Fact Fluency

Fact Fluency is...

• knowing (or being able to derive relationally) a fact within 3-4 seconds using relational thinking strategies.

• not just memorization! Fact fluency grows out of discovering the numerous patterns and relationships that interconnect the basic combinations.

Students who engage in exploring these ideas will be much more likely to engage flexibly with the same ideas in multi-digit problems. Students who just memorize facts will not.

Memorized facts are stored in a different part of the brain than facts or understandings based on reading and conceptual understanding. This part of the brain is much more subject to stress and loss of recall.