Herrnstein's matching law: Success breeds motivaation

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Higher skill levels make tasks easier and more reinforcing, leading to increased engagement and perseverance. Completing tasks is reinforcing, so breaking tasks down or crossing items off a list can enhance motivation. Fluency is crucial as it boosts practice rates and reinforcement levels. Success in tasks increases on-task behavior significantly compared to lower performance levels. Fluency in sub-skills encourages students to choose to engage in activities. Interspersing easy tasks with harder ones can lead to longer engagement due to increased reinforcement. Herrnstein's matching law states that individuals choose tasks with the least effort and most reinforcement.

In the second episode of a two-part series, math professor Anna Stokke sits down with Dr. Brian Poncy, a school psychology professor at Oklahoma State University, who specializes in math interventions. His extensive research on basic fact fluency led to the development of a free math program called M.I.N.D, aimed at improving numeracy and computational skills.

They begin by discussing five compelling reasons that fluency is crucial. Brian shares his research on dosage, which addresses the frequency and duration of practice for math skills.

Anna asks Brian to define conceptual understanding, and they explore its relationship with procedural skill. They also discuss explicit timing and address concerns about anxiety. Brian emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making and more.

A key takeaway from these two episodes is that achieving fluency with basic facts requires daily practice—every school day, not just once a week or every other day. The specifics are covered in this episode.

As Brian emphasizes, basic fact fluency results in significant effects with minimal investment in instructional time. These two episodes shine a light on the challenges many children face with math and highlight research-backed methods to improve math education.

NOTE: The resource page contains an extensive list of research articles mentioned in the episode: annastokke.com/ep-30-resources

TIMESTAMPS

[00:00:00] Introduction
Five reasons math fluency is important
[00:02:42] Reason 1: More opportunities to respond
[00:05:50] Reason 2: Increased rates of reinforcement
[00:10:07] Reasons 3 & 4: Knowledge maintenance & reducing cognitive load
[00:12:35] Reason 5: Skill generalization
[00:20:16] Defining conceptual understanding
[00:25:31] Relationship between conceptual understanding & fluency building
[00:28:35] Research on dosage: how much to practice
[00:36:05] To mix or not to mix skills
[00:38:58] Explicit timing with goal setting and rewards
[00:42:29] Explicit timing and math anxiety
[00:47:54] Making data-based decisions
[00:52:30] Advice for schools

RELEVANT PREVIOUS EPISODES

Ep 2. Evidence-based teaching strategies with Paul Kirschner https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-zgw6i-13b33df

Ep 3. The Science of Math with Amanda VanDerHeyden https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-bksbz-13c732d

Ep 4. Cognitive load theory with Greg Ashman https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-thbad-13cea56

Ep 17. Do timed tests cause math anxiety? with Robin Codding https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-9qahp-14aed8a

Ep 27. Using evidence in education with Pamela Snow
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-jc9mq-161ecac

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

https://www.annastokke.com/ep-30-transcript

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.annastokke.com/ep-30-resources

MUSIC

Intro and Outro: Coma Media – Catch it