Using Efficient Strategies

Strategies to Support Student Learning

• Student-developed strategies are not always efficient and effective. Encourage students to adapt their current strategies to become more efficient or have less steps.

• An efficient method is one that does not require a page of calculations and more than a reasonable amount of time to produce an answer. An effective method is one that works for all problems of a particular type

Questions Students Can Ask

Is the strategy:

• easy to understand?

• easy to apply?

• easy to remember?

• easy to perform accurately?

• Over-reliance on memorized addition and subtraction, multiplication and division procedures prevents students from using mathematical reasoning.