Modify Activities to Meet Individual Learning Needs

You can use the features of Math Skill Builders: Whole Number Arithmetic to customize each of the activities to meet the needs of the individual learner. To individualize the learning environment for the learner, you can:

Testing, in Diagnosis, determines student placement. As students demonstrate competence at each skill level, test problems get more difficult. Test problems get easier if students demonstrate frustration. Eventually, the student's performance stabilizes at a specific skill level. This identifies the student's entry level into the Math Skill Builder program.

In Diagnosis you can choose:

to have a grid show to help line up numbers in rows and columns
the minimum number of problems to do at each level
the total number of problems in the diagnosis
the criteria for demotion or promotion of levels
to show all the work in all the steps in a solution, or not
to have the program guide number placement, or not

Step-by-step solutions to problems demonstrate each skill level to the student in the Tutor activity. In lower skill levels, the program demonstrates key concepts graphically.

In Tutor you can choose:

to single step through a solution demonstration, or not
the speed of the demonstration
to have talking accompany demonstrations
to see the same problem demonstrated an unlimited number of times
to see an unlimited number of new problems demonstrated

Students drill on each skill level, in the Practice activity, until they display competence or frustration at that level. Advancement to the next skill level rewards student success. Student failure results in a return to an easier skill level. The program constantly challenges students to solve problems one step, and only one step, harder than the problems they can already solve.

In Practice you can choose:

to have a grid show to help line up numbers in rows and columns
to be able to try to solve the same problem more than one time
to allow retries to count toward promotion
to limit the time allowed to solve problems
the number of problems to do in each practice
the criteria for demotion or promotion of levels
to show all the work in all the steps in a solution, or not
to have the program guide number placement, or not

Students gain practice through repetition. In a multimedia effort, students practice the same skills on the computer, that they do with paper and pencil during their homework sessions. The Assignment activity provides homework.

In Assignment you can choose the number of problems assigned.

(See Options)