Guided Practice

Overview

Spending time with new content helps move concepts and ideas into Long-term Memory. While this may seem like an old idea, research confirms that working many practice problems really is an important part of learning math. Through guided practice, learners rehearse, rework, elaborate, summarize, and question new content, leading to sufficient rehearsal for deeper learning.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch how this teacher uses guided practice to teach fractions. The gradual release into independent practice gives students a sense of confidence in their own skills.

Teachers can facilitate guided classroom practice by asking questions that require learners to rehearse, process, and recall the new material. This practice bolsters students' Speed of Processing by supporting their abilities to retrieve stored information from their Long-term Memory. Teachers can also make connections between math concepts and problems explicit by using specific math language, enhancing Arithmetic Thinking, Geometric Reasoning, and Math Communication.

Design It into Your Product

Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

Adaptive technologies can provide personalized guided practice for learners, helping a teacher support learners of all levels in the classroom. Watch an explanation of one such product, LearnSmart.

Edtech products are particularly powerful for practice work. Mindlessly filling out worksheets is too often what actually happens and is not beneficial. Developers can design products to help optimize the practice sequence, support students when they need help, and give well-timed and targeted feedback.

View References

Resources

Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.

Examples

Importance of Guided Practice

The value of guided practice and suggestions for implementing it

Examples

Results from Guided Practice

Read about the gains students are making with guided practice

Research

Cognition & Memory

Topic that includes cognitive science theories about how the brain processes information on Digital Promise's Research Map

Research

Development of Expertise

Subtopic that explores factors that lead people to become experts on Digital Promise's Research Map