How Removing Sprints Helped My Students Do Better In Math
During parent-teacher conferences at this beginning of this year, I was sharing a student’s—we’ll call him “James”—success in math with a parent.
I explained how James could identify how to solve problems effectively and use visualizations to represent the problems accurately. James’s parents shared how happy they were to hear that as James had told them he was feeling like he wasn’t as good at math as other students. When asked why, James had told them it was because other students were faster at solving calculations than he was. Only James knew this. We had been practicing math sprints in class. I ruminated on this information for a while after the conference. It bothered me that James, who was demonstrating strong math thinking, felt inadequate because of his inability to answer questions quickly.
I’m not sure when I first thought about removing sprints from my lessons. It might have been while reading through resources on Youcubed or while I was taking Jo Boaler’s Mathematical Mindsets course earlier this year. Either way, I’d been considering putting a halt to math sprints in my class for a while due to experiences like the one above. Several more over the course of this year have led me to remove math sprints altogether.
Another catalyst came in class.“Greg” can identify the knowns and unknowns in math problems; can solve equations in a reasonable timeframe when working on problems in a group; and can defend his answers using appropriate math language. However, Greg was crying after a sprint. The pressure of having to solve problems immediately caused him so much stress that his brain could not provide the solutions to even the simplest equations.
Now that I’m thinking of it, I think the first time I started thinking about cancelling timed tests in my class was when one student asked, “Why do we do sprints if speed doesn’t matter?” This came after we completed the Week of Inspirational Math from YouCubed, which focuses on the ability to think deeply about math. Jo Boaler’s videos discuss the beauty of math through its visual aspects, and she emphasizes the fact that many great mathematicians are slow to solve problems. I was also sharing what I was learning from the Mathematical Mindsets course with my students.
I was left speechless, which for me is a rare state. I wanted to be able to defend my position to parents and administrators if called upon, so I began researching.
What I Learned
A lot of great research on this topic from Stanford Graduate School of Education professor Jo Boaler, mentioned above and previously on Learning While Human.
Boaler focuses on mathematics education. In the introduction of “Fluency Without Fear”, she points out that “the memorization of math facts through times-table repetition, practice, and timed testing is unnecessary and damaging” (Boaler 2015). Sprints can lead to anxiety surrounding math that can cause “low achievement, math avoidance, and negative experiences of math throughout life” (Boaler 2014).
Research examining the brain imaging data of children has shown that the area of the brain associated with fear is activated when students are feeling nervous about math problems. Conversely, the regions involved in problem-solving show decreased activity (Boaler 2014).
Thinking about “Greg” and “James,” this research explains why they might have had difficulties solving equations when a timer was introduced and why they could solve problems successfully when time was not a factor.
Furthermore, researchers have shown that working memory is a key component of solving equations. When the brain is feeling stressed—or in a fear response—working memory is blocked, adding yet another obstacle to solving even a familiar equation (Boaler 2014, 2015). Interestingly, people who had a high amount of working memory, and therefore the highest potential for math success, most frequently experienced math anxiety (Boaler 2014).
What about practicing for standardized tests? The most counterintuitive part of everything I learned was this: students who tend to be slow on timed tests stay slow on timed tests, and students who tend to be fast stay fast (Boaler 2014). So I went back and looked at the sprints I had saved. I had kept them because I wanted to be able to show students how they improved. I found that they consistently solved about the same number of problems each time. I had my own evidence for confirmation.
So, for Greg and James, fear was literally keeping them from performing and, in turn, influencing their understanding about their own math abilities. They believed they were not good at math. Math sprints were fostering a fixed mindset while students who have a growth mindset do better because they are excited to solve problems and learn from their mistakes (Boaler 2020).
Right. I could see that sprints were not working in my class and my research showed that timed tests are more harmful than helpful.
Fluency > Speed
Before you write to tell me how important it is for kids to be able to solve equations, I know. This is not about having kids flounder when it comes to being able to solve facts. It’s about changing how we think about math and assessing ability. Timed tests promote memorization. However, when kids do well in math, it is because they can work flexibly with numbers (Boaler 2017). For younger kids, this might mean knowing that they can turn 13-6 into 10-3.
Data collected by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) team at the OECD shows this to be true. After testing 13 million 15-year-old students, the data shows that students from countries that emphasize memorization and speed perform worse than those from countries that focus on making connections between math concepts (Boaler 2017).
I want kids to be able to solve equations and do well in math. Everything I have learned has shown me there is a better way.
Building Number Sense
One thing I will admit, I am incredibly grateful for the internet. All the activities below were developed by amazing people who share their work for free.
Dicey Addition: A great game that can be scaled up or down depending on the needs of your students. I interspersed this game with other activities over several weeks when I noticed students struggling with adding two-digit numbers. I noticed improvement across the boards as well as increased confidence among my mid-range students.
Dot Talks: The first time we did Dot Talks was during the Week of Inspirational Math. It was a success, so we did it a few times more. You can also adapt it to work with multiplication and arrays, which we did during our multiplication unit. When doing these talks, the important thing to remember to encourage different ways of seeing the number.
Race to 100: Another dice game, though this one has the students adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. My students loved trying to figure out the best ways to get to 100 first.
My Classroom Now
Since I have stopped doing timed tests or sprints in my class, I have noticed my students are more confident in their math abilities. They are more willing to take risks and try to solve problems even when they are unsure of the correct answer. There is less fear surrounding math lessons and math facts.
As for James and Greg, I am happy to report that each is performing better in math and has developed increased flexibility with numbers.
Resources
Boaler, Jo. 2014. “Research Suggests Timed Tests Cause Math Anxiety.” Teaching Children Mathematics, April 2014. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. https://www.youcubed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/nctm-timed-tests.pdf.
———. 2017. “Fluency without Fear.” YouCubed. Stanford Graduate School of Education. 2017. https://www.youcubed.org/evidence/fluency-without-fear/.
———. 2020. “Unlocking Children’s Math Potential.” PLNY Blog. Parents League of New York. May 30, 2020. https://www.parentsleague.org/blog/unlocking-children%E2%80%99s-math-potential.