Ethics Position Paper

            As a sixth grade teacher in an inner city school, I would feel obligated to discourage the Chapter 1 teacher from limiting low-achieving students to drill and practice activities. 

            It is often hard to discourage teachers from using drill and practice, especially with TAAS (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) scores being requisites to promotion and a school’s reputation.  Often, practice tests/questions are used to help students “catch up.”  However, I would encourage this teacher to consider integrating some problem and/or project- based learning activities into the regular drill and practice.

  I believe that incorporating problem solving is the better way to ground students in basic skills.

            Firstly, problem based learning engages and motivates students.   Drill and practice software often becomes monotony for students to drudge through.   Problem based learning, which involves a real life or simulation activity, allows students to connect a skill with its purpose by using it in a relevant way.  For example, there is a project called “The Million Dollar Project” that allows students on all levels to sharpen their estimation, addition, and subtraction skills by spending a million dollars.  This way, students become wrapped up in problem solving instead of plowing through each on screen problem.    This encourages accuracy and thoroughness because the students become stakeholders in the outcome.  Often, low achieving students are the ones who need the most motivation.  Perhaps the presentation of information in a different context, using higher order thinking and problem solving, will spark their intrinsic motivation and encourage them to achieve. 

This type of lesson does not have to be much more time- intensive, either.  Several lessons are available online and may require only simple modifications.  For instance, several math lessons are available at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (www.imsa.edu/eam/cpbl).

Hopefully, this discussion would persuade the teacher to consider implementation of high order think and problems solving activities such as this.