Building Prealgebra Fluency Through a Self-Managed Practice Intervention: Order of Operations

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Applied Behavior Analysis

Background:

• Behavioral fluency, a blend of accuracy and speed, is crucial for proficient learning.
• Developing fluency in foundational math skills like prealgebra is essential for academic success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of a self-managed frequency-building intervention on prealgebra skill behavioral fluency.
• To compare two variations of the frequency-building intervention: short trials with frequent feedback versus longer trials with extended feedback.

Main Methods:

• An alternating-treatments design was employed with four 6th-grade students.
• Intervention conditions included three 1-minute trials with 30-second feedback and one 3-minute trial with 90-second feedback.
• A baseline condition involved a 1-minute timed trial without feedback.

Main Results:

• Three out of four students demonstrated improved performance during the intervention conditions compared to baseline.
• No significant difference was found in the effectiveness between the two frequency-building intervention formats.

Conclusions:

• Self-managed frequency building, incorporating the PEMDAS mnemonic, can enhance behavioral fluency in prealgebra skills.
• Further research is needed to determine the optimal parameters for frequency-building interventions.