to see if there was a significant level of improvement, as measured by their end of first grade and end of second grade standardized test scores.

The findings to the research question were that there were no differences, statistically, in the pretest calculation abilities of the control or experimental groups, and there were no differences, statistically, in the posttest calculation abilities of the control or experimental groups. However, it can be concluded that individual students made significant gains with the extensive drill and practice. Further research with a larger group of subjects may lead to more significantly favorable findings.

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