MATHEMATICS

Formative
Assessment
We dedicate this book to the Maine Mathematics and Science
Alliance (MMSA). It was the MMSA that brought the
authors together almost ten years ago, nurtured our
common passion for formative assessment, and
left us both with the collaborative spirit and
collegiality to continue this work
together as our paths diverged.
 MATHEMATICS
Formative
Assessment
Practical Strategies for
75 Linking Assessment,
Instruction, and Learning

Page Keeley
Cheryl Rose Tobey
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Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Keeley, Page.
Mathematics formative assessment: 75 practical
strategies for linking assessment, instruction, and
learning/Page Keeley and Cheryl Rose Tobey.

p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4129-6812-6 (pbk.)

1. Mathematics—Study and teaching. 2. Educational evaluation. I. Tobey, Cheryl

Rose. II. Title.

QA11.2.K44 2011
372.7—dc23 2011019158

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors

1. An Introduction to Formative Assessment Classroom

Techniques (FACTs)
What Does a Formative Assessment–Centered Classroom Look
Like?
Why Use FACTs?
How Does Research Support the Use of FACTs?
Classroom Environments That Support Formative Assessment
Connecting Teaching and Learning
Making the Shift to a Formative Assessment–Centered Classroom

2. Integrating FACTs With Instruction and Learning

Integrating Assessment and Instruction
Assessment That Promotes Thinking and Learning
Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning: The Mathematics
Assessment, Instruction, and Learning Cycle (MAIL Cycle)
Stages in the MAIL Cycle
Engagement and Readiness
Eliciting Prior Knowledge
Exploration and Discovery
Concept and Skill Development
Concept and Procedure Transfer
Self-Assessment and Reflection
Selecting and Using FACTs to Strengthen the Link Between
Assessment, Instruction, and Learning

3. Considerations for Selecting, Implementing, and Using Data

From FACTs
Selecting FACTs
Selecting FACTs to Match Learning Goals
FACTs and the Common Core Standards for Mathematics
Selecting FACTs to Match Teaching Goals
The Critical Importance of Classroom Context in Selecting FACTs
Planning to Use and Implement FACTs
Starting Off With Small Steps
Maintaining and Extending Implementation
Using Data From the FACTs

4. Get the FACTs! 75 Mathematics Formative Assessment

Classroom Techniques (FACTs)
#1. A & D Statements
#2. Agreement Circles
#3. Always, Sometimes, or Never True
#4. Card Sorts
#5. CCC: Collaborative Clued Corrections
#6. Comments-Only Marking
#7. Commit and Toss
#8. Concept Attainment Cards
#9. Concept Card Mapping
#10. Concept Cartoons
#11. Create the Problem
#12. Every Graph Tells a Story
#13. Example, Nonexample
#14. Fact-First Questioning
#15. Feedback to Feed-Forward
#16. Fist to Five
#17. Four Corners
#18. Frayer Model
#19. Friendly Talk Probes
#20. Give Me Five
#21. Hot Seat Questioning
#22. Human Scatter Graph
#23. Is It Fair?
#24. I Used to Think…But Now I Know…
#25. Justified List
#26. Justified True-or-False Statements
#27. K-W-L Variations
#28. Learning Goals Inventory (LGI)
#29. Look Back
#30. Matching Cards
#31. Mathematician’s Ideas Comparison
#32. More A–More B Probes
#33. Muddiest Point
#34. No-Hands Questioning
#35. Odd One Out
#36. Opposing Views Probes
#37. Overgeneralization Probes
#38. Partner Speaks
#39. Pass the Problem
#40. P-E-O Probes (Predict, Explain, Observe)
#41. Peer-to-Peer Focused Feedback
#42. A Picture Tells a Thousand Words
#43. POMS: Point of Most Significance
#44. Popsicle Stick Questioning
#45. PVF: Paired Verbal Fluency
#46. Question Generating
#47. Response Cards
#48. Same A–Same B Probes
#49. Sequencing Cards
#50. Sticky Bars
#51. Strategy Harvest
#52. Strategy Probe
#53. Student Evaluation of Learning Gains
#54. Student Interviews
#55. Terminology Inventory Probe (TIP)
#56. Ten-Two
#57. Thinking Log
#58. Think-Alouds
#59. Think–Pair–Share
#60. Thought Experiments
#61. Three-Minute Pause
#62. 3-2-1
#63. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
#64. Traffic Light Cards
#65. Traffic Light Cups
#66. Traffic Light Dots
#67. Two-Minute Paper
#68. Two or Three Before Me
#69. Two Stars and a Wish
#70. Two Thirds Testing
#71. Volleyball, Not Ping-Pong!
#72. Wait Time Variations
#73. What Are You Doing and Why?
#74. Whiteboarding
#75. Word Sort

Appendix: Annotated Resources for Mathematics Formative

Assessment
References
Index
Preface

The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner
already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly.
—Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian, 1978

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In 2008 the book Science Formative Assessment: 75 Practical
Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning was
copublished by Corwin and the National Science Teachers
Association (NSTA). The book quickly became a best seller, widely
used by teachers, university preservice instructors, and professional
learning communities. Science teachers shared the book with other
teachers in their schools, including mathematics teachers. While
mathematics teachers modified the strategies to fit their subject,
many of them expressed the desire to have a parallel book for
mathematics educators, using similar strategies from the science
version but including examples for mathematics as well as some
strategies specific to mathematics. Well, we heard you! This book is
designed for mathematics educators, and as with the science
formative assessment book that preceded it, many of the strategies
in this book can be shared across all content areas.
 Like the science version, this book addresses the need to balance
opportunity to learn, which includes assessment for learning (Black,
Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003), with assessment of
learning. Optimal opportunities to learn exist when mathematics
teachers are aware of the variety of different ideas and strategies
students are likely to bring to their learning; see the connections
between students’ thinking, problem-solving skills, and the specific
ideas included in standards; and provide learning experiences that
build a bridge between their students’ thinking and mathematical
understanding. What is effective for one purpose—external
accountability— may not effectively serve the purpose of informing
instructional planning and decision making in the classroom, which is
ultimately what affects student learning. A rich repertoire of formative
assessment techniques provides the ongoing feedback and stimulus
for deep thinking that a high-stakes test once or twice a year cannot
provide in time to inform instruction and affect learning.
Teachers are the most important link in the chain that connects
assessment, instruction, and learning. The need for a varied
repertoire of purposeful techniques that weave mathematics
assessment throughout instruction and learning is what led to this
book. We hope you can turn the insights and ideas gleaned from this
book into practical actions that will transform teaching and learning in
your classroom.

Purpose and Need

There is a substantial body of research that indicates formative
assessment can significantly improve student learning. Yet this same
research shows that the features of formative assessment that affect
student achievement are, sadly, missing from many classrooms
(Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003). The purpose of this
book is to provide teachers with guidance, suggestions, and
techniques for using formative assessment to improve teaching and
learning in the mathematics classroom. A wide variety of
assessment books and resources available to mathematics
educators provide the theoretical rationale for formative assessment
and its implications for teaching and learning. This book expands on
the current literature by identifying and describing content-specific
practical techniques teachers can use to build a rich repertoire of
formative assessment strategies for the mathematics classroom.
The acronym FACT is used to label the 75 techniques included in
this book. FACT stands for Formative Assessment Classroom
Technique. Through the varied use of FACTs, explicitly intended to
gather information about or promote students’ thinking and learning,
teachers can focus on what works best for learning and design or
modify lessons to fit the needs of the students.

Audience
The primary audience for this book is K-12 mathematics teachers.
However, many of the strategies described can be used in other
disciplines such as science, social studies, language arts, fine arts,
health, and foreign language; these other uses, as well as those for
other content areas not listed here, are noted in each of the FACT
descriptions. University faculty may also find the FACTs useful in
teaching college students or preparing preservice teachers to use
formative assessment. Professional developers can use several of
the FACTs to design and monitor learning experiences for adult
learners, including teachers. Many Professional Learning
Communities (PLCs) are using this book to study formative
assessment and to build their capacity to use effective formative
strategies to improve student learning.

Organization
The organization of this book follows the same organization as the
science version (Keeley, 2008). Where appropriate, we kept the
same information so that the two books would parallel each other
and could be used together in science and mathematics PLCs or by
teams of science and mathematics teachers. Chapter 1 provides an
introduction to formative assessment in the mathematics classroom.
It describes the inextricable link between assessment, instruction,
and learning. It describes what a FACT is and the cognitive research
that supports the use of FACTs. It describes the learning
environments that support assessment, instruction, and learning. It
examines the relationship between teaching and learning and
describes new roles and implications for a formative assessment–
centered classroom.
Chapter 2 focuses on the use of FACTs to integrate assessment,
instruction, and learning. It examines the connection between
assessment and instruction and describes a learning cycle model in
mathematics called the Mathematics Assessment, Instruction, and
Learning (MAIL) cycle, which integrates assessment with instruction
and learning and provides a framework for using FACTs. This cycle
parallels the SAIL (Science Assessment, Instruction, and Learning)
cycle. It describes how formative assessment promotes learning in
the mathematics classroom, including the role of metacognition, self-
assessment, and reflection. It provides suggestions for strengthening
the link between assessment, instruction, and learning.
Chapter 3 addresses considerations for selecting, planning for,
and implementing mathematics formative assessment. It also
provides suggestions for ways to use this book with PLCs. It includes
a matrix for matching FACTs with their main purposes for use in
teaching and learning as well as secondary purposes.
Chapter 4 is the heart of the book. It includes a collection of 75
FACTs. Many of the same FACTs are included in the science version
of this book, and several new ones, specific to mathematics, have
been added. The FACTs are arranged in alphabetical order so that
teachers can locate them by name (we found we could not arrange
them by use since many of the uses overlapped). They are also
numbered on the matrix in Figure 3.5. Each FACT uses a common
format that provides a description, how it promotes student learning,
how it informs instruction, considerations for design and
administration, modifications that can be made to a FACT for
different types of students or purposes, caveats for using a particular
technique, general attributes, and uses in other disciplines besides
science. Each FACT includes an example that shows or describes
how the FACT is used in mathematics. Space is provided after each
FACT to record your notes on how it worked in your classroom and
any modifications or suggestions for further use.
 The Appendix contains an annotated list of the resources referred
to in Chapter 4, as well as additional resources useful for expanding
your knowledge of formative assessment, building a repertoire of
strategies, and accessing ready-made probes. In addition, several
websites are provided that focus on formative assessment.
Acknowledgments

Most of the ideas and techniques in this book are not new or
unique. They have been drawn from formative assessment
techniques used by classroom teachers, professional developers,
researchers, and the authors’ experiences as former middle and high
school science and mathematics teachers. Several of the FACTs are
so commonly used that it is hard to trace them back to the original
source. In some cases a new name and a new twist have been
added to an old technique.
We are indebted to the teachers we have had the honor and
pleasure to work with in various projects, both in Maine and
nationally, who have shared their repertoire of strategies with us,
tried out both new strategies and variations of existing ones, and
helped us to understand which FACTs work well in different contexts.
In particular we would like to thank all the teachers in the Northern
New England Co-mentoring Network (NNECN) Mathematics Access
and Teaching in High School (MATHS), Science Content,
Conceptual Change, and Collaboration (SC4), Governor’s Academy,
and Creating a Network of Educators Communicating about
Teaching (CNECT), projects for giving us a window into your use of
several of these formative assessment strategies. We thank all the
teachers who have inspired us through your dedication to the
continuous improvement of teaching practice and your keen insights
into student learning.
We especially wish to acknowledge our present and former MMSA
colleagues who have worked with us for many years on this journey
into formative assessment: Lynn Farrin, Joyce Tugel, Chad Dorsey,
Nancy Chesley, Mary Dunn, Caroline Arline, Lisa Marchi, Meghan
Southworth, Henrietta List, and Leslie Minton. We would also like to
express appreciation to EDC colleagues from the Formative
Assessment in the Mathematics Classroom: Engaging Teachers and
Students (FACETS) project—Susan Jansen, Emily Fagan, Eric
Karnowksi, and Fred Gross—for their review and feedback of many
of the FACTs. And we extend a huge thank-you to the many school
districts and organizations we have worked with to build teachers’
capacity to use formative assessment. A special thank-you goes to
Jean May-Brett at the Louisiana Department of Education for
bringing us both together to share our science and mathematics
formative assessment work with Math-Science Partnership leaders
throughout Louisiana so that they could include formative techniques
into their projects to improve teaching and learning for students in
their state.
We gratefully acknowledge our Corwin editor, Cathy Hernandez,
for her positive enthusiasm and flexibility in working around our busy
schedules. We also wish to acknowledge the outstanding support
the staff at Corwin provides to their authors.
The contributions of the following reviewers are gratefully
acknowledged:

Barbara Fox, Math Coach

Boston Teacher Residency
Boston, MA

Daniel Kikuji Rubenstein, Executive Director

Brooklyn Prospect Charter School
Brooklyn, NY

Zsuzsanna Laughland, Mathematics Teacher

Kennett High School
 Conway, NH

Amanda McKee, Math Teacher

Johnsonville High School/Florence County #5
Johnsonville, SC

Lyneille Meza, Math Teacher

Strickland Middle School
Denton, TX

Edward C. Nolan, PreK–12 Content Specialist, Mathematics

Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Rockville, MD

Debra A. Scarpelli, Math Teacher

Slater Junior High School
Pawtucket, RI
About the Authors

Page Keeley is the Senior Science Program Director at the Maine

Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA), where she has worked
since 1996. She directs projects and provides professional
development in the areas of leadership, professional development
design, linking standards and research on learning, formative
assessment, and mentoring and coaching,. She was the Principal
Investigator on three National Science Foundation grants, including
the Northern New England Co-Mentoring Network, Curriculum Topic
Study: A Systematic Approach to Utilizing National Standards and
Cognitive Research, and PRISMS: Phenomena and Representations
for Instruction of Science in Middle School. She is the author of
eleven nationally published books, including four books in the
Curriculum Topic Study Series, six volumes in the Uncovering
Student Ideas in Science: 25 Formative Assessment Probes Series,
and Science Formative Assessment: 75 Practical Strategies for
Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning. She consults with
school districts, State Math-Science Partnership Projects, and
organizations throughout the United States on building teachers’
capacity to use diagnostic and formative assessment. She is a
frequent invited speaker at national conferences, including NSTA,
and led the People-to-People Citizen Ambassador Program’s
Science Education delegation to South Africa in 2009, to China in
2010, and to India in 2011.
Page taught middle and high school science for 15 years, where
she used formative assessment strategies and probes long before
there was a name attached to them. Many of the strategies in her
books come from her experiences as a science teacher. Page was
an active teacher leader at the state and national level. She received
the Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science
Teaching in 1992 and the Milken National Distinguished Educator
Award in 1993, and was the AT&T Maine Governor’s Fellow for
Technology in 1994. She has been an adjunct instructor at the
University of Maine, is a Cohort 1 Fellow in the National Academy for
Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, and serves on
several national advisory boards. Prior to teaching, she was a
research assistant in immunology at the Jackson Laboratory of
Mammalian Genetics in Bar Harbor, Maine. She received her BS in
life sciences from the University of New Hampshire and her MEd in
Secondary Science Education from the University of Maine. Page
was elected the 63rd president of the National Science Teachers
Association (NSTA) for the 2008–2009 term. In 2009 she was the
recipient of the National Staff Development Council’s (NSDC) Susan
Loucks-Horsley Award for her contributions to science education
leadership and professional development. She lives on 25 acres in
rural Maine, where she dabbles in gardening and culinary arts.
Cheryl Rose Tobey is a Senior Mathematics Associate at the
Education Development Center (EDC). She is the implementation
director for the Pathways to Mathematics Achievement Study and a
mathematics specialist for the NSF-funded Formative Assessment in
the Mathematics Classroom: Engaging Teachers and Students
(FACETS) and Differentiated Professional Development: Building
Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching Struggling Students (DPD)
projects. She also serves as a project director for an Institute for
Educational Science (IES) project, Eliciting Mathematics
Misconceptions (EM2). Her work is primarily in the areas of formative
assessment and professional development. Prior to joining EDC,
Tobey was the senior program director for mathematics at the Maine
Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA), where she served as
the co-principal investigator of the mathematics section of the NSF-
funded Curriculum Topic Study, and principal investigator and project
director of two Title IIa State Mathematics and Science Partnership
projects. Prior to working on these projects, Tobey was the co-
principal investigator and project director for MMSA’s NSF-funded
Local Systemic Change Initiative, Broadening Educational Access to
Mathematics in Maine (BEAMM), and she was a fellow in Cohort 4 of
the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education
Leadership. She is the coauthor of four published Corwin books,
including three books in the Uncovering Student Thinking Series and
Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study: Bridging the Gap Between
Standards and Practice. Before joining MMSA in 2001 to begin
working with teachers, Tobey was a high school and middle school
mathematics educator for 10 years. She received her BS in
secondary mathematics education from the University of Maine at
Farmington and her MEd from City University in Seattle.
 1

An Introduction to
Formative Assessment
Classroom Techniques
(FACTs)
WHAT DOES A FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT–
CENTERED CLASSROOM LOOK LIKE?
In a primary classroom, students are having a “math talk” to decide
which figures are triangles. After using a Card Sort strategy to group
picture cards as “triangles” and “not triangles,” the teacher
encourages the students to develop a list of characteristics that
could be used to decide whether a figure is a triangle. As students
share their ideas and come to an agreement, the teacher records the
characteristic and draws an example and nonexample to further
illustrate the idea. She then gives students an opportunity to regroup
their cards, using the defining characteristics developed as a class.
As the students discuss the results of their sorting process, she
listens for and encourages students to use the listed characteristics
to justify their choices. Throughout the discussion, the class works
together to revise the triangle characteristics already listed and to
add additional characteristics that were not included in the initial
discussion.
In an intermediate classroom, the teacher uses a Justified List
Probe to uncover students’ explanations of how to determine
equivalent and non-equivalent sums and differences of various two-
digit numbers (for example, is 23 + 42 equal to 42 + 23? Is 23 + 42
equal to 22 + 43? Is 42 – 23 equal to 23 – 42? Is 42 – 23 equal to 43
– 22? Using the Sticky Bars strategy to anonymously display
students’ ideas, the teacher and the class can see that many
students believe that both sums and differences are equivalent
regardless of the order of the numbers. Knowing that this is a
common misunderstanding cited in the research literature and
seeing that the data from her own class mirrors that
misunderstanding, the teacher designs a lesson that involves the
students in using manipulatives to model the addition and
subtraction of various two-digit numbers. After students experience
modeling the operations, they revisit their original ideas and have an
opportunity to revise them. The next day, students are given the task
of defining the commutative property of addition. They work in small
groups with Whiteboards to demonstrate the commutative property
for addition and explain why there is no commutative property for
subtraction. At the end of the lesson, students use I Used to Think…
But Now I Know…to reflect on their original thinking about whether
the sums and differences were or were not equivalent.
In a middle school classroom, the students use a P-E-O Probe to
predict the number line location of the results of a number of multiple
multiplication and division problems. Using the Human Scatter Graph
technique, the teacher quickly sees that students differ in their
responses and their confidence in their answers regarding whether
multiplication always makes bigger and division always makes
smaller. Knowing that this would be a difficult idea to change, the
teacher provides students with various visual representations of
multiplication and division with whole numbers, decimals, fractions,
and integers using an interactive technology-based program. For
multiple problems, students observe the modeling of the operation
and discuss the pattern of results with various number types. After
the demonstration and class discussion, the students use Thinking
Logs to reflect on their new ideas regarding the effects of
multiplication and division.
In a high school geometry class, small groups of students are
using a collection of Examples and Nonexamples to discuss and
reconcile their different ideas about whether the information provided
about a figure is sufficient to determine whether that figure is a
parallelogram. With the goal of consensus, students within each
group justify their choice, trying to persuade others who disagree. As
the groups work to produce justifications that will be shared with the
whole class, the teacher circulates among the group, probing further
and encouraging argumentation. Students write a Two-Minute Paper
at the end of class to share their thinking with the teacher and
describe the information needed to determine whether a figure is a
parallelogram. The teacher uses this information to prepare for the
next day’s lesson on conditions of parallelograms.
What do all of these classroom snapshots have in common? Each
of these examples embeds formative assessment techniques into
instruction for a specific teaching and learning purpose. Often it is
hard to tell whether a particular technique or strategy serves an
instructional, assessment, or learning purpose because they are so
intertwined. Students are learning while at the same time the teacher
is gathering valuable information about their thinking that will inform
instruction and provide opportunities for students to surface,
examine, and reflect on their learning.
Each of these snapshots gives a brief glimpse into the different
techniques teachers can use in their lessons to promote student
thinking, uncover students’ ideas, and use information about how
their students are progressing conceptually to improve their
instruction. The teaching strategies in these snapshots are just a few
of the 75 formative assessment classroom techniques (FACTs)
described in Chapter 4 that, along with the background on formative
assessment described in Chapters 1 through 3, will help you
understand and effectively use these techniques. While you may be
tempted to skip ahead and go directly to Chapter 4 to find FACTs you
can use in your classroom, you are encouraged to read all of the
chapters in this book. The image and implementation of formative
assessment in your classroom will be sharper and more deliberately
focused if you have a firm knowledge base about the purposes and
uses of formative assessment, including clearly articulated learning
goals, before you select a FACT.
WHY USE FACTS?
Every day, mathematics teachers are asking questions, listening
carefully to students as they explain their thinking, observing
students as they work in groups, examining students’ writing and
representations, and orchestrating classroom discourse that
promotes the public sharing of ideas. These purposeful, planned,
and often-spontaneous teacher-to-student, student-to-teacher, and
student-to-student oral and written interactions involve a variety of
assessment techniques. These techniques are used to engage
students in thinking deeply about their ideas in mathematics,
uncover the thinking students bring to their learning that can be used
as starting points to build upon during instruction, and help teachers
determine how well individual students and the class are progressing
toward developing mathematical understanding.
The 75 mathematics FACTs described in this book are inextricably
linked to assessment, instruction, and learning. The interconnected
nature of formative assessment clearly differentiates the types of
assessments we call assessments for learning from assessments of
learning—the summative assessments used to measure and
document student achievement. Figure 1.1 describes the different
types and purposes of assessment in the mathematics classroom.

“Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its
design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils’ learning. It thus
differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of
accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence” (Hodgen & Wiliam,
2006).

Figure 1.1 Types and Purposes of Assessment

 Diagnostic: To identify preconceptions, errors, types of reasoning, and learning
difficulties.
Formative: To inform instruction and provide feedback to students on their
learning.
Summative: To measure and document the extent to which students have
achieved a learning target.

Source: Keeley (2008), p. 4. Used with permission.

Note: Diagnostic assessment becomes formative when the assessment data are
used to inform teaching and learning.

Each FACT described in Chapter 4 is a type of question or activity

that helps provide teachers and students with information about their
factual, conceptual, and procedural understandings in mathematics.
These formative assessment techniques inform teaching by allowing
the teacher to continuously gather information on student thinking
and learning in order to make data-informed decisions to plan for or
adjust instructional activities, monitor the pace of instruction, identify
misconceptions and common errors that can be barriers as well as
springboards for learning, and spend more time on concepts and
procedures that students struggle with. Formative assessment is
also used to provide feedback to students, engaging them in the
assessment of their own or their peers’ thinking. In addition to
informing instruction and providing feedback, many of the formative
assessment techniques included in this book initiate the use of
metacognitive skills and promote deeper student thinking.

“When data are used by teachers to make decisions about next steps for a
student or group of students, to plan instruction, and to improve their own
practice, they help inform as well as form practice; this is formative assessment.
When data are collected at certain planned intervals, and are used to show what
students have achieved to date, they provide a summary of progress and are
summative assessment” (Carlson, Humphrey, & Reinhardt, 2003, p. 4).
 The FACTs described in this book are designed to be easily
embedded into classroom instruction. They are primarily used to
assess before and throughout the learning process, rather than at
the endpoint of instruction, except when used for purposes of
reflection. Their main purpose is to improve student learning and
opportunities to learn by gathering data that are then intentionally
used to carefully design instruction that takes into account students’
ideas and ways of thinking. They generally do not involve grading in
the way that marking papers and assigning grades do; those types of
grading tend to cast judgment on students’ knowledge and skills and
set up competition among students, conveying the unintentional
message to the learner that “I am not good at mathematics” or “I’m
better in mathematics than my classmates.” They are generally not
used for the summative purpose of documentation and accountability
—measuring and reporting student achievement. The versatility of
the techniques described in this book accommodates a range of
learning styles and can be used to differentiate instruction and
assessment for individuals and groups of students. FACTs can be
used to spark students’ interest, bring ideas to the surface, initiate
mathematical explorations, and encourage classroom discourse—all
assessment strategies that promote learning rather than measure
and report learning. A rich repertoire of FACTs enables learners to
interact with assessment in multiple ways—through writing, drawing,
speaking, listening, physically moving, and designing and carrying
out mathematical explorations. Figure 1.2 lists a variety of purposes
for which FACTs can be used in the mathematics classroom.

Figure 1.2 Twenty Purposes for Using FACTs

Activate thinking and engage students in learning

Make students’ ideas explicit to themselves and the teacher
Challenge students’ existing ideas and encourage intellectual
curiosity
Encourage continuous reflection on teaching and learning
 Help students consider alternative viewpoints
Provide a stimulus for discussion and mathematical
argumentation
Help students recognize when they have learned or not
learned something
Encourage students to ask better questions and provide
thoughtful responses
Provide starting points for mathematical inquiry
Aid formal concept development and transfer
Determine whether students can apply mathematics ideas to
new situations
Differentiate instruction for individuals or groups of students
Promote the use of academic language in mathematics
learning
Evaluate the effectiveness of a lesson
Help students develop self-assessment and peer assessment
skills
Give and use feedback (student to student, teacher to
student, and student to teacher)
Encourage social construction of ideas in mathematics
Inform immediate or later adjustments to instruction
Encourage and include participation of all learners
Increase comfort and confidence in making one’s own ideas
public

Source: Keeley (2008), p. 6. Used with permission.

Regardless of geographic area, type of school, degree of diversity

of the student population, or the grade level taught, every teacher
shares the same goal. That goal is to provide the highest quality
instruction that will ensure that all students have opportunities to
learn the concepts, procedures, and skills that will help them become
mathematically literate students and adults. Formative assessment
provides ongoing opportunities for teachers to elicit students’ prior
knowledge; to identify the ideas they struggle with, accommodate, or
develop as they engage in the process of learning; and to determine
the extent to which students are moving toward or have reached
mathematical understanding at an appropriate developmental level.
FACTs help teachers continuously examine how students’ ideas
about concepts and procedures form and change over time as well
as how students respond to particular teaching approaches. This
information is constantly used to adjust instruction and refocus
learning to support each student’s intellectual growth in
mathematics.

HOW DOES RESEARCH SUPPORT THE USE OF

FACTS?
The seminal research report from the National Research Council,
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (Bransford,
Brown, & Cocking, 1999), followed by the practitioner version, How
Students Learn Mathematics in the Classroom (Donovan &
Bransford, 2005), have significantly contributed to our understanding
of how students learn mathematics. This understanding has
implications for what content is taught, how the mathematics is
taught, how learning is assessed, and how to promote deeper
understanding in mathematics. Three core principles from How
People Learn underscore the value of using FACTs in the
mathematics classroom.
Principle 1: If their [students’] initial understanding is not
engaged, they may fail to grasp new concepts and information
presented in the classroom, or they may learn them for purposes
of a test but revert to their preconceptions (Bransford et al., 1999,
p. 14).

This principle supports the use of FACTs as a way to elicit the

prior ideas students bring to the classroom, making their thinking
visible to themselves, their peers, and the teacher. By knowing in
advance the ideas students have already formed in their minds,
teachers can design targeted instruction and create conditions for
learning that take into account and build on students’ preconceived
ideas. Students’ own ideas and the instructional opportunities that
use them as springboards provide the starting point from which
concepts and procedures in mathematics can be developed. As
students engage in learning experiences designed to help them
develop mathematical understanding, teachers keep their fingers on
the pulse of students’ learning, determine when instruction is
effective in helping students revise or refine their ideas, and make
midcourse corrections as needed.
Principle 2: To develop competence in an area of inquiry,
students must (a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge,
(b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual
framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate
retrieval and application (Bransford et al., 1999, p. 16).

This principle points out the importance of factual knowledge but

cautions that knowledge of a large set of disconnected facts is not
sufficient to support conceptual understanding. Several of the FACTs
described in Chapter 4 not only provide strategies for teachers to
assess students’ knowledge of facts and understanding of concepts
but actually promote thinking that supports understanding. This
thinking and the feedback students receive during the learning
process help support the development of a conceptual framework of
ideas. Teachers use the information on students’ thinking to design
opportunities that will help students develop from novice learners
into deeper, conceptual learners who can draw upon and retrieve
information from their framework. As concept development is
monitored, reinforced, and solidified, formative assessment
techniques are also used to determine how well students can
transfer their new knowledge and skills from one context to another.
Principle 3: A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help
students learn to take control of their own learning by defining
learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them
(Bransford et al., 1999, p. 18).
 John Flavel, a Stanford University psychologist, coined the term
metacognition in the late 1970s to name the process of thinking
about one’s own thinking and learning. Since then, cognitive science
has focused considerable attention on this phenomenon (Walsh &
Sattes, 2005). Several FACTs described in this book promote the
use of metacognitive strategies for self-regulation of learning. These
strategies help students monitor their own learning by helping them
predict outcomes, explain ideas to themselves, note areas where
they have difficulty understanding mathematical concepts, activate
prior knowledge and background information, and recognize
experiences that help or hinder their learning. White and Frederiksen
(1998) suggest that metacognitive strategies not be taught
generically but rather be embedded into the subject matter that
students are learning. The FACTs that support metacognition are
designed to be seamlessly embedded into the mathematics learning
experiences that target students’ ideas and thinking in mathematics.
They provide opportunities for students to have an internal dialogue
that mentally verbalizes their thinking, which can then be shared with
others.
Evidence from the research studies described in How People
Learn (Bransford et al., 1999) indicates that when these three
principles are incorporated into instruction, assessment, and
learning, student achievement improves. This research is further
supported by the metastudy described in Assessment for Learning
(Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003) that makes a strong
case, supported by a significant effect size in the study, for the use of
formative assessment to improve learning, particularly to raise the
achievement levels of students who have typically been described as
low attainers.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTS THAT SUPPORT

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
In addition to contributing to our understanding of how students learn
mathematics, How People Learn (Bransford et al., 1999) has also
changed our view of how classroom environments should be
designed in order to support teaching and learning. These
characteristics relate directly to classroom climates and cultures
where the use of FACTs is an integral part of teaching and learning.
These environments include the following:

Learner-Centered Environments. In learner-centered

environments, careful attention is paid to the knowledge, beliefs,
attitudes, and skills students bring to the classroom (Bransford et al.,
1999, p. 23). In a learner-centered classroom, teachers use FACTs
before and throughout instruction, pay careful attention to the
progress of each student, and know at all times where their students
are in their thinking and learning. All ideas, whether they are right or
wrong, are valued in a learner-centered environment. Learners come
to value their ideas, knowing that their existing conceptions that
surface through the use of FACTs provide the beginning of a
pathway to new understandings.

Knowledge-Centered Environment. In a knowledge-centered

environment, teachers know what the goals for learning are, the key
concepts and ideas that make up the goals, the prerequisites upon
which prior and later understandings are built, the types of
experiences that support conceptual learning, and the assessments
that will provide information about student learning. In addition, these
goals, key concepts and ideas, and prerequisite learnings can be
made explicit to students so they can monitor their progress toward
achieving understanding (Bransford et al., 1999, p. 24). The
knowledge-centered environment uses FACTs to understand
students’ thinking in order to provide the necessary depth of
experience students need to develop conceptual understanding. It
looks beyond student engagement and how well students enjoy their
mathematics activities. There are important differences between
mathematics activities that are “fun” and those that encourage
learning with understanding. FACTs support a knowledge-centered
environment by promoting and monitoring learning with
understanding.
“An important feature of the assessment-centered classroom is assessment that
supports learning by providing students with opportunities to revise and improve
their thinking” (Donovan & Bransford, 2005, p. 16).

Assessment-Centered Environment. Assessment-centered

environments provide opportunities for students to surface, examine,
and revise their thinking (Bransford et al., 1999, p. 24). The ongoing
use of FACTs makes students’ thinking visible to both teachers and
students and provides students with opportunities to revise and
improve their thinking and monitor their own learning progress. In a
formative assessment–centered environment, teachers identify
problem learning areas to focus on. They encourage students to
examine how their ideas have changed over the course of a unit of
study. Having an opportunity to examine their own ideas and share
how and why they have changed is a powerful moment that
connects the student to the teaching and learning process.

Community-Centered Environment. A community-centered

environment is a place where students learn from each other and
continually strive to improve their learning. It is a place where social
norms are valued in the search for understanding and both teachers
and students believe that everyone can learn (Bransford et al., 1999,
p. 25). Within this environment, FACTs are used to promote
intellectual camaraderie around discussing and learning
mathematics. A mathematics community–centered environment that
uses FACTs encourages the following:

Public sharing of all ideas and problem-solving strategies, not

just the “right answers”
Safety in academic risk taking
Revision of ideas and problem-solving strategies and reflection
Questioning and clarification of explanations
Discussions with peers and use of norms for argumentation
Group and individual feedback on teaching and learning
 A classroom with these four overlapping environments is a place
where students and teachers both feel part of an intellectual learning
community that is continuously improving opportunities to teach and
learn. It is a place where students and teachers thrive. It is a place
where the connections between assessment, teaching, and learning
are inseparable.

CONNECTING TEACHING AND LEARNING

Teaching without learning can happen in mathematics classrooms.
Too often, students learn procedural steps and can produce a correct
solution without understanding the important conceptual
underpinnings of the process. Without conceptual understanding,
students are not able to use their knowledge flexibly, cannot apply
the procedure or skill within a new context, and are unable to justify
and check the appropriateness of a solution.

“Learning can and often does take place without the benefit of teaching—and
sometimes even in spite of it—but there is no such thing as effective teaching in
the absence of learning” (Angelo & Cross, 1993, p. 3).

Even our brightest students sometimes “learn” mathematics for

the purpose of passing a test but then quickly revert back to their
misconceptions and common errors. Gaps often exist between what
was taught and what students actually learned. Frequently these
gaps do not show up until after students have been summatively
assessed through end-of-unit, district, or state assessments. At this
point, it is often too late to go back and modify lessons, particularly
when assessments given months and even years later point out
gaps in student learning.
To stop this inefficient cycle of backfilling the gaps, teachers need
better ways of determining where their students are in their thinking
and understanding prior to and throughout the instructional process.
Students need to be actively involved in the assessment process, so
that they are learning through assessment as well as providing
useful feedback to the teacher and other students. Good formative
assessment practices raise the quality of classroom instruction and
promote deeper conceptual learning. Formative assessment
ultimately empowers both the teacher and the student to make the
best possible decisions regarding teaching and learning.
Linking assessment, instruction, and learning does not merely
involve adding some new techniques to teachers’ repertoire of
strategies. The purposeful use of FACTs, on a continuous basis,
provides much more; it organizes the entire classroom around
learning and ways teachers can provide more effective learning
experiences based on how their own students think and learn.
Formative assessment can be used formally or informally, but it is
always purposeful. Teachers can take actions based on the
information gained from the use of FACTS immediately, the next day,
or over the course of a unit; or ideas for action can be shared with
and used by teachers who will have the same students the next year.

“Formative assessment isn’t just about strategies to ascertain current knowledge

—formative happens after the finding out has taken place. It’s about furthering
student learning during the learning process” (Clarke, 2005, p. 1).

If information about student learning is collected but not used as

data or feedback that leads to action to improve teaching or learning,
then it is not formative. It becomes information for information’s sake.
For example, using a FACT to find out if students have
misconceptions similar to the commonly held ideas noted in the
mathematics research literature is interesting and important in and of
itself. However, just knowing that students have these ideas does not
make this a formative assessment activity. It is not merely the
collecting of this information, but the making of decisions as a result
of careful examination of the data, that makes the activity formative
assessment and connects teaching to learning.
MAKING THE SHIFT TO A FORMATIVE
ASSESSMENT–CENTERED CLASSROOM
Formative assessment requires a fundamental shift in our beliefs
about the role of a teacher. In a formative assessment–centered
classroom, teachers interact more frequently and effectively with
students on a day-to-day basis, promoting their learning (Black &
Harrison, 2004). This interaction requires the teacher to step back
from the traditional role of information provider and corrector of
misconceptions and errors in order to listen to and encourage a
range of ideas and problem-solving strategies among students. The
teacher takes all ideas and strategies seriously, whether they are
right or wrong, while helping students talk them through and
encouraging them to consider the evidence that supports or
challenges their thinking. During such interactions, the teacher is
continuously thinking about how to shape instruction to meet the
learning needs of students and build a bridge between their initial
ideas and the mathematics understandings we want all students to
successfully achieve.

“Even though teachers routinely gather assessment information through

homework, quizzes, and tests, from the students’ perspective, this type of
information is often collected too late to affect their learning. It is very difficult to
‘de-program’ students who are used to turning in homework, quizzes, and tests,
getting grades back, and considering it ‘over and done with’” (Angelo & Cross,
1993, p. 7).

The teacher also plays a pivotal role in connecting assessment to

students’ opportunities to identify and understand the role of a
mathematically literate citizen.
Mathematical literacy is an individual’s capacity to identify and
understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make
well-founded judgments and to use and engage with mathematics
in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a
 constructive, concerned and reflective citizen. (Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development, 2003)
Providing opportunities to discuss, construct and to organize
thinking about the principles, properties, and uses of mathematics in
solving relevant problems helps students understand the importance
of the discipline beyond the school setting.
Traditionally, mathematics teachers were considered the providers
of content that students then learned—teachers teach content and,
as a result, students learn. The role of the teacher in a formative
assessment–centered classroom is more of a facilitator and monitor
of conceptual and procedural learning. The teacher’s role expands to
helping students use strategies to understand how well they are
learning. As a result, students become more conscious of the
learning process itself and take greater responsibility for their own
learning.

“The role of the learner is not to passively receive information, but to actively
participate in the construction of new meaning” (Shapiro, 1994, p. 8).

In a formative assessment–centered classroom, students learn to

play an active role in the process of learning. They learn that their
role is not only to actively engage in their own learning but to support
the learning of others as well. They come to realize that learning has
to be done by them; it cannot be done for them. They learn to use
various FACTs that help them take charge of their own learning and
assess where they stand in relation to identified learning goals.
When they know what the learning target is, they use metacognitive
skills along with peer and self-assessment strategies that enable
them to steer their own learning in the right direction so they can
take responsibility for it (Black & Harrison, 2004).
Standards and learning goals have a significant impact on what
teachers teach and students learn. Developing content knowledge
that includes important mathematics facts, concepts, procedures,
and problem-solving abilities is at the heart of mathematics teaching
and learning. As a result, teaching, assessing, and learning must
take place with a clear target in mind. Standards should not become
a checklist of content to be taught and assessed. Rather, they inform
thinking about content as an interconnected cluster of learning goals
that develop over time. By clarifying the specific ideas and skills
described in the standards and articulated as learning goals,
teachers are in a better position to uncover the gap between
students’ existing knowledge or skill and the knowledge or skill
described in the learning goal. As a result, they are better able to
monitor that gap as it closes (Black et al., 2003). While a particular
FACT may determine the approach that teachers take to uncover
students’ ideas and modify instruction accordingly, the fundamental
ideas and skills students need to learn remain the same. The focus
of teaching and learning is on meeting goal-oriented learning needs
rather than delivering a set of curricula at an established pace or
teaching a favorite activity that does little to promote conceptual
understanding.
Identifying and targeting learning goals is not the sole purview of
the teacher. In a formative assessment–centered classroom,
teachers share learning goals with students. This may involve
breaking them down into the key ideas and procedures students will
learn. Awareness of the goals for learning helps students see the
bigger picture of learning and make connections to what they already
know about mathematics concepts and procedures.

“Through communication, ideas become objects of reflection, refinement,

discussion, and amendment. The communication process also helps build
meaning and permanence for ideas and makes them public” (National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics, 2000, p. 60).

Another major shift that happens in a formative assessment–

centered classroom is the recognition of the importance of
acknowledging students’ ideas. Traditional instruction involves the
passing on of information from the teacher or the instructional
materials, with little thought given to building on students’ existing
conceptions. Students form many of their ideas in mathematics by
generalizing and adapting concepts and procedures learned in a
different mathematical context. Often the adapted concept or
procedures are no longer applicable within the new context, possibly
contributing to a misunderstanding. These misunderstandings are
referred to in a variety of ways, including misconceptions,
overgeneralizations, conceptual misunderstandings, or common
errors. In this book, they will be referred to generically as
misconceptions, although the term does not necessarily imply that
the idea is completely incorrect. In some cases, misconceptions
include partially formed correct ideas, but they are not yet put
together in a way that is mathematically correct. The nature of these
misconceptions is described as follows (Mestre, 2000):
They interfere with learning when students use them to interpret
new experiences.
Students are emotionally and intellectually attached to their
misconceptions because they have actively constructed them.
Students give up their misconceptions only with great reluctance.
Repeating a lesson or making it clearer will not help students who
base their reasoning on strongly held misconceptions.
Students who overcome a misconception after ordinary instruction
often return to it only a short time later.
A constructivist approach to teaching and learning posits that
students’ existing ideas make a difference to their future learning, so
effective teaching needs to take these existing ideas into account.
Research indicates that misconceptions held by students persist into
adulthood if they are left unconfronted and unchallenged (Carre,
1993). However, this does not simply imply that misconceptions are
a bad thing and must be confronted on the spot as “wrong ideas.”
Rather than immediately correcting misconceptions when they
surface, teachers should gather information that may reveal how
misconceptions can be used as starting points for instruction.
Starting with students’ ideas and monitoring their progress as they
are guided through learning that helps them recognize when their
ideas no longer work for them and need to be modified or changed is
the essence of an idea-focused, formative assessment classroom
that promotes conceptual change.
As you gain a deeper understanding of the purposes and uses of
formative assessment, you may find yourself reshaping techniques
or developing new ones. You might find some techniques work better
than others, depending on the mathematics idea being assessed or
the nature of the learners in your classroom. Many of the FACTs
described in Chapter 4 may be new to you; others may be ones you
use routinely. Regardless of how you use the FACTs or your
familiarity with them, one important implication for the mathematics
classroom stands out—formative assessment provides an effective
way for teachers to create classrooms that reflect current research
on learning and provide greater opportunities for all students to
achieve deeper levels of learning.
 2

Integrating FACTs With

Instruction and
Learning
I taught a great lesson but the wrong class came.

—Anonymous

INTEGRATING ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTION

Formative assessment classroom techniques (FACTs) are rooted in
good teaching practice. They offer a variety of ways to seamlessly
integrate assessment and instruction by learning more about what
students need to be successful learners of mathematics. Teachers
who use FACTs start their lessons where their students’ ideas are,
identifying and monitoring learning paths that will eventually lead
students to discover and understand important concepts and
procedures in mathematics. Adapting teaching practice to align with
the emerging research on formative assessment and how students
learn has a reciprocal effect on teaching and learning. As teachers
incorporate more FACTs into their practice, their understanding of
student learning increases, which in turn improves the quality of their
teaching and raises student achievement.
“The quality of student learning is directly, although not exclusively, related to the
quality of teaching. Therefore, one of the most promising ways to improve
learning is to improve teaching“ (Angelo & Cross, 1993, p. 7).

Consider how one mathematics teacher reflected on the link

between assessment and her teaching:
Before introducing the unit on computing with percents, I now first
probe for student understanding of the meaning of percent.
Without understanding the relationship between percents,
decimals, and fractions, the taught procedures of setting up a
proportion or converting to a decimal and multiplying, just don’t
make sense to students. Without a true understanding, there is no
ability to check answers for reasonableness of the results.
(Teacher Sound Bite in Rose et al., 2007, p. 87)
The above reflection clearly shows the need to select the right tool
or technique for the right instructional purpose. With 75 FACTs
described in Chapter 4 to choose from, it is important to keep in mind
that FACTs are not intended to be used as strategies picked at
random. To be effectively integrated into one’s teaching practice,
FACTs must be thoughtfully selected to match the appropriate stage
and purpose of instruction.
The teacher’s reflection in the above quote indicates that the
purpose of formative assessment is to guide teaching rather than
assign a grade to students. While some of the FACTs described in
Chapter 4 can be graded, their primary purpose is to inform and
guide teaching and learning. This requires the teacher to shift
instructional approaches from being the deliverer of content and
assigner of grades to being a careful gatherer and analyzer of data
about student thinking and learning—data that will provide the
teacher with information on how to make the content of a lesson
more accessible to learners. This requires teachers to keep their
fingers on the pulse of student learning by constantly being aware of,
supporting, and monitoring students’ questions, comments, ideas,
feedback, and reflections. When used throughout instruction,
formative assessment helps build the type of deeper conceptual
knowledge that leads to enduring understanding.

ASSESSMENT THAT PROMOTES THINKING AND

LEARNING

“Learning is a consequence of thinking. Retention, understanding, and the active

use of knowledge can be brought about by learning experiences in which
learners think about and think with what they are learning…. Knowledge comes
on the coattails of thinking“ (Perkins, 1992).

Formative assessment enhances the daily interactions between

students and between students and teachers by providing varied
opportunities to surface, examine, work through, and reflect upon
mathematical ideas related to a learning goal. While FACTs provide
valuable information to the teacher to use for making instructional
decisions, they also activate, encourage, and deepen student
thinking. Students use their existing ideas and build on them to
understand and explain mathematics. FACTs encourage the use of
thinking skills in mathematics, such as making and investigating
conjectures, interpreting and evaluating results, and developing and
justifying ideas. Through the act of thinking about the ideas that
surface through formative assessment, students actively engage in
the process of constructing, modifying, or deepening their knowledge
of content and procedures. Therefore, assessment not only serves
the purpose of finding out what students are learning but also
promotes learning.

“An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as

feedback by teachers, and by their students in assessing themselves and each
other, to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.
 Such assessment becomes formative assessment when the evidence is used to
adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs“ (Black et al., 2003, p. 2).

Metacognition is a key component of assessment that promotes

learning. Metacognition involves thinking about one’s thinking,
including knowledge about oneself as a processor of concepts and
ideas. Figure 2.1 lists several indicators of metacognition.

Figure 2.1 Indicators of Metacognition

Students engaged in metacognitive processes …

know what they or the teacher needs to do in order for them

to learn effectively;
monitor their current understanding and recognize the basis
for their ideas, procedures, and problem solving strategies;
recognize how new knowledge relates to or challenges their
existing conceptions or approach to solving problems;
know what questions to ask to further their understanding;
are able to evaluate mathematical claims and ideas of others;
and
can monitor the extent to which they are able to contribute to
others’ learning.

Source: Keeley (2008), p. 17. Used with permission.

Appropriate kinds of self-monitoring through metacognitive

techniques and reflection have been demonstrated to support
learning with understanding in a variety of areas. Helping students
become more metacognitive about their own thinking and learning is
closely tied to instructional practices that encourage feedback and
self-assessment. However, it is important to point out that
responding to feedback provided by the teacher or other students is
different from students actively seeking feedback from the teacher or
other students in order to assess their current thinking and level of
understanding (Donovan & Bransford, 2005).

“Supporting students to become aware of and engaged in their own learning will
serve them well in all learning endeavors“ (Donovan ” Bransford, 2005, p. 12).

Providing support for metacognition and peer and self-assessment

is an important use of several of the FACTs described in Chapter 4.
FACTs can provide opportunities for students to analyze and
evaluate their own ideas and the ideas of their peers. Awareness of
one’s own thinking includes knowing when new knowledge relates to
or challenges what one already knows or believes and leads to
questions that stimulate further mathematical inquiry. Opportunities
to test out ideas after making predictions confront students with the
challenge of deciding if their ideas need to be revised, based on their
problem-solving strategies, calculations, and observations. Small-
group and class discussions provide a forum for students to express
their ideas, make their thinking visible to themselves and others, and
explore ideas that seem to make the most sense. Graphic organizers
help students organize their thinking.
To be effective in promoting thinking and learning, metacognitive
and reflection strategies should be explicitly taught in the
mathematics classroom. FACTs that incorporate these strategies
should be taught in the context of the content students are learning
related to a specific learning goal. Teaching FACTs apart from
mathematical content is like teaching problem-solving skills without a
problem to apply the skills to.

LINKING ASSESSMENT, INSTRUCTION, AND

LEARNING: THE MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENT,
INSTRUCTION, AND LEARNING CYCLE (MAIL
CYCLE)
A continuous assessment, instruction, and learning cycle model for
mathematics that can be used with the FACTs in Chapter 4 is the
mathematics assessment, instruction, and learning (MAIL) cycle
shown in Figure 2.2. This instructional model can help guide
mathematics teachers in selecting an appropriate FACT to match the
purpose and stage in the instructional or learning process and
reinforces the inextricable link between assessment, instruction, and
learning. The circular diagram illustrates the cyclical nature of the
MAIL in which instruction can loop back and repeat different stages
as needed. Self-assessment and reflection are the centerpiece that
promotes metacognition and are connected to each stage in the
cycle.

“Teacher inquiry into learning and teaching is a powerful process that begins by
learning from and about students first hand“ (Stepans et al., 2005, p. 43).

In the early 1960s, J. Myron Atkin and Robert Karplus formulated

a constructivist instructional model of guided discovery designed to
be similar to the way scientists invent and use new concepts to
explain the natural world. This instructional model, called the
learning cycle, was designed to allow students an opportunity to
surface and examine their prior conceptions. Once their ideas are
revealed, students have an opportunity to explore them, arguing
about and testing them in the process. When students see that their
existing ideas do not fully match their findings, a disequilibrium
results that opens the door to the construction of new scientific
concepts. When students finally develop the formal scientific
understandings and patterns of reasoning that help them make
sense of phenomena, they are encouraged to extend their learning
and apply their ideas to a new situation or context. While this model
was originally developed for science, it is useful in mathematics as
well (Fleener, Westbrook, & Rogers, 1995; Siegel, Borasi, & Fonzi,
1998; Stepans et al., 2005).

Figure 2.2 The Mathematics Assessment, Instruction, and Learning

(MAIL) Cycle

Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008).

Throughout the various stages of a learning cycle, teachers

design and monitor instruction so that students become increasingly
conscious of their own and others’ ideas. They gain confidence in
their ability to learn, to apply concepts to new situations, and to use
mathematical reasoning to construct evidence-based arguments.
Teachers orchestrate student learning in different ways at different
stages, encouraging a classroom climate in which ideas are openly
generated and sufficient time is allowed for sense making and
development of new knowledge and skills. While they are facilitating
students’ development of new ideas, teachers are also conducting
formative assessments by monitoring students’ changing
conceptions and strategies and adapting their teaching and
assessment techniques to meet their students’ needs.

STAGES IN THE MAIL CYCLE

The FACTs described in Chapter 4 can be used with any
instructional model. The advantage of using the FACTs with the
MAIL cycle is that it helps provide a framework for seamlessly
embedding the assessment techniques into teaching and learning. In
addition, the cycle parallels the SAIL (science assessment,
instruction, and learning) cycle in science (Keeley, 2008) and builds
commonality between instructional and assessment techniques in
both disciplines. Each of the stages in the MAIL cycle has an explicit
purpose connected to assessment, instruction, and learning, as
shown in Figure 2.3 and described below. Figure 2.4 shows the
different types of assessment used in each stage of the cycle.

ENGAGEMENT AND READINESS

Using a FACT prior to selecting instructional materials or developing
a lesson provides the teacher with a clearer sense of the readiness,
motivation, and interest related to the content of the lesson. FACTs
provide students with an opportunity to activate their thinking and
develop curiosity about the topic. Examples from Chapter 4 include
Friendly Talk Probes and Learning Goals Inventory.

ELICITING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Drawing out ideas students have developed through prior learning
experiences or intuition provides a starting point from which the
teacher can design instruction that will build on those ideas. Probing
students’ thinking allows teachers to determine where and how ideas
may have developed and inform the types of instructional
experiences that can build a bridge between where the students are
and the mathematical understanding of the concept or procedure.
Elicitation strategies promote thinking by safely surfacing ideas and
challenging students’ prior beliefs and knowledge. Discussion that
accompanies elicitation allows students to share their thinking with
others, which further challenges students’ ideas as they consider
them in light of their peers’ explanations and arguments. Examples
from Chapter 4 include Opposing Views Probes, Commit and Toss,
and Card Sorts.

Figure 2.3 MAIL Cycle Connections to Assessing, Teaching, and

Learning
Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008).

Figure 2.4 MAIL Cycle and General Assessment Types

Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008).

*Diagnostic assessment becomes formative when the data are used

to inform teaching and learning.

EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY

The exploration and discovery stage can involve direct experience
with concrete or virtual manipulatives, data collection, problem-
solving processes, reading text, or uncovering ideas in discussion
with peers. This stage often includes prediction and discussion of
strategies that initiate mathematical inquiry. Providing opportunities
to test their ideas, invent their own procedures, and solve problems
gives students a basis of evidence to use in considering
mathematical ideas during the concept development stage. This
period of exploration and discovery allows the teacher to determine
the kinds of understandings and questions students have before
developing more structured opportunities for formalizing an
understanding of the learning goal. During this stage, FACTs can
also reveal how well students are responding to the assigned tasks
and considering ideas of others, and whether their original ideas
have been challenged by the evidence gathered during their
exploratory experiences. Assessment during this stage gives
students a chance to share their ideas and receive feedback from
the teacher and peers in a nonjudgmental environment. Selected
FACTs expose students to others’ ideas and thereby help them
reflect on their own thinking, which subsequently informs instruction
when shared with the teacher. Examples from Chapter 4 include A &
D Statements, Strategy Probe, and Concept Card Mapping.

CONCEPT AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Assessment of conceptual understanding and use of mathematical
skills during sense making, clarification, and development of formal
concepts helps both to reinforce student learning and to uncover any
difficulties or gaps in understanding that might still exist. FACTs used
during this stage help teachers determine the extent to which
students have grasped a concept or procedure, and have recognized
relationships among ideas. Results inform instruction by identifying
needs for additional learning experiences or opportunities to build
more sophisticated understandings, and by signaling that students
are ready to transfer their mathematical understandings to a new
context. In addition, teacher-to-student and student-to-student
feedback further enhances opportunities to build conceptual and
procedural knowledge. Examples from Chapter 4 include
Mathematicians’ Idea Comparison, Always, Sometimes, Never, and
Odd One Out.

CONCEPT AND PROCEDURE TRANSFER

Assessment information at this stage is used by the teacher to
address impediments that may interfere with transferring learning to
a new context or to introduce new and related concepts that build
more sophisticated understandings. Assessment information is used
to modify learning opportunities so that students can use their newly
formed or modified ideas or strategies in a new situation or novel
context. Assessment opportunities provide students with an
opportunity to think about how they can use their knowledge and
skills in new situations. Examples from Chapter 4 include Justified
List, Thought Experiments, and Concept Cartoons.
SELF-ASSESSMENT AND REFLECTION
Encouraging reflection and self-assessment helps students develop
essential metacognitive skills that are useful in monitoring their own
thinking and learning. Students learn to think about learning as well
as think about thinking. The distinction here is that self-assessment
helps students think about whether the mathematics makes sense.
Reflection helps them think about how they make sense of the
mathematics. Students’ self-assessments and reflections provide
valuable feedback to the teacher that shows how well teaching
supports metacognition and can point out which students may need
differentiated instruction. Reflections on learning activities can be
used by the teacher to improve an instructional unit or lesson.
Examples from Chapter 4 include Two Minute Paper, I Used to Think
… But Now I Know …, and Muddiest Point.

SELECTING AND USING FACTS TO

STRENGTHEN THE LINK BETWEEN
ASSESSMENT, INSTRUCTION, AND LEARNING
Selecting a FACT that informs teaching and promotes thinking is a
first step in using assessment for learning. The following is a list of
suggestions for using FACTs to strengthen the link between
assessment, instruction, and learning.

1. Make students’ thinking explicit during problem-solving activities

and mathematical investigations. Use FACTs to draw out students’
thinking before and throughout classroom activities.
2. Create a classroom culture of ideas, not answers. Use the
FACTs to encourage students to share their ideas, regardless of
whether they are right or wrong. Many students have been raised in
a classroom culture where they are expected to give the “right
answer.“ Thus, they hesitate to share their own ideas when they
think they may be “wrong.“ Hold off on telling students whether they
are right or wrong and give them an opportunity to work through their
ideas, weighing alternative explanations, evidence, and strategies
until they are ready to construct mathematical understanding. The
emphasis on surfacing mathematical ideas, inventing procedures,
trying different approaches to problems, and revising one’s thinking
should take precedence over getting the right answer. Getting all
ideas, strategies, and solutions out on the table first may take longer,
but in the long run, it will lead to deeper, more enduring
understanding, and students will be less apt to revert back to their
preconceptions after the lesson or unit of instruction ends.
3. Develop a discourse community. One of the key features of
several of the FACTs described in Chapter 4 is the way they promote
learning through discussion and argumentation. When students are
talking about their mathematical ideas, whether in a whole-class
discussion, in small groups, or in pairs, they are using the language
and conventions of mathematics. “Talking the talk is an important
part of learning“ (Black ” Harrison, 2004, p. 4). FACTs that encourage
“math talk“ not only engage students in activating their own thinking;
they also provide examples of others’ thinking for students to
evaluate.

Vygotsky (1978) established the zone of proximal development as the challenge

factor in learning—the difference between what students can do independently
and what they can accomplish with the support of others. The constructivist
model promotes cooperative situations as essential for effective learning, with
much classroom talk—between students and teachers and between students
together.

4. Encourage students to take risks. Create a climate in which it is

acceptable to share an idea without fear of being corrected by or
embarrassed in front of the teacher or other students. Create norms
of collaboration in the classroom so that everyone’s ideas are
respected and acknowledged.
5. Encourage students to listen carefully. In a formative
assessment classroom, different ideas are shared among pairs of
students, small groups, and the whole class. Students need to learn
to listen carefully to others’ ideas and evaluate their reasoning and
problem-solving strategies before changing their own ideas. They
need to learn not to accept a new idea or strategy just because their
peers think it is correct. They need to learn how to critically examine
others’ ideas before changing their own. Effective formative
assessment practices encourage students to think rather than just
accept ideas as they are presented.
6. Use a variety of FACTs in a variety of ways. Try out different
types of FACTs to promote thinking and learning. Vary the ways
students can reveal ideas—through writing, drawing, modeling, or
speaking. Vary strategies for sharing responses. For example,
students can form groups based on similar responses to discuss
their ideas, then jigsaw with other groups to consider alternative
explanations. Responses can also be shared anonymously by the
teacher, allowing the class to discuss and evaluate different
explanations.
7. Use a variety of grouping configurations. The social context
plays a powerful part in motivation and the effectiveness of learning.
The social interactions involved when FACTs are used in pairs, small
collaborative groups, or whole-class discourse are important for
promoting student learning. FACTs can provide a context and focal
point for the discussion and argumentation that occur between
students. Having to provide justification for one’s ideas to a partner
or others in a group develops deeper understanding for the student
who justifies a response as well as the student who evaluates the
justification.
8. Encourage continuous reflection. Encourage students to reflect
back on their initial ideas related to a learning goal in order to note
their own evidence of conceptual change or identify areas where
they are still struggling with an idea or procedure. Understanding is
an evolving process. It takes time for students to develop
mathematical ways of thinking, and students need to understand that
there are many steps along the way. Being aware of their own
thinking (metacognition) and knowing what learning goal they are
striving toward will help students be more accountable for their own
learning. Revisiting their initial response to a FACT and comparing it
to where they are in their current understanding is a powerful way to
reinforce learning.

Feedback from teachers who have used FACTs to link

assessment, instruction, and learning has been overwhelmingly
positive. The use of FACTs has considerably elevated teachers’
expectations of themselves and their students. The research has
been validated for teachers through their own empirical observations
as they see evidence of their students becoming more engaged in
mathematics, being more metacognitive, increasing their confidence
in their mathematical thinking, using higher-level thinking and
response skills, valuing feedback and reflection, and, ultimately,
improving their performance in mathematics.
All the ingredients are here for you to pay more attention to
assessment in the context of effective teaching and learning rather
than being distracted by the cloud of coverage and accountability.
While coverage of important content and accountability are
important, they are achieved appropriately when teachers are truly
accountable to students’ learning needs and use formative
assessment data to continuously inform their teaching so that
students have the knowledge and skills to perform well on
summative assessments. When student achievement scores
improve and long-term retention and understanding replace short-
term memorization for standardized testing, then you will know you
have successfully linked assessment, instruction, and learning!
 3

Considerations for
Selecting,
Implementing, and
Using Data From FACTs
SELECTING FACTS
A variety of factors need to be considered before selecting a
formative assessment classroom technique (FACT). The FACT
needs to be an appropriate match to the mathematics content
targeted, the needs and teaching styles of the teacher, and the types
of students in the class.

SELECTING FACTS TO MATCH LEARNING

GOALS
Selecting a FACT without a teaching or learning goal in mind
because it is seems like a fun activity to use in the classroom is
analogous to “activitymania”—selecting mathematics activities that
are fun and engaging to students but do not necessarily promote
learning or inform teaching. Superficially selecting FACTs can result
in “FACTmania” and derail their effectiveness in teaching and
learning.
Formative assessment is not the goal; it is a means of achieving a teaching or
learning goal.

Before a FACT is selected, identify and clarify the concept,

procedure, or skill the FACT is intended to provide information about.
To best assist students in their mathematics learning, a FACT should
attend to one of the many facets of learning, including conceptual
understanding, knowledge of procedures, use of algorithms,
problem-solving processes, and mathematical reasoning skills.
There must be a clear match between the FACT and the learning
goal it is intended to target. Figure 3.1 includes questions to ask
about content and learning goals that can help inform your selection
of an appropriate FACT. Using a systematic study process such as
Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study, developed by the authors of
this book with funding from the National Science Foundation, can
help teachers deeply examine the conceptual and procedural
content of the topics they teach through the lens of content
standards and research on student learning, which in turn informs
the appropriate selection of FACTs (see the Appendix).

Figure 3.1 Content Considerations for Selecting FACTs

Before selecting a FACT, ask yourself these questions:

How well do I understand the content or skill I am teaching?

What are the meaning and intent of this learning goal?
What specific ideas provide meaning for the concept?
What specific skills do students need to solve this problem?
What content is developmentally appropriate at the level I
teach?
What level of sophistication is appropriate to expect from
students at the level I teach?
What is the mathematical terminology students should know
and be able to use with this concept, procedure, or skill?
 What manipulatives can I use to help students understand the
concept?
What context is most appropriate for learning this concept or
skill?
What precursor concepts, skills, or procedures do students
need to know first in order to develop understanding?
What other concepts, skills, or procedures contribute to
students’ understanding and ability to use these mathematical
ideas?
What misconceptions, common errors, or difficulties should I
anticipate related to the content?
How do the answers to the above questions inform the
selection of a FACT?

Source:Adapted from Keeley (2008).

FACTS AND THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS

FOR MATHEMATICS
The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI, 2010)
define what students should understand and be able to do in K-12
mathematics.
As described in the previous section, formative assessment begins
by identifying a learning goal, such as a grade level expectation from
the Common Core Standards for Mathematics (CCSM). Since the
grade level expectations in the CCSM define what students should
"understand" or "be able to do," it is important for teachers to select
a FACT to find out what students know and can do conceptually or
procedurally in relation to the expectation for learning. In addition, an
important feature of the CCSM is the Standards for Mathematical
Practices. These practices describe a variety of processes,
proficiencies, and dispositions that teachers at all grade levels
should seek to develop in their students. Since the CCSM do not
define the methods and strategies used to determine the readiness
and prior knowledge necessary to achieve the standards, the FACTs
in this book complement CCSM’s eight Standards for Mathematical
Practices and their link to mathematical content in the following
ways:

″Asking a student to understand something means asking a teacher to assess

whether the student has understood it. But what does mathematical
understanding look like? One hallmark of mathematical understanding is the
ability to justify, in a way appropriate to the student’s mathematical maturity, why
a particular mathematical statement is true or where a mathematical rule comes
from" (Common Core State Standards Initiative [CCSSI], 2010, p. 4).

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.Several

of the FACTs in this book support metacognition by having
students identify the extent of their own understanding of a
problem and its solution as well as the problem-solving
approaches of others. FACTs are also used by the teacher to
monitor students’ progress in being able to identify and solve a
variety of mathematical problems. In addition, several FACTs
are used in providing feedback that helps students persevere in
solving problems by pointing out areas where they can improve.
For example, Create the Problem can be used to determine the
extent to which students understand the purpose of a
mathematical problem and the various ways to solve it.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. Many of the FACTs require
that students make their thinking explicit, whether orally or in
writing. By using these FACTs with mathematical problems and
ideas that require students to reason abstractly or quantitatively,
teachers can examine students’ reasoning abilities to be in a
better position to further explore and develop these skills. For
example, FACTs incorporating the use of Probes often require
students to reason about a concept symbolically, to reason from
a set of symbolic statements, or to reason about the quantities
being used within the problem.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Many of the FACTs require students to justify their answers,
either orally or in writing. By using a FACT with a variety of
learning goals over time, teachers can monitor students’ ability
to construct logical arguments using different strategies such as
the use of counterexamples, known properties, and concrete
referents. For example, Always, Sometimes, Never True
requires students to determine whether a statement is always
true, sometimes true, or never true, and to justify their choice. In
addition to allowing the teacher to monitor students’ abilities to
construct viable arguments, many of the FACTS provide a
structured method for students to analyze and critique the
reasoning of their peers. For example, Commit and Toss is an
anonymous technique that allows student ideas to be visible
without individual students being identified by their response.
4. Model with mathematics. Many of the FACTS require students
to create a model, make sense of a mathematical model of a
given situation allowing the teacher to assess students’ ability to
apply known mathematical concepts to a new situation, or
describe a symbolic or graphic representation of a given
situation. For example, Thought Experiments provides a way for
students to apply ideas in a novel situation that can’t be carried
out using a real-life investigation, and Every Graph Tells a Story
reveals how students make sense of graphical representations.
5. Use appropriate tools strategically. By choosing a problem that
requires the use of a mathematical tool and by using a FACT to
make student thinking visible, teachers can more easily
determine whether students are making strategic decisions
about the use of a specific tool and whether they are able to use
the tool appropriately. For example, Matching Cards, by using
measurement tools and various items that can be measured,
provides a process from which students can share their thinking
with classmates and the teacher.
6. Attend to precision. Communicating thinking about mathematical
concepts, ideas, and procedures is at the heart of many of the
FACTS. By establishing an ongoing communication expectation,
teachers can elicit and address over time the importance of
 using accurate terminology, using appropriate and clear
labeling, and directly and accurately addressing the question at
hand. For example, Partner Speaks allows students to talk
through a process or solution with another student and to
receive feedback before sharing with others. Over time, the
feedback can focus on the various components of precision.
7. Look for and make use of structure. By using FACTs that require
students to express their reasoning, teachers can observe how
students apply similar patterns in problems of varying difficulty
and make use of the structure of a mathematical representation.
For example, Odd One Out allows teachers to monitor whether
students can analyze relationships between items in a group.
Teachers can choose items that are related in structure or by a
particular pattern.
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Teachers
need to be able to determine students’ ability to determine
general methods, understand generalizations made by others,
and evaluate reasonableness of results both during and after
the problem-solving process. For example, Overgeneralization
Probes elicits misconceptions about over-generalizations and
following the probe with the use of Four Corners provides an
opportunity for students to confront erroneous ideas.

SELECTING FACTS TO MATCH TEACHING

GOALS
Formative assessment is closely linked to goals teachers have for
improving their instruction. Selecting a FACT that matches an
instructional goal can help teachers become more effective at
eliciting students’ ideas, promoting thinking and rich discussion in the
mathematics classroom, monitoring student learning, and improving
all students’ opportunity to learn mathematics at high levels of
understanding. The extensive body of cognitive research literature
on students’ learning in mathematics has alerted teachers to the fact
that even the “brightest” students come to mathematics class with
misconceptions or gaps in understanding. They come with theories
constructed from their experiences and have actively constructed
these theories, an activity crucial to all successful learning. Some of
the theories that students use to make sense of the world are,
however, incomplete half-truths (Mestre, 1989). The recognition that
students come to the classroom with preconceived ideas has
encouraged teachers to set teaching goals that will help them grow
in their own understanding of their students’ ideas and the
misconceptions that may impede learning while also serving as
springboards upon which to build from their students’ ideas.
Establishing teaching goals and selecting FACTs that match these
teaching goals help teachers teach for understanding and monitor
meaningful learning over time, and provide a means of assessing the
quality of their teaching in relation to gains in student learning. The
mathematics assessment, instruction, and learning (MAIL) cycle
described in Chapter 2 provides a useful framework on which
teachers can overlay their teaching goals and select appropriate
FACTs. Figure 3.2 lists questions to ask about teaching goals before
selecting a FACT.

There is no one best FACT or collection of FACTs that can improve teaching.
Each FACT must be considered critically in terms of how well it matches goals
for improving or enhancing instruction.

Figure 3.2 Considerations for Selecting FACTs to Improve Teaching

Before selecting a FACT to improve or enhance teaching, consider these

questions:

Which aspects of instruction and assessment do I need to

improve upon?
Which teaching goal will I focus on to advance my students
from where they are now to where they need to be in their
 conceptual and procedural understanding?
What types of pedagogy embedded in the FACTS are the
best match for the content students are learning?
How will this FACT help me work smarter, not harder?
Does the intended purpose of the FACT match my teaching
purpose?
Which FACTs are best used to produce the information I need
to inform my teaching?

Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008).

Each FACT described in Chapter 4 provides a description of what

it is, how it promotes learning, how it informs instruction, design and
administration, modifications, general implementation attributes,
caveats for its use, and use in other content areas. Each of these
should be carefully read over and considered before selecting a
FACT to match a learning or teaching goal. The following
suggestions can help you select FACTs that match your instructional
context, goals, and style:

Select a FACT that appropriately matches the mathematics

content you are targeting.
Select a FACT that appropriately matches your teaching or
learning purpose and can be easily integrated into the lesson.
See the matrix at the end of this chapter that shows both the
primary use and other possible uses for each FACT.
Choose a FACT that you are comfortable with and that appeals
to your professional judgment and teaching style.
The FACTs vary in regard to time required, ease of use, and
cognitive demand. If time, ease of use, and demand on
students’ thinking are concerns, choose a FACT that has a low
rating (see general implementation attributes listed with each
FACT description in Chapter 4).
Some FACTs require advance preparation. If preparation is a
factor, select a FACT in which you can have all the materials
prepared in advance or that uses readily available materials.
THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF CLASSROOM
CONTEXT IN SELECTING FACTS
Every teacher knows that within each class, individual students are
unique. As a whole, they make up a classroom context with its own
personality and set of dynamics. Some days you can teach the same
lessons and use the same FACTs with different students or different
classes of students, and they will feel like very different students or
classes. Each student and class creates an environment that brings
diverse cultural backgrounds, developmental readiness, prior
experiences, language issues, prior content knowledge and skills,
attitudes, learning and social styles, and habits of mind that affect
their learning and the interactions that take place between students
and between teachers and students. For this reason, teachers are
encouraged to adapt FACTs, rather than adopt them as is (Angelo &
Cross, 1993). In essence, selecting a FACT is a first step in
differentiating instruction and assessment for diverse students and
unique classroom contexts.

There is no one best FACT or system of FACTs. What works best in one
classroom may not work well in another.

The classroom climate has a major impact on how well students

engage with the FACTs. To use the FACTs effectively, teachers need
to take into account not only the diverse kinds of students who come
to their classroom but also the kind of classroom climate the teacher
creates and how it affects learning for each student. A classroom
climate in which all students’ ideas are valued and where it is safe
for them to surface ideas whether they are right or wrong, creativity
in thinking and generating ideas is promoted, all students are
encouraged to engage in discussion with other students and the
teacher, and confidence building and collaborative work are valued
can significantly affect how well FACTs are used to inform instruction
and promote learning.
"The learning environment which a teacher creates has a profound impact on
the success of the assessment strategies used" (Naylor, Keogh, & Goldworthy,
2004, p. 15).

The following suggestions can help guide your selection of FACTs

to match the context of your classroom:

Be sensitive to the cultural and social backgrounds of your

students when selecting a FACT. Set classroom norms that
promote respect for and value each others’ ideas and the
background knowledge and experiences they bring to their
learning.
Select FACTs that accommodate modifications for English
language learners.
If public sharing of ideas is initially uncomfortable for some
students, ease them in by selecting anonymous strategies that
do not identify individuals with their responses.
Select FACTs that engage all students in the learning process
and do not make it easy for students to “opt out” by letting the
most active or vocal students carry the discussions or answer
the questions.
Don’t grade FACTs. Use them to as learning tools that raise the
confidence level of students and stimulate further thinking and
discussion without judging the ideas as right or wrong.
Create a climate in which engaging in mathematical reasoning
and argumentation is the norm. Choose FACTs that will help all
students feel comfortable debating and defending their ideas,
listening to the reasoning of others, and acknowledging and
evaluating alternative strategies.
Select FACTs that encourage social interaction and
collaboration in an emotionally safe environment.
Select FACTs that provide opportunities for students to interact
with diverse types of students who have different learning styles
rather than with one classmate only.
PLANNING TO USE AND IMPLEMENT FACTS
After a FACT or set of FACTs has been selected, teachers need to
consider various factors that support or hinder implementation in the
classroom. Chapter 4 provides a description of implementation
attributes; considerations for designing and administering a FACT,
including modifications; and cautions to be aware of when using a
FACT. These considerations and suggestions should be examined
carefully before implementing any of the FACTs. In addition,
successful implementation requires an understanding of the
mathematics content and mathematical reasoning. Overlooking the
critical need to thoroughly understand the content and ways of
reasoning before implementing a FACT can significantly affect its
use and impact.

"A good idea — poorly implemented — is a bad idea" (Ainsworth & Viegut, 2006,
p. 109).

Before using a FACT, it is important to distinguish between two

types of formative assessment: planned formative assessment and
interactive formative assessment (Hall & Burke, 2003). Planned
formative assessment is a type of formal or semiformal assessment
that is planned for ahead of time in order to collect or provide
evidence of student thinking and learning. Often it is curriculum
driven. Assessment information is gathered through a FACT,
interpreted, and acted upon. On the other hand, interactive formative
assessment tends to be incidental and unanticipated, and it usually
arises out of an instructional activity. It has the potential to occur at
any time during student-to-student or student-to-teacher interactions
and is more student or teacher driven than curriculum driven. While it
is more difficult to plan for interactive formative assessment, one can
do so by providing opportunities for classroom observation,
discussion, and exchange of ideas. The following considerations will
help you plan for and implement the FACTs described in the next
chapter:

Try out some of the FACTs on yourself first to see if they work in
the instructional context you have chosen. Make sure you are
able to come up with a response or example. If you have
difficulty coming up with a response, then you can be sure your
students will too.
Introduce the FACT to students and explain the directions
clearly, particularly if it is new to them. Consider modeling it for
them the first time it is used.
If a FACT is new, decide whether to teach the technique first,
providing practice and feedback to students in trying out the
FACT.
Decide whether you want students’ responses to be anonymous
or identified with an individual.
Modify a FACT for a “teachable moment” or when there is a
need to differentiate for particular students or groups of
students.
Vary your use of FACTs. Students can quickly tire of using the
same technique repeatedly, and the FACT will lose its
effectiveness.
When using a FACT for the first time, plan on it taking more time
than you had anticipated. As with using any new tool or
technique, as FACTs become more familiar to students and to
you, the amount of time it takes to use it well will decrease.
Let students know why you are using a particular FACT. When
the purpose is made explicit to them and they understand how it
helps their learning, the quality of responses to a FACT will be
higher.
Elicit students’ ideas in a context that is familiar to them when
selecting a FACT. Avoid the use of mathematics terminology
students may be unfamiliar with, particularly during the
elicitation phase.
Be careful that you don’t cue or lead students toward the answer
too soon after they respond to a FACT. Allowing time for
 students to ponder and “hang out in uncertainty” can actually
promote learning.
Don’t ignore incorrect ideas. However, in most cases it is best to
refrain from immediately correcting misconceptions and
common errors when they surface from using a FACT. Research
shows students will revert right back to their misconceptions if
they haven’t worked through them. Use students’ ideas as
springboards for learning that you can build upon so that they
recognize the error in their thinking.
Encourage students to share as many ideas as possible in
response to a FACT. Generate a list of class ideas. Make sure
they give reasons or cite evidence for their ideas.
Provide adequate time for sense making after ideas have been
activated and surfaced.
Involve students. Ask them for their opinions about the FACTs
you have used.
Involve parents. Produce parent-friendly descriptions of the
FACTs you are using so that parents are informed and
encouraged to further promote student thinking and sharing of
ideas, procedures, and problem-solving strategies.

STARTING OFF WITH SMALL STEPS

If FACTs are new to you, start small by “dipping your toe into the
water” and trying out one or two easy-to-use FACTs. Be sure to
record your notes on how it worked in the spaces provided with each
FACT description in Chapter 4. After trying out a new technique,
thoughtfully reflect on how it worked for you by asking these
questions:

Were your students engaged?

Were you confident and excited about using the FACT?
How did use of the FACT affect the student-to-student or
student-teacher dynamic?
Was the information gained from the FACT useful to you?
 Would you have gotten the same information without using the
FACT?
What added value did the FACT bring to teaching and learning?
Did using the FACT cause you to do something differently or
think differently about teaching and learning?
Would you use this FACT again?
Are there modifications you could make to this FACT to improve
its usefulness?

MAINTAINING AND EXTENDING

IMPLEMENTATION
Formative assessment can make a significant impact on teaching
and learning when used purposefully and over time. Dabbling here
and there does not produce significant gains in student learning or
teacher performance. Instead, it is the purposeful commitment on the
part of the teacher to making formative assessment a regular feature
of classroom practice that leads to results. In addition, extending the
use of formative assessment beyond an individual teacher’s
classroom and making it part of a schoolwide commitment to
improving student learning will lead to gains at a systemic level.

“The ongoing identification, collection, and use of information in the classroom is

a complex business” (Sato, 2003, p. 109).

Formative assessment is an ideal topic on which professional

learning communities (PLCs) can base research, study,
implementation, observation of others’ classrooms, and shared
results. Figure 3.3 provides examples of questions mathematics
PLCs can use that link to their use of formative assessment.

Figure 3.3 Questions for Mathematics Professional Learning

Communities
Examining Instruction and Assessment in a Professional Learning Community
Questions About Learning Mathematics Concepts, Procedures,
and Skills

1. What preconceptions seem to be most prevalent among our

students?
2. Do our students exhibit any of the common misconceptions or
learning difficulties noted in the research on learning?
3. Which concepts, procedures, or skills seem to be most
problematic for our students?
4. What terminology do our students use to describe their
ideas? Can they use mathematical terms with understanding?
5. Are our students sufficiently engaged with the content?

Questions About Students

6. Which students seem to be progressing well toward the

mathematical ideas?
7. Are there particular students who are having more difficulty
than others? Who are they?
8. Which students have an understanding of the mathematics
that could be used to support learning for other students?
9. How can we use formative assessment to differentiate
instruction for particular students?

Questions About Teaching

10. Are our students responding positively to instruction?

11. Is the pace of our instruction appropriate?
12. What does formative assessment indicate with respect to how
well our curriculum matches our teaching and learning goals?
13. What do we need to do to improve our lessons so there is
greater opportunity to learn?
14. Do some FACTs embed more easily in our teaching than
others? Which FACTs produced the greatest results?
 15. What changes or modifications do we need to make to the
FACTs to improve their effectiveness?
16. What new FACTs can we add to the ones we have read about
or used?

Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008).

This book can serve as a resource that mathematics PLCs can
use to improve upon and examine their formative assessment
practices as well as a resource for PLCs made up of cross-
disciplinary teams. Since there is also a science version of this book,
science and mathematics teachers can form PLCs to learn more
about the FACTs together.
Each of the FACT descriptions in Chapter 4 provides connections
to other subject areas, such as science, language arts, social
studies, performing arts, health, and foreign languages. There is a
science version of this book, Science Formative Assessment: 75
Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and
Learning (Keeley, 2008), that includes several of the same FACTs
used in this book. The following are suggestions for maintaining the
momentum of implementation and extending the impact of formative
assessment outward to other teachers in your school:

"Formative assessment is relevant to all school subjects and, although different

techniques may be more or less useful in different subjects, all the broad
strategies are applicable to all subjects. Provided they are open to new ideas,
teachers can learn a great deal by observing good formative assessment
practice in other subjects" (Black et al., 2003, p. 74).

Don’t go it alone! Work collaboratively with other mathematics

teachers to try out and evaluate the use of FACTs. Collaborate
with science teachers who are using the science version of this
book.
 Encourage schoolwide support of formative assessment. Inform
other teachers and administrators about the FACTs in this book.
Many of them are applicable to disciplines besides mathematics
and science. Start with a small group of colleagues interested in
trying out the FACTs. As you (and your students) share
successes, other colleagues will want to join you in using
FACTs.
Realize that it takes time to change assessment and
instructional practices. Don’t expect immediate changes in
practice and student engagement.
Don’t treat formative assessment as another new initiative to
come down the pike. Formative assessment is not a fad du jour.
Recognize where teachers are already using formative
assessment and extend everyone’s repertoire of strategies by
trying out some new FACTs and reflecting on how they worked.
Encourage an environment in which teachers can watch other
teachers in action. Visit each other’s classrooms. Seeing how
formative assessment plays out with others’ students helps
teachers understand how they can use FACTs in their own
classroom.
Use “critical friends” protocols as sounding boards to give
feedback on formative assessment practices.
Build time into team, schoolwide, department, or professional
learning community meetings to examine and discuss formative
assessment.

USING DATA FROM THE FACTS

Even with careful selection, planning, and implementation,
assessment is not formative unless the information is used to inform
teaching or guide learning. FACTs provide a variety of raw student
learning data that can be analyzed in various ways for different
purposes.
The techniques described in this book are not formative unless
teachers use the data to take action in some way. After teachers
have collected formative assessment data, the important task of
constructing meaning from the data and using it to inform teaching
and learning is the essence of formative assessment. Data are not
just the sets of test scores that often reside in a central office. There
is a treasure trove of data being mined every day in the classroom
that comes from listening to students interact, observing their
actions, and analyzing their responses to questions posed. The
challenge is not only in systematically collecting these data but
understanding what to do with them. The use of formative
assessment data can be described as helping teachers to “challenge
their assumptions, investigate their own questions, uncover
inequities, discover previously unrecognized strengths in their
students, question their practice, improve instruction, and see the
world anew” (Love, 2002, p. xxiv).

"It is important to emphasize the critical criterion—formative assessment—is a

process, one in which information about learning is evoked and then used to
modify the teaching and learning activities in which teachers and students are
engaged" (Black et al., 2003, p. 74).

The following suggestions can help you use the assessment data
you collect in a formative way:

"Working to analyze student responses, for example, math strategies, written

work, and other representations in terms of what it shows about the status of
learning relative to desired goals, or what misconceptions or gaps in learning are
revealed, is an extremely useful way to increase analytic skills, and very likely
content knowledge as well" (Heritage, 2010, p. 111).

If the FACT involves feedback to students, provide that

feedback as soon after the assessment as possible.
Decide whether feedback will be written or shared through
discussion. Allow adequate time to discuss FACT feedback with
students.
Let students know how you plan to use the data from the FACTs
to improve your teaching and provide better opportunities for
them to learn.
Select an appropriate question that can be answered by
analysis of the type of data generated by the FACT.
Decide whether your analysis will be a qualitative “temperature
taking” or a quantitative data analysis including crunching
numbers of responses and percentages of students.
Present analyzed response data to students—engage them in
examining the class data and coming up with suggestions for
improving teaching and learning.
Avoid being overwhelmed with too much data. Often you will not
have the time to analyze all of the student response data.
Choose “samples” of student responses to examine and share
with the class, or select FACTs that lend themselves to a quick
scan and analysis.
Be prepared for negative feedback. Do not feel professionally
hurt if you find students’ responses reveal that your instruction
was not as effective as you may have thought. View it as an
opportunity to formulate student learning needs more clearly
and build on your existing practice.
Focus on facts from the data, not the inferences. Don’t try to
read too much between the lines. Be aware that further probing
is often necessary.
Don’t just gloss over results. Spend time reflecting on the data
and considering what actions you need to take to improve
teaching and learning. Then, take action!
Share data with others and take collective action to improve
teaching and learning.
Take time to further explore the research on learning and
suggested interventions that can help students learn concepts
and procedures that the data indicate they are struggling with.
Generic instructional strategies may not be as helpful as
 mathematics-specific strategies. Use the student data to inform
areas of research you may want to learn more about.
Consider being a researcher in your own classroom. Use the
FACTs to collect and triangulate data that can be used to
investigate problems related to teaching and learning.

As suggested above, using the FACTS in conjunction with

becoming a researcher in your own classroom can help improve the
learning and teaching of mathematics content. Rose et al. (2007), in
Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics, designed an action
research cycle called a QUEST (see Figure 3.4), which readily
adapts to the uses of FACTs. The QUEST cycle consists of the
following 5 components:

Question: Design a question pertaining to particular

mathematics concept.
Uncover: Elicit understandings and misunderstandings using a
FACT.
Examine: Analyze and interpret the evidence collected.
Seek links to cognitive research: Review available literature to
drive next steps in instruction.
Teach the lesson: Plan and implement instruction based on
findings and determine the impact on learning by asking an
additional question.

Ultimately, how you select, plan for, implement, and use data from
FACTs depends on the purpose for which you are using them. As
you try out the FACTs, you may discover other ways to use them to
inform teaching and learning, including ways to adapt them for use in
other disciplines such as science, social studies, health, language
arts, visual and performing arts, and foreign languages.

Figure 3.4 QUEST Cycle

Source:Rose, Minton, & Arline (2007), p. 14. Used with permission.

Examine the list of FACTs and their purposes for promoting

learning and informing teaching as described in the matrix in Figure
3.5. The matrix identifies the primary purposes with an uppercase X.
That is the main purpose for which the probe was designed. The
matrix identifies secondary purposes with a lowercase x. These are
other purposes for which the probe can be used in some contexts.
You may also find other purposes not listed or identified on the
matrix.
Find a few techniques that pique your interest and resonate with
your instructional style and purpose, and read the descriptions in
Chapter 4. Choose one to try out. The most important take-home
message of this book is to commit to trying at least one FACT and
evaluating its success. It is through that first small step that large
strides will soon follow!

Figure 3.5 75 FACTs and Their Use in Teaching and Learning

X: main purpose
x: secondary purposes
 4

Get the FACTs!

75 Mathematics Formative Assessment
Classroom Techniques (FACTs)

The 75 mathematics FACTs selected for this chapter were gathered

from a variety of sources. Many of the techniques described in this
section were developed, practiced, or refined by the authors during
their many years as classroom teachers and teacher educators.
Some were contributed by practicing classroom teachers or are
strategies that have been in popular use for many years. Others
were adapted from the literature on formative assessment. In
selecting a FACT for inclusion in this chapter, each one was
reviewed against a set of considerations:

1. Content Validity: Is the FACT valid for eliciting information about

students’ mathematical ideas and ways of thinking?
2. Engagement: Is the FACT engaging to students? Would
students readily respond to the assessment technique?
3. Flexibility: Can the FACT be used in a range of classroom
configurations, including individual learning, small groups, and
whole-class discussions and activities? Can it be adapted to fit a
range of classroom contexts and diversity of students?
4. Inquiry Based: Does the FACT promote the spirit of
mathematical inquiry and launch into exploration and
development of students’ mathematical ideas?
 5. Ease of Use: Is the FACT easy to administer and respond to?
Does it use minimal class time? Are the materials readily
available? Can the data be quickly collected and analyzed?
6. Reciprocal Benefits: Does the FACT benefit students by
promoting thinking as well as benefit teachers by informing
instruction?
7. Impact on Opportunity to Learn: Will the FACT make a
difference in the classroom learning environment? Will it
increase opportunities for all students to learn mathematics
when used effectively?

As you peruse this collection of 75 FACTs, make note of the ones

that seem most appropriate for your classroom situation, experience,
and instructional goals. Carefully read the information and example
provided for each FACT. After using a FACT, add your own notes at
the end of the description to describe how it worked in your setting,
including any modifications or suggestions that would improve its
use in the classroom.
The FACTs are listed alphabetically. Ideally the FACTs would be
grouped by similar purpose. Since the purposes of each FACT are
multiple and overlapping (as seen in Figure 3.5), it was not possible
to group them in this way. If you are looking for FACTs that can be
used for a specific purpose, scroll down the column on the matrix
(Figure 3.5) for that particular purpose and note the FACTS that are
listed there. These can then be quickly located alphabetically or by
using the list in the Contents.
Each FACT follows a format that includes the following:

Description.This short paragraph provides a brief snapshot of the

FACT—a concise overview describing what it is and how it is used.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning.This section

highlights the impact of the FACT on the student. It describes ways
in which the FACT enhances learning, including stimulating
metacognition, encouraging mathematical discourse, providing a
mechanism for feedback, using “think time” to increase opportunities
for students to respond to questions, and promoting self-assessment
and reflection. As you use a FACT, note the ways in which your
students respond to it and connect it to what they are learning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction.This section highlights the

impact of the FACT on teaching practice. It describes ways in which
the FACT can be used to support classroom discussion and inform
instruction, such as eliciting answers, gathering information on
students’ thinking that is used to modify lessons, improving
questioning, differentiating for individuals or groups of students,
obtaining student feedback on effectiveness of lessons, monitoring
learning over time, providing feedback to students, and encouraging
mathematical discourse. As you use a FACT, note the extent to
which it affects your teaching philosophy, beliefs about student
learning, and repertoire of teaching strategies.

Design and Administration.This description provides information

on selecting content and the preparation needed to use a FACT,
including materials, time, modeling, and group work configurations. It
also describes how to implement the FACT, including what both the
teacher and the student are doing during its use.

General Implementation Attributes.This section describes three

general attributes for implementing a FACT in the classroom, each of
which ranges from low to high. Ease of Use rates the general
mechanics of using a FACT, such as availability and preparation of
materials, amount of practice students need before using it, and
extent of teacher facilitation needed to use it effectively with
students. Time Demand rates how quickly and efficiently a FACT can
be used relative to the benefits gained from its use. A high rating
does not necessarily mean the FACT is not useful, but rather that
considerable time needs to be invested in using it effectively.
Cognitive Demand describes the level of complexity of a FACT in
terms of how much is required from the students to think and
respond to the FACT. This may vary depending on the content used
with a particular FACT.

Modifications.This section provides suggestions for modifying a

FACT for different audiences. For example, it may describe ways to
adjust the cognitive load for students depending on their age and
developmental level. It also describes ways to modify the way the
FACT is used, such as changing the ways students are grouped for
discussion or adapting a paper-and-pencil technique to fit an oral
discussion format.

Caveats.With every good technique, there are always cautions to

consider when using that technique to improve teaching and
learning. This section describes immediate as well as long-term
cautions and pitfalls to be aware of when using a particular FACT.

Use With Other Disciplines.While the FACTs in this chapter are

described according to how they are used in mathematics, many of
the FACTs are readily applicable to other content areas, either as is
or with modification. Some, where noted, are specific to the
discipline of mathematics. As teachers work within interdisciplinary
teams in their schools or in a self-contained classroom, it is helpful to
use common techniques across disciplines, creating a classroom or
school culture that values and uses a common language, strategies,
and routines for formative assessment. When applicable,
connections to the disciplines of science, health, social studies,
language arts, foreign language, and the visual and performing arts
are noted. However, these connections are not set in stone. You may
see ways to use a FACT with other disciplines not noted by the
authors. In addition, *science indicates the FACT is also included in
the science version of this book, Science Formative Assessment: 75
Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and
Learning (Keeley, 2008).

Examples.Embedded in each of the 75 FACT descriptions is an

illustrative content-specific example showing how the FACT can be
used with students in the mathematics classroom. Examples may be
K-12 or gradelevel specific. They may include authentic student
responses, a sample response sheet or template, or a scenario or
description that illustrates its use. The examples are intended to give
the user a glimpse into what a FACT actually looks like in practice.
My Notes.This is a blank area for you to record notes after you try
out a FACT. Some things to record might include the date, which
class you used it with, successes or challenges in using it,
suggestions for modifying or improving its use, insights you gained
from your students, or reflections on how it affected your teaching. In
addition, we suggest that you build a file or three-ring binder of the
materials you create to use with each FACT (for example, specific
worksheets for student replies, sample questions, or reflection
prompts) as well as student artifacts that can be shared with others
in your professional learning community to gain insights into the use
of formative assessment to enhance teaching and learning.
Furthermore, we encourage you to share ways you have used
different FACTs, made modifications, or developed new FACTs.
Please visit the website www.uncoveringstudentideas.org to share
your ideas or learn more about ways others are using FACTs.

Now it’s time to get the FACTs! The FACTs are organized
alphabetically and numbered on the matrix on Figure 3.5. The matrix
can help you select FACTs that match a specific purpose or stage in
your instructional cycle. Some FACTs will appeal to your style of
instruction while others may not. There are plenty of techniques to
choose from. In order to use a FACT effectively, it must resonate with
your teaching philosophy and instructional style and be an
appropriate match to the content you are teaching. As you come
across FACTs you might try out in your classroom, consider placing
sticky notes on the pages so you can go back and revisit them. Start
small by selecting one or two FACTs to try out. Make notes on how
well the technique worked for you. Continue adding more techniques
that fit your instructional style and teaching goals as you assimilate
new techniques into your practice. As you become more proficient in
using the FACTs, your repertoire of instructional strategies will
increase; this will make a significant impact on your teaching and,
ultimately, improve student learning.

#1. A & D STATEMENTS

Description
Students use A & D Statements to analyze a set of “fact or fiction”
statements. In the first part of A & D Statements, students may
choose to agree or disagree with a statement or to state that they
need more information. In addition, they are asked to describe their
thinking about why they agree, disagree, or are unsure. In the
second part of the FACT, students describe what they can do to
investigate the statement by testing their ideas, examining what is
already known, or using other means of mathematical inquiry. Figure
4.1 shows an example of A & D Statements for the topic Fractions.

Figure 4.1 Fraction A & D Statements

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning
A & D Statements provide an opportunity for students to practice
meta-cognition (thinking about their own understanding). In addition,
this FACT “primes the pump” for mathematical inquiry by having
students describe how they could prove each statement using
concrete or virtual manipulatives or mathematical procedures, or
identify information sources that would help them determine the
validity of the statement. When used in small groups, A & D
Statements encourages mathematical discussion and
argumentation. Through the process of defending their ideas or
challenging the ideas of others, students may solidify their own
thinking, consider the alternative views of others, or modify their own
thinking as new information replaces or becomes assimilated into
their existing knowledge and beliefs.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

A & D Statements can be used at the beginning of a learning cycle
to elicit students’ ideas about a mathematical topic. The information
helps teachers identify areas where students may need targeted
instructional experiences that will challenge their preconceptions and
increase confidence in their own ideas. The results can be used to
differentiate instruction for selected groups of students who have
similar ideas about the topic. Students’ descriptions of how they can
find out whether the statements are correct provide data the teacher
can use regarding their ability to prove their ideas or identify
appropriate sources of information that confirm their ideas.

Design and Administration

Select A & D Statements that focus on specific concepts or
procedures that students will encounter in the mathematics
curriculum. Develop statements that can launch into mathematical
inquiry using manipulatives, learned or invented algorithms and
procedures, or use of various information sources. Examine the
research on learning to find common errors or misconceptions
related to the topic. Use some of these common errors and
misconceptions to develop the statements. Try to develop at least
one statement each for the agree, disagree, and it depends on
choices.
Students should first be given the opportunity to respond to the
FACT individually. If they choose disagree or it depends on, ask
them to provide an example that refutes the statement or makes the
statement true in some cases but not in others. Then, have students
discuss their ideas in small groups, coming to consensus on why
they agree or disagree with the statement while noting any
disagreements among group members. After they have had time to
consider others’ ideas and design a way to conduct further tests,
solve problems, or research the information, allow time for small
groups to investigate the statements as exploratory activities. These
activities provide a common experience for whole-class discussion
aimed at resolving discrepancies between students’ initial ideas and
discoveries made during their explorations. The teacher should listen
carefully as the class shares its findings, building off the students’
ideas to provide guidance and clarification that will help students
accommodate new mathematical understandings.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can be modified for younger students by focusing on
one statement at a time, rather than a set of statements.

Caveats
This FACT should not be used solely as a true-or-false
assessment. It is important to provide follow-up experiences for
students to investigate the statements, particularly those in which
there is a conflict between students’ existing ideas and the correct
mathematical idea.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#2. AGREEMENT CIRCLES

Description
Agreement Circles provide a kinesthetic way to activate thinking
and engage students in discussing and defending their mathematical
ideas. Students stand in a large circle as the teacher reads a
statement. The students who agree with the statement step to the
center of the circle. Those who disagree remain standing on the
outside of the circle. Those in the inner circle face their peers still
standing around the outside circle and then divide themselves into
small groups of students who agree and disagree. The small groups
then engage in discussion to defend their thinking. This is repeated
with several rounds of statements relating to the same topic, each
time with students starting by standing around the large circle.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Agreement Circles activate students’ thinking about mathematical
ideas related to a topic they are studying. As the statements are
made, students access their existing knowledge. They must justify
their thinking to their peers about why they agree or disagree with
the statement. As they engage in discussion with their opposing
partners, either group may modify their ideas as new information
convinces them that their original ideas may need adjustment.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This FACT can be used prior to instruction or during the
conceptual development stage, when formally introduced concepts
may need reinforcement. The teacher can get a quick visual sense
of students’ understanding according to which part of the circle
students are standing in. As the teacher circulates and listens to
students explain why they agree or disagree, information about
students’ thinking is revealed that can be used to design further
learning experiences or revisit prior experiences aimed at developing
conceptual understanding.

Design and Administration

Develop a set of three to five conceptual statements related to the
topic of instruction. Some of the statements should be true, others
false. False statements can be developed by examining the research
on students’ commonly held ideas. For example, a set of statements
about quadrilaterals might be the following:

1. All squares are rectangles.

2. All rhombuses are quadrilaterals.
3. The opposite sides of a trapezoid are parallel.
4. All rhombuses have right angles.
5. Parallelograms cannot have angles greater than 90 degrees.

Begin by having students form a large circle. Read the first

statement; then give students 5 to 10 seconds to think. Ask students
to move to the center of the circle if they agree with the statement
and stay on the outside if they disagree. Match students up one to
two, one to three, one to four, one to five, two to three, three to five,
or whatever the proportion of agreement to disagreement indicates,
and give them a few minutes to defend their ideas in small groups.
Call time, and have students go back to the circle for another round.
When finished with all rounds, the next step depends on the stage of
instruction. If the FACT was used to activate and elicit student
thinking, then the next step is to plan and provide lessons that will
help students explore their ideas further and formulate
understandings. If the FACT is used during the concept development
stage, provide an opportunity for a whole-class discussion to resolve
conceptual conflicts, formalize development of the key ideas, and
solidify understanding.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium/High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
For younger students, limit the number of statements. If all
students end up in either the middle or outside of the circle, have
them pair up to explain why they agree or disagree. Often there are
differences in the justification of their ideas, even if both students
agree or disagree with the statement. If students’ arguments can be
supported by drawings, provide each student with an individual
whiteboard or paper to write on when they discuss and defend their
ideas in the circle. As students work through the set of statements
and discussions, their initial ideas may change toward the end of the
set of questions. Consider providing one more repeat round at the
end of the full set or after each statement to allow students the
opportunity to change their position if their initial ideas were modified
during the discussion.

Caveats
 Students need to be confident in their own ideas when using this
strategy. Encourage students to refrain from changing their answer
because they see a majority of students move to the inside or
outside of the circle.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#3. ALWAYS, SOMETIMES, OR NEVER TRUE

Description
Always, Sometimes, or Never True involves a set of statements
that students examine and decide if they are always true, sometimes
true, or never true. This strategy is useful in revealing whether
students overgeneralize or undergeneralize a mathematical concept.
In addition, they are asked to provide a justification for their answer.
Figure 4.2 shows an example of Always, Sometimes, or Never True
for a lesson on multiples.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Always, Sometimes, or Never True provides an opportunity for
students to practice metacognition (thinking about their own
understanding). In addition, this FACT helps students understand
that whenever a mathematical assertion is made, it should be
checked out to determine whether it always applies, applies in some
cases, or never applies. The FACT also encourages mathematical
thinking by having students come up with examples and
counterexamples to support their answers. When used in small
groups, this FACT encourages mathematical discussion and
argumentation.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Always, Sometimes, or Never True can be used at the beginning
of a learning cycle to elicit students’ prior ideas about a mathematical
topic, or it can be used to check for understanding after students
have had opportunities to learn about the topic. This FACT is helpful
in revealing whether students over-apply or misapply a concept and
may point out the limitations of the context in which students learned
the idea. The probe encourages teachers to ask students to examine
the validity of statements and get into the habit of identifying
examples that work and counterexamples that do not work.

Figure 4.2 Always, Sometimes, or Never True

Design and Administration
If used before instruction, select statements that focus on specific
concepts or procedures students will encounter in the mathematics
curriculum. If used after instruction, choose statements that address
the concepts students have had opportunities to develop. Examine
the research on learning to find common errors or misconceptions
related to the topic. Use some of these common errors and
misconceptions to develop the statements. Develop a statement set
that includes at least one of each choice: always, sometimes, and
never.
 Students should first be given the opportunity to respond to the
FACT individually. Then have students discuss their ideas in small
groups, coming to consensus on whether they agree that it is
always, sometimes, or never true, and providing examples to support
their ideas. Follow up with a whole-class discussion, share the
examples students came up with, probe and guide students toward
other examples that may not have surfaced, and develop a final
class consensus on the validity of each statement, justified by
examples.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can be modified for younger students by focusing on
one statement at a time rather than on a set of statements. To
encourage justification, ask students to describe how they would
convince someone that it is always true, sometimes true, or never
true.

Caveats
Make sure students try out multiple examples for each statement
before deciding whether it is always, sometimes, or never true.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#4. CARD SORTS

Description
Card Sorts is a sorting activity in which students collaboratively
sort a set of cards with pictures, numbers, symbols, or words
according to a specific characteristic or category. Students sort the
cards based on their preexisting knowledge about the concept or
procedure. As students sort the cards, they discuss their reasons for
placing each card into a designated group.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Card Sorts provide an opportunity for students to access their
prior knowledge. In addition, they promote metacognition by
surfacing what they think they understand as well as any
uncertainties in their thinking. As students work in pairs or small
groups to sort the cards, they put forth their own ideas for others to
consider, strengthen their skills at explaining and justifying their
ideas, evaluate the thinking of others, and modify their own thinking
as new information persuades them to reconsider their original
ideas. Since card sorts can often have a variety of outcomes, this
helps students recognize that there can sometimes be more than
one right answer in mathematics. Card sorts can also be used to
help students revisit material they learned previously in order to
scaffold their learning for the next lesson.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 Card Sorts provide a way for the teacher to elicit students’
preconceptions, assess students’ ability to transfer knowledge when
provided with new examples or contexts, and look for areas of
uncertainty or disagreement among students that may signify the
need for further instructional opportunities. Card Sorts are best used
in small groups to encourage students to share their thinking with
their peers. While students discuss their ideas, the teacher circulates
around the classroom listening to students agree, disagree, or
express their uncertainty. By probing further as students lay out their
cards, the teacher gains specific insights into students’ levels of
understanding. Using this FACT, if the teacher knows how many
cards should go into each category, he or she can in effect observe
students’ ideas from a distance and quickly evaluate the progress of
the different groups. The teacher notes ways of thinking or examples
that seem to be problematic to make them the focus for subsequent
lessons.
The cards can also be used to orchestrate whole-class discussion.
The discourse that ensues provides feedback to learners to help
resolve conceptual difficulties, while the teacher maintains a
nonjudgmental role as listener and clarifier, guiding students toward
the accepted mathematical ideas.
Figure 4.3 is an example of a card sort used to determine whether
students can choose all the correct values of various digits in a given
decimal (Rose & Arline, 2009). The card sort allows the teacher to
observe how well the students understand the role of the decimal
point and the relationship among the digits in the ones, tenths, and
hundredths place. As students discuss their ideas, the teacher can
see whether students are able to move beyond just naming digits in
various places to recognizing the value of the digit in relationship to
the number.

Figure 4.3 Concept Cards

Source: Adapted from Rose & Arline (2009).

Design and Administration

Prepare sets of cards that align with the content goal of the lesson
or cluster of lessons students will encounter. It is helpful to use tools
such as Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study (Keeley & Rose, 2006)
to examine the research on student learning in order to identify
common errors and misconceptions that may be used as examples
on the cards (see Appendix). You can place text on index cards or
make cards from preprinted match-book-size squares on a sheet of
paper, cut out and sorted into zip-lock bags (or have students cut out
the squares). Provide students with category headers under which to
sort their cards. Encourage students to lay out the cards in a row or
column under the category header rather than on top of each other
so you can see how students sort each individual item. Have
students work in small groups to discuss each card and come to a
common agreement on which category to place it in. Listen carefully
to students as they discuss and argue their ideas. Note cases in
which you may need to provide additional instructional opportunities
to address students’ misunderstandings. If a record of student
thinking is needed, provide individual students or small groups with a
recording sheet to note where each card was placed along with a
justification for its placement, or glue cards onto paper. A Justified
List probe can be easily turned into a Card Sort by placing each of
the statements, words, numbers, symbols, or shapes listed on a
card. (See Appendix for a source of assessment probes that can be
used as card sorts.)

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Consider adding a third category of it depends on or we’re not
sure yet. For younger students or less fluent readers, use pictures to
accompany words, where possible. For younger students, limit to no
more than two sorting categories for younger students—those that fit
the concept and those that do not. For older students, consider using
multiple categories where appropriate.

Caveats
 This FACT can turn into a vocabulary exercise if the words are
unfamiliar to students. Some students, particularly English language
learners, may need help reading the cards or require visual cues.
Emphasize that students need to talk about each card before they
assign it to a category. Discourage students from quickly sorting all
the cards first and then discussing them after the sort. Watch for
students who dominate the sorting and discussion and intervene if
necessary to provide all students in a group with the opportunity to
contribute.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#5. CCC: COLLABORATIVE CLUED

CORRECTIONS

Description
CCC provides an alternative way to mark student papers with
comments that encourage revision. Students complete and submit
an assignment made up of selected responses or short answers.
The teacher purposely selects a sample of student papers that
includes incorrect or partially correct responses. The teacher reviews
the samples and provides feedback regarding the number and types
of errors or areas for improvement. However, the specific questions
or area for correction in each question are not explicitly identified by
the teacher. They are only “clued.” The sample set of “clued” papers
are distributed to small groups of students, who work together to
collaboratively seek out the problem areas and revise them.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The purpose of this FACT is to provide feedback to students on
homework or class assignments, which typically get corrected,
passed back, and quickly forgotten. The CCC technique is supported
by Black and Wiliam’s (1998) research on how learning improves
when students are given feedback on their work that encourages
revision rather than marking wrong answers and giving a grade,
which has been noted to sometimes have a negative effect on
students. Working together as a group provides all students with an
opportunity to activate and discuss their own ideas and modify them
based on peer feedback. The task of identifying the areas that need
improvement, based on the teacher’s clues, provides greater content
engagement in learning than passing back marked assignments.
Marked assignments, particularly when students have multiple
errors, are often ignored if there is no opportunity for feedback, thus
contributing little to furthering content understanding.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

CCC is an example of a technique in which passing back
classwork or homework assignments can be used as a learning
opportunity while helping teachers manage feedback on student
work in an efficient way. Not every student paper needs to be
corrected and commented on by the teacher. By selecting
representative samples of work which small groups of students then
collaborate on to revise, the teacher is free to circulate among
groups to provide additional feedback that will support student
learning.

Design and Administration

 CCCs are best used with a problem-solving assignment of just a
few questions that offer a springboard into engaging learning
opportunities for students to activate and explain their thinking.
Select papers for the CCC that include common errors made by
students in the class. Provide useful comments on the paper, but do
not explicitly point out where the error or area for improvement lies.
Feedback and revision groups should be formed based on the
learning needs and social interaction of the individuals in the group.
Each small group should include the student whose paper was
marked with clues. Students work together in their small groups to
identify the areas of correction or improvement, discuss their ideas
related to the questions on the assignment, and collaboratively
revise the work once all members of the group accept the
corrections. The work is resubmitted and then becomes
representative of the group rather than the individual. This
encourages others to participate even though the student work is not
their own. After submitting the group’s work, the teacher returns the
remaining unmarked papers for students to revise individually or with
a partner. Students become more interested in reviewing their
unmarked papers and looking for areas to change or improve on
after having an opportunity to first analyze another student’s work.
It is important to provide time to teach this strategy and allow
students an opportunity to practice it. One way of doing this is to
choose one or two samples of anonymous student work to copy,
write clues, and use with the whole class in examining the clues,
looking for the areas that need revision, and discussing and making
revisions to improve the quality and accuracy of the work.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
 Use short-answer, basic statements with students who have a
difficult time deciphering handwriting or reading a lot of student
handwritten text. Even though the questions and responses in a
selected-response format or basic computation problems are not as
robust as a problem-solving format, the discussions that ensue
during the CCC provide an opportunity for rich content-focused
dialogue. Another way to use this strategy is to pass back student
tests marked with the number of correct responses rather than a
grade. Students then use their returned tests to find and correct the
responses that have errors. Teachers may provide clues to guide
students in finding their errors; students can work in small groups to
help each other and consult their notes, books, or other classroom
resources they may have used.

Caveats
Be careful that students do not use this as an opportunity to put
less effort into their own work if they know that only a few papers will
be selected for revision. Set norms so that a student whose paper is
selected does not feel that the strategy is a negative critique. This
FACT works best in classroom environments where students
embrace the idea that their own work is an important means of
helping all students improve the quality of their work. Make sure that
all students have an opportunity to review their own work after the
CCC, regardless of whether their papers were the ones selected to
be clued.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#6. COMMENTS-ONLY MARKING

Description
Comments-Only Marking is a way to provide feedback to students
that research has shown is more effective in getting students to use
feedback to improve their work. In a study described in the book
Assessment for Learning (Black et al., 2003), randomly selected
students were given an assessment task to complete and then
received one of three types of feedback. The first group received
tailored, written comments only; the second group received marks
(answers marked right or wrong, often accompanied by a grade)
only; and the third group received both marks and comments. On
subsequent tasks, the students who received comments only
performed better than the other two groups. The research indicates
that feedback that emphasizes only ways to improve versus
feedback that passes judgment on students’ abilities (marks and
grades), even though comments were provided with the marks and
grade in the third group, is more effective at getting students to
consider and use the feedback for improvement.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The purpose of this FACT is to provide feedback to students on
ways they can improve their work. Making comments only is
nonjudgmental; on the other hand, students who often receive a
marked-up paper with a poor grade (with or without comments) may
feel that they aren’t “good at math” and fail to use any comments
made to improve their work. Likewise, students who get a good
grade but can still improve will often ignore the comments when the
grade is good, because they feel their work is “good enough.”
Providing only the feedback they need to improve, without marks
and grades affecting their self-esteem, whether it is high or low,
provides students with what they need to further develop their
understanding and make progress in their learning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

The primary purpose of this FACT is to provide an alternative to
feedback when a grade is not essential. Seeing the difference it
makes in learning for their students when comments only are used
helps teachers break the cycle of correcting and grading every piece
of work.

Design and Administration

This FACT is time-consuming, because teachers need to provide
substantive feedback that can be used by the student. The feedback
needs to provide guidance to students on how to improve.
Comments in the margin or Post-it notes next to an area of
improvement can indicate to the student areas where he or she can
improve.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: High

Modifications
This FACT can be combined with FACT #69, Two Stars and a
Wish. The teacher does not always have to be the source of the
comments. Have students work in groups to provide comments on
other students’ papers. As you build a repertoire of comment types,
consider creating a poster of codes for common feedback prompts
and add new codes as needed.

Example Feedback Prompts and Codes

 Met Success Criteria (SC): This section provides evidence of
meeting one of the criteria for success.
Unclear Process (UP): Correct answer but am unsure of your
process.
Computation Error (CE): Find and correct calculation error.
Use Word Wall (WW): Incorporate words from our unit word
wall.
Replace Term (RT): Incorrect use of the math term; can you find
a different term to use?
Number Correct (NC #): You have correctly answered this
number of problems. Determine which are correct and incorrect.
For the incorrect problems, find and fix your mistake.

Caveats
The comments are useful only if they are substantive enough to
provide guidance for students to improve their work or see areas
where they did well without actually doing the work for the student.
Avoid vague comments like “Good job here,” “You could improve
here,” “Be careful with your calculation,” “Check your work,” and
symbols such as smiling and sad faces. They do little to provide
useful feedback.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#7. COMMIT AND TOSS

Description
Commit and Toss is an anonymous elicitation technique used to
make students’ thinking visible to the class. It provides a safe, fun,
and engaging way for all students to make their ideas known without
individual students being identified by their answers. Students are
given an assessment probe. After completing the probe, students
crumple their papers into a ball and, upon a signal from the teacher,
toss the paper balls around the room until the teacher instructs them
to stop and pick up or hold on to one paper. Students take the paper
they end up with and share the answer and explanation that is
described on the paper they are holding. They read only from the
paper that is in their hand and do not present their own ideas.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Commit and Toss incorporates an essential component of
conceptual change teaching and learning—committing to an answer
that best matches one’s own thinking and providing an explanation
for why that answer was chosen. Before students crumple and toss
their papers, they must think about the question posed, commit to a
response, and explain the thinking that informed the answer they
selected. Once answers are anonymously shared, this FACT helps
students recognize that it is common for students in a class to have
different ideas. Confidence is built when a student realizes that he or
she is not the only one to have a different answer. It helps students
see that “wrong” answers can be just as valuable for informing
learning opportunities and constructing new ideas as “right” answers.
It provides a nonthreatening opportunity to make everyone’s ideas
public regardless of whether they are right or wrong. It allows
students to tap into others’ thinking, comparing their own ideas with
those of others in the class. Since the technique is anonymous,
individual students are more likely to reveal their own ideas rather
than providing a “safe” answer they think the teacher wants to hear,
which may not be what they actually believe.
How This FACT Informs Instruction
Commit and Toss allows the teacher to get a quick read on ideas
and explanations held by the class. It is a very engaging way to get a
class snapshot of student thinking. The information is used to design
and provide targeted learning opportunities for the development of
mathematical ideas; these should include opportunities for students
to test their ideas or gather more information that will support or
modify their thinking.

Design and Administration

Choose a content goal. Design or select a forced-choice
assessment item that requires students to commit to a selected
answer and provide a justification for the answer they selected, such
as the What’s the Area? probe example in Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.4 Example of a Probe Used With Commit and Toss

Source: Rose & Arline (2009), p. 117. Used with permission.

Remind students not to write their names on their papers. Give

students time to think about and record their responses, encouraging
them to explain their ideas as best they can so that another student
can understand their thinking. When everyone is ready, give the cue
to crumple their papers into a ball, stand up, and toss them back and
forth to other students. Students keep tossing and catching until the
teacher tells them to stop. Make sure all students have a paper.
Remind students that the paper they have in their hand will be the
one they talk about, not the answer and explanation they wrote on
their own paper.
After students catch a paper, give them time to read the response
and try to “get into the other student’s head” by making sense of
what the student was thinking. Ask for a show of hands or use the
Four Corners strategy to visually show the number of students who
selected a particular response. You can have students form small
groups according to the selected response on their papers and
discuss the similarities or differences in the explanations provided
and report out to the class. The teacher can list the ideas mentioned,
avoiding any judgments, while noting the different ideas students
have that will inform the instructional opportunities that will follow.
Once all the ideas have been made public and discussed,
proceed with the targeted lesson. Or, if the FACT is used to lead into
a class discussion, engage students in deciding which ideas they
believe are most plausible and providing justification for their
thinking. This is the time when they can share their own ideas. After
providing an opportunity to examine the class’s thinking, ask for a
show of hands indicating how many students modified or completely
changed their ideas. Also ask how many students are sticking with
their original ideas. With consensus from the class, discard ideas
that are no longer accepted by the class. If more than one idea is still
accepted, decide how to investigate which ones are mathematically
correct. Provide opportunities for students to use concepts and
procedures they are familiar with to test their ideas or research
information that will help them figure out the answer. Revisit these
ideas again during the formal concept development stage to help
students build a bridge between their commonly held ideas and the
mathematically correct ideas. Ask students to consider what else it
would take to convince them mathematically if they are still
experiencing a dissonance between their ideas and the
mathematically correct ones. See the Appendix for sources of
assessment probes that can be used with this strategy.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
This FACT can be modified to be a less rambunctious activity (but
not nearly as much fun!) by changing it to a “commit, fold, and pass”
where students fold their papers in half and pass it them around the
room until the teacher gives the signal to stop passing. It can also be
modified by having all students toss their papers into a receptacle
such as a box or wastebasket. Once the receptacle is full, have each
student reach in and take out a paper. The Sticky Bars strategy also
works well with this FACT. After students have tossed their papers
and looked at the one they caught, ask them to jot down the answer
from the selected response part. The students can then bring their
sticky notes up to the wall or whiteboard and create a class bar
graph of the results. This visual display is followed by a discussion of
the different explanations on their tossed and caught papers.

Caveats
This is a fun, engaging technique; for that reason, be careful not to
overuse it, or it will lose its effectiveness. Remind students to honor
anonymity even if they recognize someone’s handwriting or get their
own paper back. It is also important to establish the norm that
disparaging or other types of belittling comments should never be
made about the student paper they end up with.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#8. CONCEPT ATTAINMENT CARDS Description
Based on the landmark work of Jerome Bruner (Bruner, Goodnow,
& Austin, 1956) on concept attainment, this FACT encourages
students to develop their own definition of a concept by examining
labeled cards showing examples and nonexamples of a concept. By
comparing and contrasting various characteristics and attributes of
the examples and nonexamples provided, students identify the
defining features of the concept and apply those features to create a
definition and additional examples and nonexamples (Joyce, Weil, &
Calhoun, 2009).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Coming up with defining features by examining examples and
nonexamples requires different cognitive skills from those used to
memorize a rule or definition. Students need to carefully consider the
numbers or objects in terms of their characteristics and attributes. In
this FACT, students are asked to generate their own rules or
definitions as well as generate additional examples and
nonexamples to demonstrate their understanding of a particular
concept. By asking students to come up with their own rules,
definitions, and additional examples, this FACT supports students in
learning to generate examples, a critical skill they will use throughout
their study of mathematics.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

An understanding of mathematical concepts and terminology is
crucial to students’ ability to understand and solve problems This
FACT can help teachers assess the extent to which students are
able to generate a rule or definition presented to them when learning
about a new concept or mathematical term.

Design and Administration

This FACT is used after students have been introduced to the
concept or term but before they have been given a formal definition.
Students are asked to think about what they previously learned
about a concept, examine labeled examples and nonexamples, and
provide a supporting rule or operational definition for the concept.
First, identify the concept or mathematical term for which you want to
determine how well students are able to generate a rule or definition.
Develop a list of examples and nonexamples for each of the various
defining characteristics and attributes. Present the examples and
nonexamples on individual cards so students can sort as needed.
Figure 4.5 is an example used to assess students’ understanding of
the concept polygon.
Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups. Have
students share the attributes of the examples as well as feedback on
operational rules or definitions. The teacher can select certain
attributes for a whole-class discussion and develop a class
consensus on a rule or definition used to define the word or explain
the concept. Reinforce the developed rule or definition by having
students generate additional examples and nonexamples.

Figure 4.5 Example Concept Attainment Cards

Source: Adapted from Rose Tobey & Minton (2010).

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can be used with the Frayer Model. It is particularly
helpful for students who may need visual cues. For students not able
to identify attributes with the initial sets of cards, have additional
examples and non-examples ready.

Caveats
While this FACT could be used as an elicitation to identify prior
knowledge, it is best used to monitor how well students have learned
a particular concept or can develop a working definition as part of the
concept development stage. Be sure to build in time to provide
students with feedback.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#9. CONCEPT CARD MAPPING

Description
Concept Card Mapping is a variation on the familiar strategy of
concept mapping (Novak, 1998). Instead of constructing their own
concept maps from scratch, students are given cards with the
concepts written on them. They move the cards around and arrange
them as a connected web of knowledge. They create linkages
between the concept cards that describe the relationship between
concepts. Moving the cards provides an opportunity for students to
explore and think about different linkages.
How This FACT Promotes Student Learning
Concept Card Mapping provides an opportunity for students to
activate their prior knowledge, think about the relationships between
familiar concepts, and make a visual representation of the
connections in their own knowledge network. When students create
maps collaboratively in small groups, the maps promote discussion.
Individuals become more aware of their own ideas and may modify
them accordingly as a result of the discussion generated in their
group. Because there is no one “right answer,” this FACT provides
an open entry point for all learners. In the process of exploring their
own and others’ ideas about ways to arrange the cards, they use
that information to connect concepts and terminology together in a
coherent way, deepening their understanding of the structure of a
topic. Students who tend not to speak up in class have been found to
contribute freely in the nonthreatening activity of concept map-
making (White & Gunstone, 1992).

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Teachers can use Concept Card Mapping as an elicitation prior to
instruction or at key points in a sequence of lessons to gather
information about how students make linkages among a connected
set of concepts and terminology. Using a common set of
predetermined words or phrases allows the teacher to see how
different students or groups of students make conceptual sense of
the same ideas in different ways. The student-generated sentences
are examined carefully by the teacher to reveal any conceptual
understandings or misunderstandings. The linkages made by
students reveal the level of sophistication of their ideas, accuracy of
content knowledge, and depth and breadth of their thinking. The
information is used to inform the development of lessons that will
provide students with an opportunity to explore and solidify important
connections.
Different maps can be selected by the teacher to provide teacher-
to-student and student-to-student feedback during the formal
concept development phase of whole-class instruction. Discussion
focuses on whether students agree or disagree with the connections
made on the map and ways they may have made different linkages.
The maps can also be used by the teacher to initiate questions that
probe deeper for student understanding. Concept Card Mapping can
be used again at the end of an instructional unit to help students
reflect on the extent to which their conceptual connections changed
since making their original map.

Design and Administration

For the purpose of this technique, a concept is a defined as a
simple one- to three-word mental construct or short phrase that
represents or categorizes a mathematical idea, such as center of
spread, quadrilateral, rational number, or area of a circle (Carey,
2000; Erickson, 1998). Choose concepts central to the topic of
instruction and place them in squares that students cut out from a
sheet of paper. See the Appendix for a description of Mathematics
Curriculum Topic Study, a process that uncovers the essential
concepts in a standards-based topic (Keeley & Rose, 2006). If
students have never created a concept map, start by introducing
concept mapping with a familiar topic. Engage the class in practicing
concept mapping through an interactive demonstration. Model and
emphasize the importance of creating clear, connecting sentences.
For example, in mapping the topic Angles, the obtuse angle card and
the 90 degrees card might be connected by the phrase is more than.
Concept cards can be used as an individual activity or with pairs
or small groups of students. When using this FACT with pairs or
small groups, encourage students to think first about their own
connections and then discuss them with others. Students decide
which connections best represent the pairs’ or groups’ thinking.
Once students are satisfied with their maps, they can glue down their
cards, write in their linkages to form sentences, and share their maps
with others for feedback or practice in giving constructive feedback.
Figure 4.6 shows an example of cards used for a concept mapping
activity on Angles.

Figure 4.6 Concept Cards for Angles

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Combine pictures with words for younger students. Include a few
blank cards for students to write in their own concepts to include on
their map. If students struggle with determining the connecting words
or phrases, consider providing examples of different connectors that
can be used with the topic chosen. Concept card maps can also be
used as a pre- and post-assessment. Collect students’ initial concept
card maps. After students have had opportunities to learn about the
concepts and develop deeper conceptual and procedural knowledge,
return their original concept card maps and provide an opportunity
for them to make changes using pens or pencils of a different color.

Caveats
The level of cognitive demand of this FACT depends on the
concrete or abstract nature of the concepts selected and the number
of cards to map. Choose the appropriate level of demand that
matches the grade level of the students and complexity of the topic
they are learning about.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, and health.

My Notes

#10. CONCEPT CARTOONS

Description
Concept Cartoons were originally developed in the United
Kingdom as cartoon drawings that visually depict children or adults
sharing their ideas about common, everyday science phenomena or
mathematical ideas (Dabell, Naylor, & Keogh, 2008; Naylor & Keogh,
2000). Students decide which character in the cartoon they agree
with most and why. Cartoon characters’ comments about the
situation presented in the cartoon include an idea that is more
mathematically acceptable than the others as well as alternative
ideas based on common misconceptions and errors. Figure 4.7
shows an example of a Concept Cartoon–type assessment probe
developed for Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics (Rose,
Minton, & Arline, 2007) on the topic of percentages and estimation.
See the Appendix for information on the Concept Cartoons web site
and research reports that support the use of Concept Cartoons.
Figure 4.7 Type of Concept Cartoon

Source: Rose, Minton, & Arline (2007, p. 84). Used with permission.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Concept Cartoons are designed to engage and motivate students,
uncover students’ thinking about their own ideas, and encourage
mathematical discussion. This FACT is particularly effective with
struggling readers or English language learners because the
concepts are set in a visual context and contain limited text. Showing
cartoon characters with differing points of view reinforces the value
placed in mathematics on evaluating others’ thinking. Students
examine ideas and work to resolve differences in order to come up
with an acceptable explanation. Concept Cartoons help students
develop confidence and trust in making their viewpoints public. As
the developers of the original cartoons note, “After all, if they get one
wrong, then they can always blame the cartoon character for putting
forward that idea!” (Naylor & Keogh, 2000, p. 7). It is the process of
surfacing and discussing one’s own thinking that makes this a highly
engaging and effective technique for promoting student learning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Concept Cartoons are most often used at the beginning of a
learning cycle to surface students’ ideas and engage them in
wanting to learn more about the mathematics related to the cartoon
situation. The ideas that surface when students respond to the
cartoon provide valuable information for the teacher to use in
designing instructional experiences that will confront students with
their mathematical ideas about the situation presented in the
cartoon.
Concept Cartoons can also be used throughout instruction to
initiate starting points for mathematical inquiry, solidify concepts
learned, and transfer and apply the mathematical concepts students
learned to a new context. The cartoons are a particularly useful
medium for engaging students in argumentation, providing an
opportunity for teachers to listen to students discuss their ideas and
use the information to modify lessons or plan for further instruction
and assessment. Each cartoon provides an opportunity for students
to justify their thinking by explaining the concept or showing how
they solved the problem.

Design and Administration

Concept Cartoons are designed to probe students’ thinking about
common mathematical ideas, often set in situations they encounter
every day that involve the use of mathematics. Teachers can use
concept cartoons that are already published and available or create
their own. If you create your own Concept Cartoons, limit the amount
of text in the bubbles. Check to be sure there are no contextual clues
that might cue the right answer, such as happier facial expressions
or one character having a more technical and detailed explanation.
Before showing the cartoon, introduce the topic to students. You can
provide the cartoon as a printed handout or a projected image, or
you can sketch it out for students on a poster chart or whiteboard.
Concept Cartoons work well as a small-group or whole-class
discussion stimulus as long as individual students first have an
opportunity to activate their own thinking.
Give students time to individually think about their own ideas and
then have small groups of students discuss their ideas and try to
come to some consensus. At this point the teacher is circulating and
listening to ideas being discussed but not passing judgment on
students’ ideas. Have each group share with the whole class the
ideas they came up with, perhaps followed by voting on the one that
seems most acceptable to the class. When possible, follow up the
discussion by providing students with the opportunity to justify their
ideas through use of algorithms, manipulatives, or invented
strategies and share the outcomes of their problem-solving
processes. Use the results to draw students into a whole-group
discussion to share their findings, consider what they have learned,
and explain how their ideas have changed or been modified in some
way. Probe further to find out what evidence led students to modify
or change their ideas.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Consider whiting out the bubbles that contain the characters’
ideas and adding your own examples of commonly held ideas you
may have observed with your own students. An alternative way to
generate distracters is to ask students to work in small groups to fill
in the bubbles with ideas they think the characters may have and
exchange them with other groups for discussion. Students can also
create their own cartoons to depict mathematical ideas. A fun and
engaging strategy shared on the www.conceptcartoons.com website
is to digitally photograph several teachers in the school, paste them
into a cartoon format, and include thought bubbles that depict
different ideas seemingly coming from the teachers. You can also
use digital photos from the Internet of famous people and add
bubbles describing their mathematical ideas. One middle school
teacher reported that she used digital photos of Bon Jovi, Bono, and
Lady Gaga to create a concept cartoon and said she had never seen
her students so engaged with a question!

Caveats
Make sure the cartoons are used to stimulate discussion about the
various ideas and that students do not disparage the cartoon
characters’ ways of thinking, because there may be students in the
class who have the same or similar ideas as the cartoon characters.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#11. CREATE THE PROBLEM Description

 Create the Problem is a reverse problem-solving FACT. Instead of
performing the computation, students are given the solution and are
asked to figure out what the real-world problem might be.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Create the Problem helps students think about the purpose of
performing certain computations and order of operations to solve
problems. It moves students beyond performing rote computations to
understanding the variety of problems the computation can be used
to solve. It also helps students see the ways mathematics can be
used in a variety of contexts.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This FACT helps teachers see if students understand the purpose
of a computational problem. Rather than always asking students to
perform a computation, they are asked to tell in their own words what
problem the computation might be used to solve. The examples
students generate reveal whether they know why a computation is
performed versus knowing the procedures used to perform a
computation. The information may reveal the need to help students
see the real-world applications of performing mathematical
procedures, not just how they are used in math class.

Design and Administration

Create the Problem can be designed using basic computational
problems or more complex problem-solving tasks. Choose a
mathematical equation and have students work backwards from the
end result to what they think the initial problem could be. For
example, the teacher might give students the equation 2/3 of 15 =
10. Students are asked to come up with problems that may have
been solved with this equation, such as:

John’s mother gave him $15 to spend at the fair. She told him
he could only spend 2/3 of it on rides. How much money could
 John spend on the rides?
Felix had 15 homework problems. He was 2/3 finished before
bedtime. How many problems did he finish before he went to
bed?
Sarah wondered how many pieces in a 15-slice box of pizza
would be left if 2/3 of the pieces were not eaten.

Students share their examples and describe how their “story”

matches the equation. The teacher asks the class for feedback on
whether the “story” is a match to the equation. If not, how could it be
changed to match?

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Use expressions instead of equations and in addition to creating
the problem scenario, ask students to describe how they solved it.
For example, instead of using the equation given above, give
students the expression 2/3 of 15 and ask them to come up with
situations where they might use this. Have them share the answer
and describe how they found it. Ask students to create problem
scenarios to show the need for using grouping symbols. For
example, students write a problem for 3 · (5 + 7) and another
problem for 3 · 5 + 7. (Note: Elementary teachers often prefer to use
the × symbol for multiplication.)

Caveats
Use simple expressions or equations when you first start using
this FACT. Once students are comfortable with it, you can add more
complex equations or expressions.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can be used with science in contexts where
mathematics is used to solve problems in science.

My Notes

#12. EVERY GRAPH TELLS A STORY

Description
Every Graph Tells a Story reveals how students make sense of
graphic representations. Research indicates that students of all ages
often interpret graphs of situations as literal pictures rather than as
symbolic representations of the situations (Leinhardt, Zaslavsky, &
Stein, 1990; McDermott, Rosenquist, & Van Zee, 1987). Students
are given a graph and asked to choose the statement that best tells
the story of the graph. Their answers reveal whether they interpreted
the features of the graph literally (for example, an upward slope
interpreted as climbing a hill) or consider the data points and the
relationships they describe.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The ability to interpret graphs is an important skill in mathematics
and other disciplines, especially science. This probe encourages
students to use their understanding of graphic representation in
order to interpret a graph. It moves students beyond the procedural
skills of constructing graphs to analyzing graphic data in order to
understand what graphic data reveal.
How This FACT Informs Instruction
Every Graph Tells a Story helps teachers identify the common
errors students make when interpreting a graph. Visuality is a key
source of difficulty for students using graphs, particularly in physics
situations that involve time and distance. The FACT helps teachers
see whether students respond to the visual attributes of the graph by
interpreting it literally (for example, interpreting an upward slope as
going uphill) or conceptually understand how one type of data in a
graph depends upon or is related to another. The information also
reveals how well students consider the context of a given graph.

Design and Administration

Choose from a variety of graphic data and types of graphs,
preferably representing real-world situations that students are
familiar with. Present students with the graph and labeled axes, and
develop statements that (1) partially mirror the actual data, (2) mirror
literal interpretations of the visual components, and (3) accurately
describe the data. Distance-time or position-time graphs are
particularly useful for this type of FACT. Have students describe why
they selected a particular statement to tell the story of the graph.
Provide an opportunity for students to give feedback on others’
interpretations. Figure 4.8 is an example of a position-time graph
from Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science: 45 Force and
Motion Assessment Probes (Keeley & Harrington, 2010).

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can be modified by using an open-ended approach
where students are provided with a graph and have to come up with
their own stories that describe what is happening on the graph. Have
students critique each other’s interpretations.

Figure 4.8 Example of Every Graph Tells a Story

Go-Cart Test Run

Jim and Karen have built a go-cart. They take their go-cart for a test run and
graph its motion. Their graph is shown above. They show the graph to their
friends. This is what their friends say:

Bill: “Wow, that was a steep hill! You must have been going very
fast at the bottom.”
Patti: “I think you were going fast at first, but then you slowed
down at the end.”
Karl: “I think you must have hit something along the way and
come to a full stop”
Mort: “It looks like you were going downhill and then the road
flattened out.”
Source: Keeley and Harrington (2010). Used with permission.

Caveats
Make sure students are familiar with the labeled axes. For
example, if acceleration is graphed and students don’t know the
difference between acceleration and speed, then the learning
problem may be with the vocabulary, not the graph.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science and social studies.

My Notes

#13. EXAMPLE, NONEXAMPLE

Description
Successful mathematics students are able to generate examples
and non-examples to support their mathematical understanding.
Identifying and examining examples and nonexamples reveal
students’ understanding of a concept as well as how they interpret
definitions of mathematical terms.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Coming up with examples and nonexamples requires different
cognitive skills from those used to carry out a procedure or
memorize a definition. Students need to carefully consider the
numbers or objects in terms of their attributes. Often the question
asked in the classroom is “Is this an example of … ?” In this FACT,
students are asked to generate their own examples and describe
why they are or are not examples of a particular concept or
mathematical term. By asking students to come up with their own
examples rather than providing them with examples selected by the
teacher, this FACT supports students in learning to generate
examples, a critical skill they will use throughout mathematics.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

An understanding of mathematical concepts and terminology is
crucial to students’ ability to understand and solve problems This
FACT can help teachers assess the extent to which students are
able to apply a rule or definition presented to them when learning
about a new concept or mathematical term.

Design and Administration

This FACT is used after students have been introduced to the
concept or term. Examples and nonexamples may have previously
been used for instructional purposes to introduce and explain a new
concept or word. Students are asked to think about what they
previously learned about a word or concept, identify their own
examples and nonexamples, and provide a supporting rule or
operational definition for the examples and non-examples they
chose. First, identify the concept or mathematical term for which you
want to determine how well students are able to identify their own
examples and nonexamples. Provide students with a chart to fill in
their examples and nonexamples. At the bottom of the chart, provide
a space for students to describe the rule or definition they used.
Figure 4.9 is an example used to assess students’ understanding of
the concept and mathematical term rectangle.

Figure 4.9 Example, Nonexample

 Students can work individually or in small groups. Have students
share their examples and provide feedback to each other on whether
they are examples or nonexamples as well as feedback on their
operational rule or definition. How well do the examples meet the
rule or definition? The teacher can select certain examples for a
whole-class discussion on how well they illustrate the Example,
Nonexample category and develop a class consensus on a rule or
definition used to define the word or explain the concept.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can be used as a card sort. It is particularly helpful for
students who may need visual cues. Provide examples and
nonexamples on cards and have students sort them into the two
categories. It can also be used with Venn diagrams.

Caveats
While this FACT could be used as an elicitation to identify prior
knowledge, it is best used to monitor how well students have learned
a particular concept or can apply a definition. Be sure to build in time
to provide students with feedback.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#14. FACT-FIRST QUESTIONING

Description
Quality questions provide insight into students’ ideas and growing
knowledge base. Fact-First Questioning is a higher-order
questioning technique used to draw out student knowledge beyond
recall level. It takes a factual “what is” question and turns it into a
deeper “how” or “why” question by stating the fact first and asking
students to elaborate.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

 Students, including high achievers, can memorize, recall, and
recount information with very little conceptual understanding. By
stating the fact first and asking students to explain or elaborate on it,
students tap into deeper thinking processes that lead to a more
enduring understanding of mathematical concepts. Stating the fact
first and then allowing for wait time provides an opportunity for
students to activate their thinking before being asked the higher-level
question.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This FACT helps teachers expand their repertoire of questioning
strategies for the purpose of finding out what their students know
and understand. A simple change in the way factual questions are
asked and responded to can open the door to providing valuable
information to teachers about student understanding of the
conceptual ideas related to an important mathematical fact. The
information helps teachers determine whether students recall
important knowledge at a superficial level or have developed deeper
conceptual understanding. The information can be used to examine
whether terminology and facts are overemphasized at the expense
of mathematical understanding and adjust instruction accordingly to
focus on concepts instead of terminology and definitions.

Design and Administration

Any factual question can be thoughtfully turned into a Fact-First
Question. Use the general template: State the fact followed by a
question such as “Why is X an example of Y?” (Black et al., 2003).
For example, instead of showing students a picture of a triangle and
asking them to identify what kind of triangle it is, turn the question
around to ask, “This is an example of an isosceles triangle [show
picture]. Why is this triangle called an isosceles triangle?” Instead of
the factual recall answer—isosceles triangle, from the first question,
the Fact-First Question produces a much deeper response that
involves describing two equal angles and two equal sides. Another
example might be instead of asking the students what sign the
product of two negative numbers is, turn the question around to ask,
“When a negative number is multiplied by a negative number it
results in a positive number. Why does multiplying two negative
numbers result in a positive number?”

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Consider modifying traditional textbook recall questions into Fact-
First Questions. Have older students come up with their own Fact-
First Questions and responses.

Caveats
Use Fact-First Questions after students have been introduced to
the terminology and concepts.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#15. FEEDBACK TO FEED-FORWARD

Description
Formative feedback represents information communicated to the
learner that is intended to modify the learner’s thinking or behavior
for the purpose of improving learning (Shute, 2008, p. 1). Feedback
to Feed-Forward is a technique used as a follow-up to Comments-
Only Marking. It is used to encourage students to reflect both on how
they used formative feedback (provided by teacher or a peer) to
improve the task at hand and how the feedback will affect future
work beyond the task itself.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

In order for feedback to move students’ learning forward, time
must be allowed for students to make revisions. The Feedback to
Feed-Forward technique provides an opportunity for students to
reflect on how they use feedback received during a revision process.
Because the particular feedback a student receives should be based
on the criteria for success laid out in class, the particular feedback to
any student will vary depending on those criteria. Therefore,
providing multiple opportunities to reflect on the use of feedback
builds a student’s ability to interpret the feedback, to act on it, and to
internalize it. Try to provide multiple opportunities for students to
respond to the feedback by revising their work accordingly, rather
than simply reading the feedback to them.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

Teachers who use this strategy support the culture needed in a
classroom to focus on success and the belief that all students can
achieve when given opportunities to use feedback that focuses on
the criteria needed to successfully meet a learning target. Since
making revisions in mathematics is often a novel approach for
students, using the Feedback to Feed-Forward reflection sheet
allows teachers to determine a student’s interpretation of feedback
that was provided and whether the feedback moved students’
learning forward.
Design and Administration
Use with assignments that provide an opportunity for students to
demonstrate their conceptual understanding. Such assignments may
require solving multistep problems and explaining solution steps,
making and justifying conjectures, or providing examples and
nonexamples. Instead of marking students’ work right or wrong, look
for areas throughout the work where you can identify features that do
and do not meet established criteria for success. Frame the
feedback so that it points out to students the progress being made
toward the goals and what needs to be undertaken to make more
progress (Hattie & Timperley, 2007, p. 86). Be sure to frame what
needs to be undertaken in a way that directs students but does not
do the work for them. An example of a Feedback to Feed-Forward
template is shown in Figure 4.10. Students complete the Using
Feedback section prior to completing the revisions to the task and
the Feed-Forward section after the revisions are complete.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can also be used after feedback is provided using Two
Stars and a Wish, Collaborative Cued Corrections (CCC), or
comment coding used in Comments Only Marking.

Figure 4.10 Feedback to Feed-Forward Template

Copyright © 2011 by Corwin. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Mathematics
Formative Assessment: 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment,
Instruction, and Learning, by Page Keeley and Cheryl Rose Tobey. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin, www.corwin.com. Reproduction authorized only for the local
school site or nonprofit organization that has purchased this book.

Caveats
 This is a comments-only FACT. Research indicates a less positive
effect on student learning when grades are given in addition to
comments (Black & Harrison, 2004). Because this strategy
reinforces the notion that the teacher wants students to improve their
work and that their improvement is being monitored by the teacher,
time should be provided in class for students to read and react to the
comments. If possible, provide time in class for students to work on
their revisions and reflections.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#16. FIST TO FIVE

Description
Fist to Five asks students to indicate the extent of their
understanding of a concept, mathematical procedure, or directions
for an activity by holding up a closed fist (no understanding), one
finger (very little understanding), and a range up to five fingers (I
understand it completely and can easily explain it to someone else).
For example, after giving instructions for a mathematical game,
teachers might ask for a fist to five to do a quick check on whether
students understand the directions before proceeding with the game.
How This FACT Promotes Student Learning
Fist to Five provides an opportunity for all students in a class to
indicate when they do not understand a concept, procedure, or set of
directions and need additional support for their learning. It is
especially effective with individual students who are reluctant to let
the teacher know that they are experiencing difficulty during a
lesson. It encourages metacognition by raising self-awareness of
how ready students feel to proceed with their learning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Fist to Five is a monitoring technique used to check understanding
of concepts, procedures, or directions at any point in a lesson. It is
particularly useful when new material is presented, a new procedure
is introduced, or directions for a task are given. It allows the teacher
to direct the challenge and pace of lessons toward the needs of the
students rather than following a prescribed instructional plan. The
quick read of the class provides teachers with the feedback they
need to modify the lesson or pair students up to help each other.

Design and Administration

At any time during a lesson, ask students to hold up their hand for
a check of understanding.

The closed fist indicates “I have no idea.”

One finger indicates “I barely understand.”

Two fingers indicate “I understand parts of it but I need help.”

Three fingers indicate “I understand most of it but I’m not sure I

can explain it well enough to others.”

Four fingers indicate “I understand it and can do an adequate job

explaining it.”
 Five fingers indicate “I understand it completely and can easily
explain it to someone else.”
Some teachers post a Fist to Five chart in the room so students
remember how many fingers to hold up. Make sure all students hold
up their hands. It can be used to group students for peer assistance
by putting the students who hold up two or three fingers with the
students who hold up four or five fingers. The teacher can then take
the closed-fist and one-finger responses aside for differentiated
assistance.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
This FACT can be modified to a three-finger strategy: one finger
means “I don’t get it,” two fingers means “I partially get it,” and three
fingers means “I get it.” Likewise, you can use thumbs up—I get it;
thumbs sideways— I’m not sure I understand; thumbs down—I don’t
get it.

Caveats
When matching students who claim to understand with students
who need help, make sure that the students who held up four or five
fingers really do understand well enough to explain it to others
before putting them into peer assistance groups.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.
My Notes

#17. FOUR CORNERS

Description
Four Corners is used with selected-response questions to identify
and group students who have similar responses to the question
asked. Students move to a corner of the room designated to match
their response or similar way of thinking.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Four Corners provides an opportunity for students to make their
ideas public. By meeting “in the corner” with students who have
similar ideas, students can further discuss and clarify their own
thinking with others before returning to their seats and engaging in
mathematical discussions with the class or small groups of students
in which students have a range of conflicting ideas. Members of
each corner group can also defend their ideas to the entire class. In
the process of explaining their thinking and getting feedback from the
teacher and class, students sometimes notice gaps or
inconsistencies in their own reasoning and change their ideas to
reflect newly accepted information.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Teachers can visually see which response individual students
selected as well as the most prevalent response. By circulating
among the corners while students are sharing their thinking, the
teacher gains insight into students’ foothold ideas—those ideas
students assume to be true at that point in time (Hammer & Van Zee,
2006). The information is used to inform instructional strategies that
can help students gradually move toward acceptable mathematical
ideas and thinking.

Design and Administration

Choose a selected-response assessment that includes an
explanation and label the four corners of a room with the letter or
name that matches the response. Examples of FACTs in this chapter
that can be used with the Four Corners strategy include Concept
Cartoons, Friendly Talk Probes, and P-E-O Probes. Ask students to
individually think through their responses, commit to an answer, and
write their explanations. When students are finished with the probe,
have them go to the corner of the room that matches the response
they have selected. Give students time (usually 5 to 10 minutes) to
share and discuss their thinking with others who selected the same
response. Teachers can follow up the discussion at the Four Corners
with a class debate about the ideas by having students return to their
seats for mixed small-group and whole-class discussion. Another
alternative is to have students remain in their respective corners and
work together as a group or subgroups to support their arguments in
preparation for a presentation to the groups in the other corners. As
students listen to and consider the arguments of other groups, they
may move to a different corner when they give up their idea in favor
of a new one. The challenge is to try to get all students over to one
corner (ideally, the one that represents the mathematically correct
response).

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Low
Modifications
Use different areas of the room or designated tables for more than
four responses, or use only three corners for items that include fewer
than four selected responses.

Caveats
This FACT works best in a classroom environment where students
feel comfortable expressing and defending their own ideas without
being influenced by others’ responses.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#18. FRAYER MODEL Description

The Frayer Model was first developed by Dorothy Frayer and her
colleagues at the University of Wisconsin. The Frayer Model
graphically organizes prior knowledge about a concept or
mathematical term into an operational definition, characteristics,
examples, and nonexamples (Buell, 2001). An example of a Frayer
Model template is shown in Figure 4.11.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

 The Frayer Model helps activate students’ prior knowledge about
a mathematical concept or word. It provides students with the
opportunity to clarify a concept or mathematical term and
communicate their understanding by providing an operational
definition, describe characteristics (or properties), and list examples
and nonexamples from their own prior knowledge of the concept or
familiarity with the term. This FACT can also be used to help solidify
conceptual understanding after students have had an opportunity to
learn about the concept or use the term.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Frayer Models have typically been used to introduce new
terminology. However, for formative assessment purposes, they can
be used to determine students’ prior knowledge about a concept or
mathematical term before planning a lesson. Barriers that can hinder
learning may be uncovered with this FACT. Students’ completed
Frayer Models provide a starting point with an operational definition
and understandings gained through prior instructional experiences
that can be further refined through class discussion and formal
clarification of the concept. Frayer Models can also be used during
the conceptual development phase of instruction to monitor the
extent to which students can describe a concept or mathematical
term they have used throughout their instructional experiences.

Figure 4.11 Frayer Model Template

Source: From “A Schema for Testing the Level of Concept Mastery,” by D. A.
Frayer, W. C. Frederick, & H. G. Klausmeier, Technical Report No. 16. Copyright
1969 by the University of Wisconsin.

Design and Administration

Begin by using a familiar concept to explain the Frayer Model
diagram and demonstrate how to fill it in. Choose a concept or word
that is integral to understanding mathematical ideas.
Representations and symbols instead of words can also be chosen
(for examples, a/b, a picture of supplementary angles, or %). Provide
students with the concept, term, symbol, or representation you want
them to think about, and give them time to complete the diagram.
Once the diagram is complete, let the students share their ideas with
other students, modifying their diagrams as they accept and
assimilate new information. Students can also work in pairs or small
groups to create their Frayer model diagrams, using them in a
whole-class discussion about the concept and refining them as new
information is added to their existing model.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Frayer Models can also be extended to ask students to provide a
visual example or a personal connection. Another alternative is to
leave the center bubble blank and provide students with a Frayer
Model that has been filled in. Ask students to come up with the word,
symbol, picture, or concept that goes in to the bubble and explain
why they chose it.

Caveats
Frayer Models have been used in content literacy to support
vocabulary development and word recognition prior to a reading
assignment. In mathematics, their formative purpose should extend
beyond vocabulary development and focus on uncovering and
promoting conceptual understanding of the terms, symbols, and
representations used in mathematics.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.
My Notes

#19. FRIENDLY TALK PROBES

Description
Friendly Talk Probes are two-tiered questions that consist of a
selected-response section followed by a justification. The probe is
set in a real-life scenario in which friends, family members, or
familiar adults talk about a mathematical concept. Students are
asked to pick the person they most agree with and explain why.
Distracters are based on commonly held ideas from the research on
students’ misconceptions and common errors. The conversation
between the characters draws students into the ideas almost as if
they are participating in the conversation (Keeley, Eberle, & Tugel,
2006).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

This FACT can be used to engage students in surfacing and
examining their preconceptions as well as solidifying concepts and
applying understandings in a new context. It promotes engagement
with ideas in an accessible way by having friends, family, or other
students and adults in familiar roles legitimize the act of putting
different ideas forward for scrutiny. Students who can relate an idea
they have to one of the characters in the probe are less apt to feel
uncomfortable about revealing a "wrong answer."

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 Friendly Talk Probes can be used at multiple points prior to or
throughout instruction to find out what students are thinking in
relation to an important curricular goal. It can be used to engage
students in thinking about the concepts they will encounter during
their instructional experiences and provide them with an opportunity
to share their ideas and explain their thinking. This FACT can also be
used as an application of students’ learning following the conceptual
development phase of instruction. Choose a probe that targets the
concept taught and presents ideas in a context different from the
students’ instructional materials and learning experiences. The
responses are useful in determining how well students can transfer
their ideas to a new context. Results may signify the need to provide
additional activities or to be more explicit about developing the big
idea and broader generalizations related to the targeted concept.

Design and Administration

Design or choose probes that use examples of familiar events,
processes, or objects that would be realistically discussed by the
characters represented. The Appendix includes a source of Friendly
Talk Assessment Probes. The probe can be administered as a
paper-and-pencil task or used orally to stimulate small- or large-
group discussion. It can be combined with other FACTs in this
chapter such as Commit and Toss, Four Corners, Sticky Bars, and
Human Scatter Graphs to determine the range of ideas held in a
class. An example of a Friendly Talk Probe is shown in Figure 4.12.

Figure 4.12 Friendly Talk Probe

Four friends were studying for their math test. They each had different ideas
about finding the mean in a set of data. This is what they said:
Nancy: I think the mean is the number that shows up the most times in our
data set.
Alvin: I think you subtract the largest number from the smallest number to
find the mean.
 Cara: I think the mean has to be one of the numbers in our set of data. It is
the one that is in the middle of the data spread.
Truax: I think you find the mean by adding up all the data points and
dividing by the number of data points.
Circle the friend you agree with the most. Explain why you agree with that
friend and not the others.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium to High
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
To help auditory learners, select students to act out the probe by
representing the characters and reading their viewpoints. For visual
learners, these probes can be readily turned into Concept Cartoons
by giving the text to students who demonstrate a talent for drawing
or cartooning. Multiple-choice questions included in teachers’
instructional materials can be turned into a more engaging question
by merely changing the question so that it is set in the context of
people talking and changing the letter choices a, b, c, and d to
names of people.

Caveats
Sometimes students will not agree with anyone because they
believe there is not enough information or they have an idea that
differs from the characters in the probe. Acknowledge this if it occurs
and provide an option for these students to add their own statement.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, and
health.
My Notes

#20. GIVE ME FIVE

Description
Give Me Five is a technique used to promote and publicly share
personal reflections that collectively provide feedback from the
group. Students are given a prompt and take a minute or two for a
"quiet think." Five students then volunteer to publicly share their
reflection.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Give Me Five provides students with an opportunity to individually
and publicly reflect on their learning during or after a lesson. This
FACT encourages students to be thoughtful reflectors and
demonstrates teachers’ respect and value for students’ sharing
personal insights into their learning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Selecting five students to publicly share their reflection provides a
sample collage for the teacher to gain feedback on how students
perceived the impact of a lesson on their learning. Give Me Five is a
simple, quick technique for inviting and valuing public reflection and
welcoming feedback from students that will be used to design
responsive instruction.
Design and Administration
Provide a reflection prompt that is inviting and open to a variety of
responses by all students. Be sure to give time for individuals to
quietly reflect, perhaps through a quick write, before asking for five
volunteers to share their reflection. Practice the use of wait time if at
first students are hesitant to share their thoughts publicly. This FACT
can be used at any critical juncture in a lesson or at the end of a
lesson or class period as closure. Hold up your fist, showing a finger
each time a student shares a reflection until you have completed five
fingers. Some examples of reflection prompts follow:

What was the most significant learning you had during today’s
lesson?
How "in the zone" do you feel right now as far as your
understanding of functions?
How did today’s lesson help you better understand
percentages?
What was the high point of this week’s activities on ratios and
proportions?
How well do you think today’s math discussion worked in
improving your ability to make and defend conjectures?

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Five is an arbitrary number of students. Depending on time and
the number of students in the class, you might consider additional
reflections, such as a Give Me Seven or Give Me Ten. You can also
ask for a show of hands indicating how many students had a similar
thought each time a student shares his or her reflection.
Caveats
Don’t overuse this technique, or it may become a trivial exercise,
particularly if the same reflective prompts are used. Be sure to vary
the prompts. Make sure the same students are not the ones whose
reflections are repeatedly selected to be shared.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can be used in *science, social studies, health,
language arts, foreign languages, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#21. HOT SEAT QUESTIONING

Description
Hot Seat Questioning is a FACT used when all students are
expected to be ready to respond to mathematical questions at any
time. Students are selected to sit in the "hot seat" to respond to
questions asked by the teacher while the class provides feedback on
the students’ responses.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Observations of teachers’ questioning techniques reveal that the
same few students are frequently called upon to answer questions.
Often, these are the students who raise their hands. Students who
do not raise their hands "opt out" of not only responding, but also opt
out of thinking if they know they are likely not to be called upon.
Because any student can be selected at any time to sit in a "hot
seat" and respond to a question, this FACT activates thinking among
all learners who must be prepared to give a response.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This FACT helps teachers provide an opportunity for all students
to be ready to respond to questions. During the question-response
phase, the teacher can assess individual students’ conceptual
understanding of a mathematical idea or procedure and where they
may be having difficulty. Additionally, the teacher can assess the
extent to which the class understands the concept or may need
further instruction by listening to the feedback given by the class to
the student in the hot seat.

Design and Administration

Place anywhere from one to five chairs in an area of the
classroom such as the front of the room to serve as the hot seats.
Tell students that you are going to ask a question or series of
questions and that different students will be asked to sit in the hot
seat or seats to respond to the questions. Distribute the question or
questions for the whole class to consider first and prepare their own
individual responses. Then ask a student or students to sit in the hot
seats to share their responses. The class listens to the responses
and provides feedback to the students on whether they agree or
disagree with the answers presented and why, or on the strategy
used to solve the problem. For problem-solving questions, the
students in the hot seat may be encouraged to visually demonstrate
how they solved the problem.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium
Modifications
Hot seats can also be prepared in advance by taping a paper with
"You are in the hot seat!" under students’ chairs (see Figure 4.13).
Students are asked to reach under their chairs or desks to see if they
have a note taped to their chair or desk. When they pull it out, they
will see the hot seat notice. The teacher then explains the role of the
students sitting in those seats. Hot seats can also be determined
randomly by labeling the seats and creating a set of cards with one
card per seat label. The hot seat is determined by shuffling the set
and choosing a card.

Figure 4.13 Hot Seat Notice

You are in the hot seat!

Caveats
Make sure all students have an opportunity to think about and
respond to the question before designating the hot seats in order to
ensure that all students are engaged in the question.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#22. HUMAN SCATTER GRAPH Description

Description
The Human Scatter Graph is a quick, visual way for teachers and
students to get an immediate classroom snapshot of students’
thinking and the level of confidence students have in their ideas. The
technique gets the class up and moving as students position
themselves on a "floor graph." As students position themselves
around the room according to their response to the question and
their confidence level, a visual graph of class results is created.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

This FACT can be used to encourage metacognition—not only in
thinking about the answer but also how confident one is in one’s
answer. It provides a visual opportunity to see how others in the
class think about a particular concept and how confident they are in
their thinking. Recognizing that students in the class vary in their
answers and confidence levels promotes a safe classroom
environment where all ideas are valued. It sends a message that the
class will work together to develop their understanding so that
everyone can eventually come to an agreement on the best answer
to the question and raise their confidence in their own ideas.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This fact can be used at the beginning of a lesson or sequence of
instruction to elicit students’ initial ideas and motivate them to want
to further explore and discover mathematical ideas. It can be used
during the exploration and discovery stage of instruction to
determine how well students use mathematical concepts and
procedures. Looking about the room to see where clusters of
students as well as individuals place themselves gives immediate
feedback to the teacher on the different ideas students have and
their levels of confidence. Human Scatter Graphs can be used to
initiate mathematical argument among students who have different
ideas by pairing them up with students standing in different areas of
the graph. Students who are low on the confidence scale can be
asked what it would take to raise the level of confidence in their
thinking, sparking discussion and providing opportunities to further
discuss their ideas. They can also be matched with students who
have the same answer and a higher level of confidence to draw out
ideas and ways of thinking that may increase their confidence level.

Design and Administration

Choose selected response questions with at least three and no
more than four choices for this FACT. Label the wall (Y-axis) on one
side of the room with the choices: for example, A, B, C (and D, if
there are four responses). Label the adjacent wall (X-axis) with a
range of low confidence to high confidence. Have students position
themselves according to where they feel they fall on the graph.
Figures 4.14 and 4.15 show examples of a probe used for this
strategy and the distribution of students positioned on the graph.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Figure 4.14 Example Probe Used With Human Scatter Graph

 What’s the Substitute?

When you substitute ½ for x in 4x and simplify the results, what is the correct
answer?
A. 4½
B. 2
C. 8

Explain your reasoning:

Source: Rose & Arline (2009). Reprinted with permission.

Figure 4.15 Human Scatter Graph for "What’s the Substitute?"

Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008), p. 110. Used with permission.

Modifications
A paper version can be used instead of a human graph. Pass the
graph, with axes labeled, around the class and have students put
their initials on it according to where their answer falls and their level
of confidence, or have students put their initials on a small round
sticker and then place the sticker on the graph created on large
poster paper. With this method, teachers also have a written record.
The graph can then be passed back later after students have had an
opportunity to further explore the question. Students then reinitial
their positions, drawing a line to connect their initial and later
positions, showing the extent to which their confidence level
changed or if they changed their response to the question.

Caveats
Students who have difficulty with spatial thinking may need help
positioning themselves on the floor graph. Depending on how well
your classroom has moved toward a culture that accepts that all
ideas matter whether they are right or wrong, you may ask students
to commit to an answer on a slip of paper first and have this paper in
their hand when they position themselves on the graph. This
prevents students from flocking to where they think the students with
the right answers are standing.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#23. IS IT FAIR?

Description
Is It Fair? asks students to examine a context in which several
mathematical statements are made in response to a problem.
Students examine the proposed solution to decide if it is fair (for
example, dividing up a quantity so everyone gets an equal portion). If
they decide it is unfair, they explain what makes it unfair and how the
situation can be made fair. Alternatively, if it is fair, students explain
why it is fair. Common misconceptions or mistakes made in
mathematics are situated in the context.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

The examples used in the fairness context are based on common
errors students make in mathematics. Thus this FACT serves as a
diagnostic technique for whether or not students can identify
common errors. The information gained from the FACT may be used
to revisit mathematical concepts and procedures or inform instruction
of a particular mathematical concept or skill.

Design and Administration

Make up a problem using a familiar context in which the proposed
solution is either fair or unfair. Provide several statements that
describe the situation. Ask students to analyze the statements and
decide if the proposed action or decision is fair. If it is fair, students
are asked to use mathematics to explain what makes it fair. If it is
unfair, students are asked to explain why it is unfair and propose a
way to make it fair. Some examples of mathematics topics that can
be used in fair or unfair contexts include probability, ratio and
proportion, division, graphs and other representations, statistics,
percentages, etc. The following is an example of an Is It Fair? based
on the topic of probability.
 Three friends found a ticket for free admission to the amusement
park. Since only one of them could use the free ticket, they
decided to flip a coin to see who would get the ticket. Bobby said,
"There are three of us, so we’ll need to flip two coins. Let’s do it
like this: I will toss the two coins. If they both come up heads, then
David gets the ticket. If they both come up tails, then Trent gets
the ticket. If one comes up heads and the other tails, then I get the
ticket." Fair or unfair?

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Instead of Is It Fair? in which students have to decide if the
situation is fair or unfair, you can simplify it by changing it to What’s
Unfair? using a situation in which there are one or more fair
statements and one unfair statement. Ask students to spot the
statement that makes the situation unfair, explain why, and create a
new fair statement that is different from the others.

Caveats
If some statements are fair and one is unfair, make sure that the
unfair statement is not always the last one stated.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science in the context of
controlling variables (a fair test) or making decisions based on data.

My Notes
#24. I USED TO THINK … BUT NOW I KNOW …

Description
I Used to Think … But Now I Know … asks students to compare,
orally or in writing, their ideas at the beginning of a lesson or
instructional sequence to the ideas they have after completing the
lesson(s). It differs from K-W-L (see FACT #27) because both parts
of the reflection occur after instruction.

How This FACT Promotes Learning

This FACT is a self-assessment and reflection exercise that helps
students recognize whether and how their thinking has changed at
the end of a sequence of instruction. It prompts students to recall
their ideas at the beginning of the instructional sequence and
consider how they changed. Metacognition involves not only the
ability to self-regulate learning, recognize the demands of a learning
task, and know of one’s own learning strengths and weaknesses
(Bransford et al., 1999), but also knowing what one has learned. I
Used to Think … But Now I Know … provides an opportunity for
students to self-assess and reflect on their current knowledge and
how it may have changed or evolved from their initial ideas. Sharing
their reflection with the class provides a public opportunity for all
students to recognize how and to what extent individuals’ knowledge
improves as a result of shared learning experiences.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 This technique enables teachers to hear or read the students’ own
accounts of how their understanding of mathematics changed for
them as a result of their learning experiences. The technique gives
the teacher insight into the myriad ways students’ thinking changes
as a result of instruction and whether students recognize their own
prior misunderstandings. The results help teachers determine the
effectiveness of their instruction and what parts seemed to have the
greatest impact on their students’ learning.

Design and Administration

Provide students with a copy of a recording sheet, have them
make one similar to the one shown in Figure 4.16, or write down and
fill in the sentence: I used to think _____, but now I know _____.
Provide time for a quiet think and write. Explain to students that they
should describe how their ideas changed or how they became more
detailed compared to what they knew at the beginning of instruction.
Use Think–Pair–Share, Partner Speaks, or other pair strategies to
have students read and share their reflections with a partner or with
the whole class. An example of this FACT is "I used to think
multiplication always made larger numbers but now I know it makes
smaller numbers when I multiply by a fraction between 0 and 1."

Figure 4.16 Example Recording Sheet

I used to think… But now I know…

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
The FACT can be extended to include … and This Is How I
Learned It to help students reflect on what part of their learning
experiences helped them change or further develop their ideas. This
addition provides additional feedback to the teacher on what was
effective for learning from the students’ viewpoint. Students can be
encouraged to provide multiple examples. This FACT can also be
used as a whole-class reflection by going around the class and
having each student read aloud their I used to think _____ but now I
know _____.

Caveats
Some students may have difficulty recalling their initial ideas. If a
class record of initial ideas exists from other FACTs, it may be helpful
to share with the class some of the earlier ideas that were noted. If a
probe was used to elicit individuals’ preconceptions, students can
refer back to that probe after instruction.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#25. JUSTIFIED LIST

Description
A Justified List begins with a statement or question about a
mathematical concept or procedure. Multiple examples that fit or do
not fit the statement or question are listed. Students choose the
examples on the list that fit the statement or answer the question and
provide a justification explaining their rule or reason for their
selections. Figure 4.17 is an example of a justified list used with
elementary students learning about triangles.

Figure 4.17 Justified List Probe

What Does a Triangle look like?

Source: Rose, Minton, & Arline (2007), p. 136. Used with permission.
How This FACT Promotes Student Learning
Justified Lists activate students’ thinking about a concept or
procedure. Justified Lists can be used to elicit preconceptions or
solidify ideas during formal concept development. The items on the
list can be used to encourage small-group discussion, further
promoting student thinking and resolving discrepancies between
students’ own ideas and those of their peers. Justified Lists can also
be used for reflection at the end of a unit of instruction. Students
examine their original lists, reflecting on how they might respond
differently based on new knowledge they have.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Justified Lists can be used to elicit students’ prior ideas about a
concept or procedure. It reveals the understandings or
misunderstandings students bring to their learning when the concept
or procedure is introduced. The FACT helps teachers see whether
students can connect a particular concept or procedure to a variety
of different examples and often indicates problems students have
making generalizations. Listen carefully to the justification students
use, because these justifications may point out the need for targeted
instructional interventions that will confront students with their
existing ideas about the relationship between the items on the list
and the targeted concept or procedure. This FACT can also be used
as an application to determine the extent to which students are able
to transfer the mathematical ideas they developed during the formal
concept development stage. It may indicate the need to revise or
include additional activities to support transfer of learning to new
contexts.

Design and Administration

Design Justified Lists that probe a core idea in mathematics and
preferably have a cognitive research base that can inform the
selection of distracters to put in the list. Mathematics Curriculum
Topic Study (see Appendix) includes a process for developing these
types of probes. You can also use ready-made Justified List probes
in the Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics series (see
Appendix). This FACT can be given individually as a written
assessment, or it can be given to pairs or small groups to discuss
their ideas and come to an agreement as to which examples should
be selected from the list. Small groups can share their lists with the
whole class for discussion and feedback. If used as an individual
written task, consider collecting the probe, analyzing the data to
inform the instructional opportunities you will need to design to
address examples on the list, and returning the initial list to the
student at the end of an instructional unit for reflection. The lists can
also be tallied and posted as a class chart so that students can
examine the ideas held by the class, signifying the need to work
toward developing a class consensus.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Some students may not recognize a word on the list or may be
unfamiliar with a symbol or representation. Have students cross off
any examples on the list they do not recognize, and focus only on
the familiar items. It may be helpful to provide picture icons where
appropriate for younger students or students who are English
language learners. The items on the list can also be put on cards
and used as a Card Sort FACT.

Caveats
Make sure students are familiar with the items on the list.
Otherwise, this FACT may end up being a vocabulary exercise or run
the risk of being developmentally or contextually inappropriate.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#26. JUSTIFIED TRUE-OR-FALSE STATEMENTS

Description
Justified True-or-False Statements provide a set of statements to
be examined by students. The students draw upon mathematical
concepts and procedures to analyze their validity. Students describe
the reasoning they used to decide whether each statement is true or
false.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Justified True-or-False Statements provide individuals or small
groups of students an opportunity to activate their thinking about a
particular mathematical concept or procedure. Furthermore, this
FACT supports the important mathematical skills of proof and
conjecture—demonstrating that a statement is true in all cases
(proof) or believed to be true (conjecture). Supporting or refuting the
statements encourages students to use both inductive and deductive
reasoning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 This FACT is used to examine students’ existing ideas, including
their ability to defend or refute a mathematical statement. It can be
used individually or in pairs, small groups, and whole-class
discussions at the beginning of a lesson, at different points during a
sequence of lessons, or at the end of an instructional unit as a
reflection activity. Listen carefully as students discuss their own
ideas and engage in mathematical argumentation with their
classmates. Note strengths or weaknesses in their use of deductive
and inductive reasoning skills that may need to be further
strengthened through targeted instruction. For example, all students
should understand that one counterexample proves a conjecture to
be false, and older students should understand that finding even
multiple examples does not prove the conjecture to be true and
move toward forming generalized proofs (Waring, 2000). Identify
areas of agreement or disagreement that could be addressed in
subsequent lessons and discussions. Careful listening may also
reveal areas of uncertainty that indicate the need to ensure adequate
time for additional learning opportunities.

Design and Administration

Provide individuals or each group of students with a handout of
the set of statements, such as the example on the topic of variables
shown in Figure 4.18. This FACT can also be administered orally,
posting the list of statements on a chart or overhead for students to
discuss in small groups or with the whole class. Students discuss
and justify each statement, one at a time, trying to come to an
agreement on whether it is true or false and justifying their reasons,
noting any instances where they cannot reach consensus.

Figure 4.18 Justified True-or-False Statements for Variables

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
For struggling readers, post the statements on a chart and read
them aloud with the class. Use no more than three statements for
younger children.

Caveats
Avoid using mostly statements that require simple recall.
Statements should provoke student thinking, drawing out commonly
held mathematical ideas that students might have related to the
topic.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#27. K-W-L VARIATIONS

Description
K-W-L is a general elicitation technique in which students describe
what they Know about a topic, Want to know about a topic, and have
Learned about the topic. There are different variations of K-W-L,
depending on the students’ age and the teacher’s purpose.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

K-W-L provides an opportunity for students to become engaged
with a topic and sets a purpose for learning. It is a metacognitive
exercise that requires students to think about what they already
know and wonder what they would like to learn. K-W-L provides a
mechanism for self-assessment and reflection at the end, when
students are asked to think about what they learned. The three
phases of the K-W-L help students see the connections between
what they already know, what they would like to learn, and what they
actually learned after instruction.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 K-W-Ls provide information to the teacher about students’ prior
knowledge at the beginning of a unit of instruction as well as at the
end. Teachers can use the What I know information to determine
familiarity with the concept or procedure and readiness to learn.
When ideas that have developed previously are identified, instruction
can focus on building new knowledge and experiences from
students’ starting points. Students’ ideas can also be used by the
teacher for discussion starters. As students share what they already
know, questions are likely to emerge. The What I want to know
provides an opportunity to design instructional experiences that
include students’ own ideas about what they would like to learn
during the unit of instruction. Finally, the What I learned column
provides an opportunity to examine the scope and depth of student
learning and make adjustments as needed to improve instructional
activities and further develop student understanding.

Figure 4.19 K-W-L

K: This is what I W: This is what I WANT to L: This is what I

already KNOW find out LEARNED

Design and Administration

Provide students with a K-W-L handout, such as the template in
Figure 4.19. Students fill in the first two columns prior to instruction.
Collect and save their K-W-Ls and return them to use as a reflection
at the end of an instructional unit. Students can individually complete
a K-W-L and then share their responses that are recorded on a class
chart and referred to throughout the instructional unit. If K-W-L is
new to students, the teacher might start off as follows:
Today we are going to learn about percents. You have a K-W-L
chart to keep track of your thinking about percents. Take a
moment to think about what you already know about percents.
Write your ideas down in the K column. (Teacher gives students
several minutes to write down their ideas.) Now I would like you to
share some of the things you already know about percents, and I
will record them on our class chart. As I record your ideas, you
may have questions that come to mind about something you
would like to know more about related to percents. Write down
what you would like to know in the W column and be ready to
share some of your wonderings. When we are done, I will collect
your individual charts and return them to you at the end of our
lessons so that you can fill in the L to share and reflect on what
you learned.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Other versions include: K-W-F: This is what I Know, This is what I
Wonder about, This is how I will Find out; K-T-F: This is what I Know
for sure, This is what I Think I know, This is how I Found out; O-W-L:
This is what I Observed, This is what I Wonder about, This is what I
Learned; P-O-E: This is what I Predict, This is what I Observed, This
is how I can Explain it. A fourth column can be added to the standard
K-W-L making it a K-W-L-H. The Hstands for This Is How I Learned
It.

Caveats
 Be careful not to overuse this strategy, because students quickly
tire of it if it is used in the same way with every instructional unit. Be
aware that the open-ended nature of this FACT is not as effective in
pinpointing specific misconceptions, learning gaps, or conceptual
difficulties as some of the other probing techniques. The sharing of
learning goals or targets before students complete the K and W
columns can help keep students’ elicited ideas more focused.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#28. LEARNING GOALS INVENTORY (LGI)

Description
An LGI is a set of questions that relate to an identified learning
goal in a unit of instruction. Students are asked to “inventory” the
extent to which they feel they have prior knowledge about the
learning goal. They also describe prior learning experiences related
to the learning goal.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The LGI activates student thinking about a topic of instruction that
targets explicitly identified learning goals. It requires them to think
about what they already know in relation to the learning goal
statement as well as when and how they may have learned about it.
It also helps make the target learning goals explicit to students. A
key principle of learning is that students must know what the learning
target is. Explicitly sharing learning goals with students raises their
awareness of the focus of a lesson.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

The LGI provides information to teachers on students’ perceptions
of their existing knowledge in relation to identified learning goals,
including state or national standards. It also provides information on
when and how students may have had opportunities to learn the
ideas related to the goal. This information is particularly helpful when
students are coming from other schools or classes within a school
where there is not a consistent curriculum. It provides an opportunity
for teachers to see which goals may be new to students, which are
redundant, and which may provide an opportunity to revisit and build
upon previous learning experiences.

Design and Administration

Identify the goals from the instructional unit or the state or national
standards targeted in the unit of instruction. Create a question
inventory on each goal, such as the one shown in Figure 4.20 for a
high school unit on coordinate geometry. Give time for students to fill
it out. Post the goals in a visible place in the classroom and refer to
them throughout the instructional unit so students will know what the
learning targets are. The LGI can be given back to students at the
end of the instructional unit as a self-assessment and reflection on
their learning, noting the difference between their ratings before and
after the instructional unit.

Figure 4.20 Learning Goals Inventory for a High School Unit on

Coordinate Geometry
Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008), p. 132. Used with permission.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
The LGI can be used in an oral discussion format with younger
students or completed as a whole-class inventory.
Caveats
Learning goals that come from state and national standards are
interpreted in a variety of ways by teachers. Likewise, expect the
same variation in interpretation from students. How one student may
interpret a learning goal may be very different from how another
student interprets it.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#29. LOOK BACK

Description
A Look Back is an account of what students learned over a given
instructional period of time. Students recount specific examples of
things they know now that they didn’t know before and describe how
they learned them (B. Chagrasulis, personal communication, 2005).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

This FACT provides students with an opportunity to look back on
and summarize their learning. Asking students “how they learned it”
helps them think about their own learning and the different ways, as
learners, they are able to integrate new mathematical
understandings.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Teachers can use the information from this FACT to examine
aspects of an instructional sequence students seemed to get the
most out of and determine why. The information can be used to
inform the use of various strategies that may work well in other
instructional units. Look Back also alerts teachers to strategies and
activities that seem to be most effective for individual students. The
information can be used to differentiate instruction for individual
learners, based on their descriptions of what helped them learn.

Design and Administration

This FACT is best used no more than three weeks (or midway)
into a sequence of instruction. It is important to model this FACT with
students the first time you use it. Use a template such as the one
shown in Figure 4.21. An example of a middle school prompt used
with this FACT is:
For the last 2 weeks, we have been studying different types of
graphs. Please take 15 minutes to make a list of all the things you
learned in the last 2 weeks that you didn’t know before or
understand fully when we began the unit. Next to each new
learning you identified, please describe how you learned it and
why that way of learning was effective for you. Your descriptions
will be used by me to think about ways I can make your learning
more effective and relevant.

Figure 4.21 Template for Look Back

What I Learned How I Learned It

Source: Keeley (2008), p. 134. Used with permission.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
With younger students, use shorter amounts of time to look back.
For example, use the end of the week for them to look back on the
week’s activities.

Caveats
Be aware that failure to mention some key concepts and
procedures taught during the instructional period does not mean that
students did not learn them. This FACT reveals what stood out most
for students in their learning, not necessarily how much they learned.
Some students may have difficulty looking back more than a few
days. Provide the daily syllabus, sections used in the curriculum
materials, or outline of the unit to help them retrace the instructional
sequence.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.
My Notes

#30. MATCHING CARDS

Description
Matching Cards involves finding pairs of cards that share the
same relationship or attribute (for example, ¾ and 75%). This
strategy works well for pairing problems and solutions, shapes and
their attributes, terms and definitions, equations and the value of the
variable, equivalence relationships, and words and representations.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

To demonstrate number sense, students decompose numbers,
use particular numbers as referents, and solve problems using the
relationships among operations and knowledge about the base 10
system (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000).
Matching Cards engages students in actively using their number
sense to seek equivalent forms of numbers, expressions, and
equations. When used in pairs or small groups, the FACT provides
an engaging way for students to surface and share their thinking.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This FACT can be used prior to a lesson for teachers to determine
a starting point for instruction or to determine whether students have
a misconception (for example, matching 4/5 and 2/3 because the
difference between the numerator and denominator is 1). Matching
cards can also be used to monitor student learning throughout
instruction to examine how students are applying newly learned
properties of numbers and operations. By having students share
strategies in pairs, in groups, or as a whole group, teachers can use
the information to plan instruction.

Design and Administration

Design cards that address the topic of instruction. Create several
matching pairs according to the topic chosen. In addition to the pairs,
include a few cards that do not match any of the other cards. Use the
misconception research to create cards that do not match the others
but that may be selected by students because of a commonly held
misunderstanding. Cut out the cards, mix them up, and provide sets
to pairs or small groups of students with the task of finding the pairs
that match and explaining why they match. Figure 4.22 is an
example of Matching Cards that address the topic of Equivalence.
There are four matching pairs and four nonmatching cards. Students
are asked to find matching pairs of equivalent values and explain
why they are equivalent.

Figure 4.22 Matching Cards for the Topic of Equivalence

2/5 40%

.04 4/100

52 25

25% 1/4

2.5 4/1000

2.5% 2.5

10 5/2
General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Blank cards can be included for students so they can create their
own matches for the cards that do not match any of the other cards.

Caveats
Be sure to listen carefully to students’ justifications for their match.
Students may select the right match, but their reasoning may be
faulty.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#31. MATHEMATICIAN’S IDEAS COMPARISON

Description
Mathematician’s Ideas Comparison provides students with an
opportunity to compare how they explain a mathematical concept or
solve a problem with how a mathematician would solve the problem
or explain the concept to someone learning mathematics. Students
compare their own ideas to the mathematician’s ideas, looking for
differences and similarities.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Mathematician’s Ideas Comparison is used to help students make
connections between their developing or naïve mathematical ideas
and mathematically correct ideas. It provides a metacognitive
opportunity for students to examine their thinking to see how similar
or different their ideas are compared with the way a mathematics
expert might explain a concept or procedure. As they examine the
expert’s explanation or solution, they look for areas in their own work
that might be changed to reflect new ideas gained from the
information provided by the expert.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

This FACT is used to guide students toward mathematical thinking
and understanding of a concept or procedure. As students work
individually and in small groups to explain their own ideas, the
teacher listens carefully, noting areas of discrepancy between the
students’ ideas and the correct answer or explanation. The teacher
then provides students with a “mathematician’s explanation.” As
students compare their ideas with the expert’s ideas, the teacher
notes how the students are considering the expert’s explanation and
using the information to correct, modify, or enhance their own work.
If students are struggling to close the gap between their ideas and
the mathematician’s, this is a signal to the teacher that additional
instructional opportunities are necessary to develop conceptual
understanding. Mathematician’s Ideas Comparison can be used after
students have had an opportunity to explore mathematical ideas and
are ready to move on to formal concept development.

Design and Administration

 Choose a question that provides an opportunity for students to
access their mathematical knowledge. For example, Figure 4.23 is a
classic thought-experiment question that draws upon students’ ideas
related to proportionality and circumference (Arons, 1977; Leiber,
1942).
Prepare a handout as a mock example of how a mathematician or
someone with expert mathematical knowledge might answer the
question and explain it to a student. The mathematicians’ ideas are
the formal, mathematical explanation of the concept or problem
written at a level that students should be able to follow and
understand. For example, Figure 4.24 is an example of how a
mathematics expert might explain the answer to the String Around
the Earth question to a student in ninth grade.
Ask students to commit to an answer individually and explain their
thinking. In small groups, ask students to make a list of the
mathematical ideas they used to support their answer. After students
have had an opportunity to generate their own mathematical ideas,
provide students with the handout that explains how a
mathematician would answer the question. Have students discuss in
pairs or small groups how close they think their own ideas are to the
mathematicians’ ideas. Using the chart in Figure 4.25, have students
list the ideas they had that were different from the mathematician’s
ideas, the ideas they had that were similar to the mathematician’s
ideas, and the ideas the mathematician described that were new to
them or that they had not considered when answering the question.
Use the students’ charts to orchestrate class discussion about the
comparison between their mathematical ideas and the way the
mathematician explained it, checking for the extent to which students
gained new ideas or changed misunderstandings.

Figure 4.23 Example Question Used for Mathematician’s Ideas

Comparison

String Around the Earth

 Imagine that you tied a string around the center of the Earth along the equator.
The string lies on top of the ground and the oceans. You then untied the string
and added 6 more meters to the string. You pulled the string away from all sides
of the Earth equally. What is the largest animal that could crawl under the
string?

A. ant
B. mouse
C. cat
D. goat
E. horse
Explain your thinking. Provide an explanation for your answer.

Source: Keeley and Harrington (2010). Used with permission.

Figure 4.24 Mathematician’s Explanation of the String Around the

Earth Problem

The best answer is (D) goat. The answer is highly counterintuitive. First, one
needs to understand that the ratio of circumference to diameter (π) is true
regardless of the size of the circle. Pi is a number that represents the change in
the circumference of a circle for each unit of change in the diameter. If the
circumference increases by 6 meters then the diameter will change by 6/π
meters or by about 2 meters. Therefore the string will extend about a meter
above the Earth on all sides. This answer is independent of the size of the circle
that you start with (which is why you do not need to know the circumference of
the Earth to answer this question).
 You probably thought the string would hardly be off the ground at all. After
all, you only added 6m, and the string’s length was 40,074,000 meters to start
with (the circumference of the Earth). It is surprising that the answer is that the
string will be about 1 meter off the ground, all the way around the Earth! You
probably think this is a very large distance for so little change to the total length
of the string!

Another way to look at the problem may make the answer seem more
reasonable. The height of 1 meter is in addition to the radius of the Earth. Since
the Earth’s radius is about 6,378,000 meters, the change in height is in fact very
small.

Let’s try it with this calculation (using approximations):

C=2πr
C = 2 π 6,378,000 m
C = 40,074,157 m
With 6m added to the string, C now = 40,074,163 m
The radius of the new circle: r = C/2π which = 40,074,163/2π which =
6,378,001 m
Radius of circle with string around Earth = 6,378,000 m
Radius of circle with string around the Earth plus 6 added meters of string =
6,378,001 m
Difference between the two radii (which is the height above the Earth) =
about 1 meter

Try a similar problem using a basketball. Predict how far do you think the
string would stretch above a basketball if you wound a string around its
circumference and then added 6 additional centimeters of string and pulled it in
all directions.

Figure 4.25 Sample Recording Chart for Mathematician’s Ideas

Comparison

Our Ideas Similar Ideas Mathematician’s Ideas

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
A Venn Diagram, with two overlapping circles— Our Ideas and
Mathematician’s Ideas —can be used as a graphic organizer to
compare students’ ideas with the mathematician’s ideas. In the
intersection of the two circles, students record their ideas that were
similar to the mathematician’s ideas. In the Our Ideas circle, they
record ideas they had that were different from the mathematician’s.
In the Mathematician’s Ideas area, they record ideas from the
mathematician’s explanation that they had not considered. This
FACT can also be used with the Card Sort strategy. After students
have sorted their cards, if you notice discrepancies between the way
students sorted their cards and the “best answer” to the card sort,
consider giving students some clues from a mathematician’s
statement and invite them to resort their cards based on the new
information.

Caveats
 Mathematicians have a sophisticated way of talking about and
representing mathematics. Make sure the terminology and
explanations provided in the Mathematician’s Ideas handout are at
an appropriate developmental level for the grade level with which
you use this FACT. The purpose is to have a mathematics expert
explain the concept, procedure, or solution in ways that a student
could understand.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT is also used in *science as a Scientist’s Ideas
Comparison.

My Notes

#32. MORE A–MORE B PROBES

Description
More A–More B Probes are comparison tasks designed to reveal
whether students use an intuitive rule, described as “More A–More
B,” to compare quantities (Stavy & Tirosh, 2000). These types of
probes can be used in equality situations (in which two things are
equal in one quantity but differ in another, such as same volume,
different shape) or inequality situations (inverse ratios and
proportions or when there is no fixed relationship between A and B).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

 This FACT can be used to help students examine situations in
mathematics as well as in everyday life in which they are presented
with two seemingly different quantities and must decide whether they
are the same or different. The probe encourages students to
consider how they make judgments about quantities and the factors
that might affect their judgment (such as visual perception or number
value). It promotes critical thinking in mathematics by encouraging
students not to rely on the external features of a task but to draw
upon concepts that move them beyond mere perception.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

More A–More B Probes help teachers become more aware of a
strongly held intuitive rule that, according to researchers Stavy and
Tirosh (2000), may be the common core to many of the
misconceptions that are reported in the research literature. By
becoming aware of this rule and using questions that reveal its use
in students’ thinking, teachers can select particular teaching methods
that will help students overcome the strong effect the rule has on
their learning.

Design and Administration

Designing questions for this FACT is similar to doing so for other
types of probes in that it involves a two-tier question: (1) a selected-
response-type question that is likely to reveal the misconception a
teacher is probing for, and (2) an opportunity for the student to justify
his or her thinking. The questions are comparison tasks in which
students are asked to compare two quantities and decide whether
they are the same or different. They can be given as paper-and-
pencil tasks or put up as a visual aid for class discussion. The
following is an example of an equality situation. The teacher drew a
vertical angle with unequal arms. The students were asked to decide
if the pair of angles is equal. The teacher was looking to see whether
some students thought one angle was larger because the arms were
longer. This would be an example of the use of more A–more B
reasoning.
 Other types of More A–More B Probes include but are not limited
to classical Piagetian tasks such as pouring the same amount of
water into differently shaped containers, numbers of objects in a row
where one row has the same number but the objects are spread out
more, area problems where the two shapes are different but have
the same area, probability questions where the number of total
objects with the same proportion is greater, comparison of fractions
with larger denominators, equal proportions with one numerator
being much larger than the other, and 0.01 compared to 0.1
versus.10 compared to 0.1. When using a More A–More B Probe,
make sure students are asked to explain the rule they used to select
their answer. Listen carefully for evidence of more A–more B
reasoning. If students use this type of reasoning, probe deeper by
asking them how they came up with their rule. Ask them to explain
where they have seen or used it before.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Depends on
question
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This strategy can be used as a Card Sort in which students are
given a variety of comparisons and asked to sort them into groups in
which the comparison is the same.

Caveats
 When using comparison probes such as this one, make sure the
correct answer is not always the same. Vary the questions so that
sometimes the use of this intuitive rule results in the correct answer
being that the elements being compared are different.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science.

My Notes

#33. MUDDIEST POINT

Description
Muddiest Point is a commonly used, quick monitoring technique in
which students are asked to take a few minutes to jot down what the
most difficult or confusing part of a lesson was for them (Angelo &
Cross, 1993).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The Muddiest Point provides a metacognitive opportunity for
students to think about their own learning and what it is that is
difficult or easy for them to understand. It is especially helpful when
students encounter new information, complicated procedures, or
engage in discussions that result in cognitive conflict. This FACT
provides a comfortable outlet for students who are reluctant to speak
out and let others know when they are having difficulty
understanding a concept or procedure.
How This FACT Informs Instruction
The Muddiest Point is a feedback and monitoring strategy used to
efficiently collect information on what students find most difficult or
confusing about a lesson or part of a lesson. It can be used any time
during instruction, including on the spur of the moment when
teachers detect that students may be experiencing difficulty
understanding a concept or using a procedure. The information
provides feedback to the teacher that can be used to modify
teaching strategies in order to address student difficulties. Teachers
can quickly administer, collect, and sort responses to make
immediate decisions about instruction for the whole class or to
differentiate instruction for individual students. It can also be used at
the end of a lesson to assess where students are in understanding
the key learning targets of the lesson. The information helps the
teacher prepare for strategies or activities that will address students’
difficulties in the next lesson.

Design and Administration

At a determined point during a lesson, distribute half sheets of
paper or index cards. Ask students to describe the “muddiest point”
of the lesson thus far. Clarify what is meant by “muddiest point.” For
example, a high school algebra teacher using this FACT at the end
of a lesson to assess students’ content understanding might say:
Today we have been learning about quadratic equations. What
has been the muddiest point so far in today’s lesson for you?
Please take a few minutes to jot down any ideas or parts of the
lesson that were difficult for you to understand so I can address
them for you tomorrow.
An elementary teacher might use this FACT to determine how well
students can use an algorithm: “Today we have been exploring how
to subtract two-digit numbers. What is the muddiest point for you so
far when you try to subtract the numbers?”
Let students know why you are asking for this information. Collect
their responses and decide how the information will inform the rest of
the lesson or the following lesson. Be sure to let students know how
you plan to use their responses. When they realize that you will
seriously consider their feedback to make changes that will benefit
them, they will respond thoughtfully and with detail. After reading the
responses and taking action, share with students examples of the
responses that informed your instructional decisions.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low/Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
This strategy can also be used with homework and in-class
assignments. It can be combined with a question asking students
what could be done to help clear up the “muddy points” for them.

Caveats
This FACT focuses on the negative, rather than the positive. Vary
this strategy with POMS: Points of Most Significance, to provide
opportunities for students to identify the most significant part of a
lesson or the parts of the lesson that were best understood.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#34. NO-HANDS QUESTIONING

Description
Students typically raise their hands when they wish to respond to
a teacher’s question. With No-Hands Questioning students do not
put their hands up to respond to a teacher’s question. The teacher
poses a question, practices Wait Time, and calls on students
randomly. This FACT acknowledges that everyone needs to be
ready to share his or her ideas. It reinforces the notion that
everyone’s response is important, not just those of students who
show they know the answer by raising their hand (Black et al., 2003).

How This Strategy Promotes Student Learning

No-Hands Questioning is used to stimulate thinking and provide
an opportunity for all students to be asked to share their ideas, not
just students who raise their hands. Often, when a question is asked,
hands will shoot up immediately. As a result, the students who take
longer to think about a problem stop thinking once they see that
others already have the answer. This FACT can increase students’
engagement and motivation to think about their ideas and frame a
high-quality response, since everyone in the class has an equal
chance of being called upon to respond.

How This Strategy Informs Instruction

This FACT, combined with Wait Time, is a way for teachers to
encourage all students to be active participants in the learning
process. Many students have been habituated to raise their hands.
No-Hands Questioning provides an opportunity for teachers to hear
from a wide range of students in the class, not just those who raise
their hands or opt out by not raising their hand. It is particularly
useful when you need to learn what certain students in the class who
typically do not raise their hands are thinking.

Design and Administration

Prepare a set of high-quality questions ahead of time (see
Appendix for source material on developing high-quality questions).
Practice Wait Time both before and after posing a question. Call on
a student by name before posing the full question and then extend
the question further to probe for his or her ideas, giving the student
additional time to think. The manner in which questions are asked by
the teacher when a student is called upon indicates to students that
the teacher is interested in their thinking. The following example
shows how questions can be framed using this FACT:

Teacher: “What do you think would happen to the area of this

square if I doubled the length of the sides?”

Teacher pauses for wait time.

Teacher: “Jana, what do you think?”

Jana: “Well, I think the area would be twice as large because it’s
multiplied by 2.”

Teacher pauses for wait time after Jana’s response.

Teacher: “What do others think about Jana’s idea?”

Teacher pauses for wait time.

Teacher: “Tyrone, what do you think?”

Tyrone: “I think it would be more than double because if you
started with a side that was 3 centimeters, the area would
be 9, but if you doubled 3 to make 6, the area would be
36. That’s more than doubling 9.”

Teacher pauses for wait time.

Teacher: “Would someone like to add to Tyrone’s idea or share a
different thought?”

Teacher pauses.

Teacher: “Petra, what are you thinking about right now?”

Share the reason for using this FACT with students so they
understand that it is intended to help them think, provide an
opportunity for any student to be heard, and share various ideas that
different students may have. Make sure students know that every
idea is valued, not just the right answer, so all students feel they
have something to share in response to the question. Encourage
students to challenge statements or build upon each others’ ideas.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Depends on the
question
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
You may choose to use random selection techniques such as
cards with students’ names on them or the Hot Seat Questioning or
Popsicle Stick Questioning FACT to select specific students you
want to hear from. A modified version of No-Hands Questioning
combined with Wait Time is to have students put their hands up
when they have an idea or comment to share. The teacher nods to
the individual student when a hand goes up. The nod is the signal to
then put the hand down. Once a significant number of hands have
gone up and then down, call on selected students.

Caveats
 Avoid the use of recall questions, as they tend to result in more “I
don’t know” responses and provide little information on conceptual
understanding.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#35. ODD ONE OUT

Description
Odd One Out combines seemingly similar items and challenges
students to choose which item in the group does not belong (Naylor
et al., 2004). Students are asked to justify their reason for selecting
the number, symbol, representation, or mathematical term that does
not fit with the others.

How This Strategy Promotes Student Learning

Odd One Out provides an opportunity for students to access
mathematical knowledge to analyze relationships between items in a
group. By thinking about the similarities and differences, students
are encouraged to use their reasoning skills in a challenging and
engaging way. The FACT can be used to stimulate small-group
discussion after students have had an opportunity to think through
their own ideas. As students discuss their ideas in a group, they may
modify their thinking or come up with ways to prove or disprove their
ideas.

How This Strategy Informs Instruction

Odd One Out can be used at the beginning of instruction to find
out what students already know about a mathematics topic. It can
also be used during the development of conceptual understanding to
examine the reasoning students use in comparing and contrasting
the items on the list. Teachers can use this FACT to examine how
their students make connections among concepts. The information is
helpful in considering instructional experiences that can challenge
students’ misunderstandings.

Design and Administration

Select items that lend themselves to a grouping where one item
justifiably does not fit with the others. Be sure to choose items and a
relationship that is not immediately obvious in order to promote
deeper thinking. Provide the list as a handout, overhead projection,
chart, or set of cards. Alert students to what the topic of the Odd One
Out is before they examine the items. Have students record their
own answers and thinking before discussing their ideas with a
partner or in small groups. Allow students enough time to discuss the
various possibilities before homing in on “the odd one out.” Figure
4.26 shows an example of an Odd One Out designed for middle
school students learning about fractions.

Figure 4.26 Fractions Example for Odd One Out

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
With younger children, provide three examples on cards and ask
them to pick the card that does not belong.

Caveats
Make sure students are familiar with the words or representations
used before they are asked to examine the relationship between
them. Be aware that some students may choose a different odd one
out, and correctly note relationships that you did not have in mind
when you made up the examples and selected the odd one out.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#36. OPPOSING VIEWS PROBES

Description
Opposing Views Probes present two or more characters with
conflicting mathematical ideas. Students are asked to pick the
person whom they most agree with and explain why.

How This Strategy Promotes Student Learning

Opposing Views provides an opportunity for students to access
their mathematical knowledge to compare two or more different ways
to think about a mathematical problem or concept. This FACT can be
used to stimulate small-group discussion after students have had an
opportunity to think through their own ideas and decide whose
viewpoint most closely matches their own. As students discuss and
defend their viewpoints in small groups, they are encouraged to
carefully listen and consider others’ viewpoints. As a result they may
modify their thinking or switch their view based on convincing
arguments.

How This Strategy Informs Instruction

Opposing Views can be used at the beginning of instruction to find
out what students already know about a mathematics topic. It can
also be used during the development of conceptual understanding to
examine the reasoning students use in comparing and contrasting
opposing views. Teachers can use this FACT to examine not only
their students’ conceptual knowledge but also their ability to make
convincing arguments that support their mathematical view. This
information can be used to design experiences that will provide
students with the opportunity to practice strategies that will help
strengthen their mathematical arguments.

Design and Administration

Choose Opposing Views that reflect commonly held
misconceptions or procedural errors. Mathematics Curriculum Topic
Study (Keeley & Rose, 2006) is an excellent resource for connecting
common misconceptions to a mathematical topic. Use a cartoon
design such as the example in Figure 4.27 or use a Friendly Talk
Probe format. After students select the person whose view most
closely matches their own, they are asked to provide a justification to
explain their thinking. This probe can be administered as a paper-
and-pencil assessment or used as a discussion prompt combined
with other FACTs to stimulate mathematical discussion.

Figure 4.27 Example of Opposing View Probe on Multiplication

Source: Rose, Minton, & Arline (2007), p. 75. Used with permission.
General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
With younger children, it is best to use no more than two views.
Consider adding visual cues for English language learners.

Caveats
As a result of learning some test-taking strategies, some students
will not select answers that contain the words always or never. Vary
the use of the probe so that the correct answer sometimes includes
these qualifiers.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#37. OVERGENERALIZATION PROBES

Description
 Sometimes students learn an algorithm, rule, or shortcut and then
extend this information to another context in an incorrect way (Rose
& Arline, 2009). Overgeneralization Probes are two-tiered selected
response questions that elicit these overgeneralizations.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Overgeneralization Probes activate student thinking about a
particular algorithm, rule, procedure, definition, or concept they
learned about in prior instruction. The probe encourages them to
think about different contexts in which they can apply their
mathematical ideas.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Overgeneralization Probes help teachers identify areas where
students make incorrect generalizations that often remain hidden
unless the teacher uses specific strategies to surface them. Once
these overgeneralizations are identified, teachers can select
appropriate strategies to help students understand when a rule,
definition, algorithm, symbol, or other mathematical idea or
representation applies or does not apply in a given context.

Design and Administration

Overgeneralization Probes are designed much like a Justified List.
Students are given a variety of examples that have some similarity to
the targeted mathematical concept or idea and are asked to select
the examples that match a given situation, word, or concept. The
distracters selected should have the potential to reveal a lack of
conceptual understanding. Students are asked to provide a
justification for the examples they selected. Figure 4.28 is an
example of an Overgeneralization Probe. In this probe literal
symbols are used to represent an unknown number (variable). The
literal symbols in E and F are considered variables in mathematics.
While other literal symbols (B, C, and D) may indicate abbreviations
for units of measurement, an operation sign (×), or positions or
points on a geometric figure.

Figure 4.28 Example Overgeneralization Probe

Source: Rose & Arline (2009), p. 200. Used with permission.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This type of probe can also be used as a Card Sort.

Caveats
 Be sure to provide a follow-up experience so that students
recognize the incorrect application of the targeted mathematical idea
and can work through their misunderstandings.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#38. PARTNER SPEAKS

Description
Partner Speaks provides students with an opportunity to talk
through a concept or problem solution with another student and
receive feedback before sharing with a larger group. When ideas are
shared with the larger group, pairs speak from the perspective of
their partner’s ideas. This encourages careful listening between
student pairs and encourages students to summarize their partner’s’
thinking so that others can understand.

How This Strategy Promotes Student Learning

Having a partner to talk with allows students to think through and
articulate their ideas to others for feedback before sharing with a
larger group. It helps students develop careful listening and
paraphrasing skills since the strategy requires them to share their
partner’s thinking, not their own. Partner Speaks provides an
opportunity for shy, less confident students who may not be
comfortable sharing their own ideas in a large group to let their ideas
be heard through someone else. It also teaches overconfident,
dominating students to honor and accept the ideas of others rather
than focusing solely on their own ideas. Partner Speaks can be used
to promote deeper engagement with an idea, especially when there
is a need to have students think through a new idea, difficult
question, or novel context.

How This Strategy Informs Instruction

This FACT can be used during any point in a lesson when social
engagement enhances the development and sharing of ideas. As
teachers listen to the interaction, they learn more about student
thinking in preparation for the next steps in a lesson or sequence of
instruction.

Design and Administration

Have students turn to their “elbow partner” and provide time for
them to take turns discussing a concept or problem and giving
feedback on each other’s ideas. When using this strategy for the first
time, it may be helpful to model for students what it looks and
sounds like when two people are engaged in dialogue (one person
speaks while the other listens and vice versa, with the purpose of
deepening thinking) and when it is appropriate to give feedback
(after students have had a chance to articulate their thinking). Each
pair then tries to summarize what their partner’s ideas were and
what feedback was helpful. Encourage students to make eye contact
and think about what their partner is saying as they respectfully listen
without interrupting. The following is an example of how a teacher
might describe this FACT to learn more about algorithms students
use to add three-digit numbers.
Today we are going to explore different ways to add three-digit
numbers together. What different kinds of strategies can you use
to add 346 + 525? Turn to your partner and take turns discussing
 your strategies. Be sure to listen carefully, without interrupting, as
your partner shares his or her thinking. When you describe your
own thinking, be sure to explain to your partner the reasons for
your ideas. When you are finished taking turns, each of you will
need to be prepared to share one way your partner added these
numbers with the rest of the class. You will not be talking about
your own method but rather the method your partner used. Thus it
is very important for you to be a good listener and not interrupt
your partner’s thoughts. When your partner finishes speaking or
seeks your help, you may provide feedback to help your partner
with his or her thinking.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Combine this strategy with various methods for mixing up students
and assigning partners so that students are not always talking with
the same person. This strategy can also be used in triads if
necessary.

Caveats
In some classes, gender and friendship issues may hinder the use
of Partner Speaks. It is recommended that teachers establish norms
for partner discussions. Students should also be reminded not to
pass judgment on their partner’s ideas when they report to the class.
Provide time for the whole class to give feedback on the different
ideas that emerge.

Use With Other Disciplines

 This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#39. PASS THE PROBLEM

Description
Pass the Problem provides an opportunity for students to
collaborate in activating their own ideas and examining other
students’ thinking. Students begin by working together in pairs to
respond to a problem, partially completing a solution to the problem.
When the time is up, they exchange their partially completed solution
with another pair to finish— modifying, adding to, or changing it as
the pair deems necessary.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The interactive nature of the pair discussion provides an
opportunity for students to think about what they know and come to a
consensus of thinking with their partner. After the partially finished
solution is passed to a new pair of students, the new pair must
examine the solution strategy of their peers and decide whether they
agree with the approach to solving the problem. If so, the pair
finishes solving the problem by completing what was already started
by the other pair. If their strategy differs, they may modify or change
the response the other pair started and complete it for them, but they
must explain why they chose not to use the other pair’s strategy.
Pairs then get together to give feedback to each other on why they
did or did not change the strategy. They also provide feedback on
how well they felt the record of the other pair’s thinking helped them
pick up where the original pair’s solution left off. This FACT also
helps students recognize the importance of showing your work so
that others can follow your thinking.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

As teachers listen carefully to students discuss their ideas in
response to the problem, they gather evidence on the nature and
depth of students’ understanding of the concepts and procedures
related to the problem. The information may surface disagreements
students have about what the problem is asking for or the solution
strategy used, furthering the need to design additional opportunities
that will address the type of problem students are working on. The
student responses can also be collected and examined to see the
range of students’ thinking about the problem and the strategies they
used, indicating the need for differentiation with certain groups of
students.

Design and Administration

Choose a problem that requires students to analyze the context in
order to determine what it is the problem asks for and what their
solution strategy is, preferably one that involves multiple steps.
Arrange students in pairs. Provide students with the problem. Give
pairs 3 to 5 minutes to discuss the problem and collaboratively begin
working on the solution. Make sure students know they need to show
their work and make their thinking visible so that another pair can
follow their strategy but not so much that it doesn’t leave room for
the other pair to complete it. Then have pairs swap their partially
completed problems with another pair. The pairs then continue to
pick up from where the other pair left off. Encourage pupils to cross
off parts they don’t agree with and modify or exchange the crossed-
off part with their own ideas or strategy or continue by adding their
own ideas to enhance and complete the solution. When both pairs
are finished, they share the completed responses with each other,
defending their reasons for any changes they made and providing
feedback on each other’s thinking and chosen strategy. The teacher
may ask pairs to share some examples, providing feedback from the
teacher and/or the class on the various solutions and ways of
recording their solutions so others can follow.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can also be used with individuals. An individual student
starts the response and then exchanges with another student for
completion and sharing. It can also be a written exchange between
two different classes solving the same problem.

Caveats
Make sure time is provided to debrief the problem and engage
students in a class discussion about the solution.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science to examine approaches
to a scientific problem.

My Notes
#40. P-E-O PROBES (PREDICT, EXPLAIN,
OBSERVE)

Description
The P-E-O strategy was developed by White and Gunstone
(1992) to uncover individual students’ predictions and their reasons
for making their prediction about a specific event. In mathematics, P-
E-O Probes present a situation in which students are asked to make
a prediction or select a prediction from a set of responses that best
matches their own thinking. Students must explain the reasoning that
supports their prediction. The probe is followed by an opportunity for
students to test their prediction, observe and analyze the results, and
modify their explanation as needed.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

P-E-O Probes draw out students’ ideas and explanations related
to mathematical ideas that can lead to an investigation where
students have an opportunity to test their ideas. This FACT activates
student thinking about mathematical ideas and provides an
opportunity to discuss their thinking and defend their reasoning. The
probe provides an entry point into a mathematical investigation that
engages students in wanting to know if their prediction is correct.
When their observation does not match their prediction, it creates a
dissonance that leads to further investigation or discussion to resolve
the conflict between the ideas that led to their prediction and the
explanation that supports the actual outcome.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

P-E-O Probes provide a way for teachers to gather data on
students’ common misunderstandings in mathematics. For example,
in the Gumballs in a Jar probe shown in Figure 4.29, some students
may predict that there is a better chance of getting a black gumball in
Jar B. This response comes from a common misunderstanding of
probability in which the students focus on the absolute size of the
sample instead of the relative size of the sample when comparing
the likelihood of events. P-E-O Probes are best used as an elicitation
and exploration into testing students’ ideas. This FACT can be used
individually as a written assessment or given to pairs and small
groups to discuss their ideas and come to agreement on a
prediction. They can then test their prediction using a hands-on
activity, manipulatives, or an interactive technology-based simulation
such as the one shown in Figure 4.30. Teachers examine or listen
carefully to the students’ justification for their predictions and monitor
students’ explanations after they test their predictions, especially if
they find that their results do not match their original prediction. This
is an opportunity to guide students toward reconciling what they
believed would happen and what the actual result was. Teachers can
use this opportunity to help students think through, discuss, and get
feedback on their revised explanations in order to accommodate the
change in their thinking that resulted from their investigation. For
example, when students test their ideas with similar numbers of
black and white objects, that experience provides an ideal time to
revisit part-whole relationships and develop conceptual
understanding of how probability is used to predict outcomes. The
discussion might also reveal instances where students make a
correct prediction but their explanation reveals a lack of conceptual
understanding of the mathematics. For example, in Figure 4.29
some students might select the correct response C but reveal
incorrect reasoning such as “It’s the same because you can’t know
for sure what would happen.”

Figure 4.29 Example P-E-O Probe

Gumballs in a Jar

Two jars hold black and white gumballs.

Jar A: 3 black and 2 white
Jar B: 6 black and 4 white
 Which statement best describes the chance of getting a black gumball?
A. There is a better chance of getting a black gumball from Jar A.
B. There is a better chance of getting a black gumball from Jar B.
C. The chance of getting a black gumball is the same for both Jar A and Jar
B.

Explain your reason for the statement you selected.

Source: Rose, Minton, & Arline (2007), p. 122. Used with permission.

Figure 4.30 Example P-E-O Tool for Observation

Source: Educational Development Center in Maine (2010);

http://res4me.edc.org/ggb/BagOfMarbles. Used with permission.

Design and Administration

 Design P-E-O Probes to target important learning goals in
mathematics that can be tested using simple materials or
technology-based simulations. You can also use ready-made probes
that have been extensively field-tested. A source for these probes is
given in the Appendix. Encourage students to record their own
prediction and explanation before discussing their ideas in small
groups. After students have had an opportunity to discuss their
predictions and modify their ideas as needed, have small groups
engage in a mathematical investigation using manipulatives or
materials similar to the ones in the probe to test their predictions.
After they observe the result, be sure to provide time for students to
revisit and revise their explanation, extending the probe to become
P-E-O-E, in which students must now revise their explanation based
on the results of their investigation. Engage the whole class in a
discussion to help students accommodate the result and solidify their
conceptual understanding of the mathematics that led to the correct
prediction.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium/High

Modifications
After students have committed to an outcome and discussed their
ideas with others, teachers can use the probe scenario as a whole-
class demonstration if materials or time are limited. The results of the
demonstration can be used in orchestrating discourse to help
students revise their original explanation and further develop their
conceptual understanding.

Caveats
To use this FACT effectively, make sure you provide adequate
time for students to explain their thinking before testing their
prediction and observing the result.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT is also used in *science.

My Notes

#41. PEER-TO-PEER FOCUSED FEEDBACK

Description
To support both self- and peer-assessment, the teacher must
provide structure and support that enables students learn to reflect
on their own work and that of their peers, allowing them to provide
meaningful and constructive feedback (Council of Chief State School
Officers, 2008, p. 5). Peer-to-Peer Focused Feedback is a technique
used to focus peer-to-peer assessment on providing feedback that
can be used to move thinking forward. The FACT is designed to help
students address for their peers three important questions (Hattie &
Timperley, 2007; Sadler, 1989):

1. What are the goals?

2. What progress is being made toward the goals?
3. What do I need to do next to reach the goals?

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Receiving feedback and being given an opportunity to respond to
it is an important and rich activity for the learner. The feedback
clarifies the learning goal as well as where the student has met or
has not met the goal. If the student has not met the goal fully, the
feedback provides guidance on next steps to better meet the goal.
Research shows that those who provide feedback benefit just as
much as those who receive the feedback because the givers of the
feedback are forced to internalize learning intentions and success
criteria in the context of someone else’s work, which is less
emotionally charged than examining one’s own work (Wiliam &
Thompson, 2006, p. 6).

How This Fact Informs Instruction

Teachers who use this strategy support a classroom culture in
which peer and self-assessment are considered key to the formative
assessment process. Peer-to-Peer Focused Feedback provides
insight on two levels: (1) the ability of a student to identify attributes
related to the criteria for success in others’ work and (2) the ability
for students to use feedback to make changes to their own work.

Design and Administration

Use with assignments that provide an opportunity for students to
demonstrate their conceptual understanding, including solving
multistep problems and explaining solution steps, making and
justifying conjectures, and providing examples and nonexamples.
Establish the criteria for success prior to having students complete
the task. Have each student complete Question 1 on the Focusing
Feedback template in Figure 4.31. After the task is completed, pair
students to provide each other feedback by having each student
answer Question 2 and Question 3 about the other student’s work.
Provide time for students to review the peer feedback and to make
revisions.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: High
Modifications
This FACT can also be used by the teacher to provide feedback to
students or by students to self-assess their own work.

Caveats
For this FACT to be used successfully, teachers must first model
the process. Model the process of providing feedback with students
by using mock student work or student work from previous years, if
available. Because this strategy reinforces the notions that the
teacher wants students to improve their work and that their
improvement is being monitored by the teacher, time should be
provided in class for students to read and react to the peer
comments. Whenever possible, provide at least some time in class
for students to begin work with clear direction for them to continue on
their own.

Figure 4.31 Peer-to-Peer Focused Feedback

Peer-to-Peer Focused Feedback Name:_______________

1. What are the criteria for success?

Peer Reviewer:__________

2. Which of the criteria have been met? List specific examples in my work that
showed you I have met the criteria.

3. Which of the criteria haven’t been met? Provide suggestions that may help
me when I revise my work.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#42. A PICTURE TELLS A THOUSAND WORDS

Description
In this FACT, students are digitally photographed during a
mathematical investigation using manipulatives or other materials.
Students are given the photograph and asked to describe what they
were doing in the picture (Carlson et al., 2003). Students write about
the activity under the photograph, describing what they were doing
and what they learned as a result.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Students enjoy seeing themselves in photographs. There is a high
level of engagement and an intrinsic desire to want to explain what is
happening in a picture when the student is part of it. Asking students
to annotate a photograph that shows them engaged in a
mathematics activity or investigation helps them activate their
thinking about the mathematics, connect important concepts and
procedures to the experience shown in the picture, and reflect on
their learning. This FACT can motivate reluctant writers to write more
vivid, detailed accounts of their mathematics learning because the
photograph personalizes it for them.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Periodically taking digital photographs of the class during
mathematics investigations and other activities involving
manipulatives and other objects provides the teacher and the class
with a documented way to track how students’ ideas and skills are
developing through mathematical inquiry using a variety of materials.
The images can be used to spark student discussions, explore new
ideas, and probe their thinking as it relates to the moment the
photograph was snapped. By asking students to annotate the photos
with descriptions of what they were doing, why they were doing it,
and what they were learning at that moment, teachers can better
understand what students are gaining from the instructional activity
and adjust it as needed. If students can’t describe what they were
learning, then this is a signal to the teacher that the purpose of the
activity was not clear. It also helps the teacher see how students’
conceptual understanding evolves throughout an investigation and
what might be done differently to help students move forward in the
investigation. The photographs can also be used to spark whole-
class discussions that provide an opportunity to probe deeper into
students’ ideas, thinking processes, and problem-solving strategies.
At the end of a unit, the photographs can be posted on a reflection
wall and used as a class reflection to retrace the students’ thinking
and learning.

Design and Administration

Digital cameras make it quick and easy to take and print a picture.
This FACT can be used at any time during students’ mathematical
investigations. It is particularly effective when students are excited
about a discovery, experience something unexpected, or have an
“aha” moment during the activity. Choose situations where students
can relate to and remember what happened in the photograph.
Encourage students to call you over to take a picture when they think
it is important to share something that happened or show the result
of a manipulation. After taking photographs, download and copy
them onto a page that allows enough space on the paper for
students to describe their “mathematical moment.” Distribute the
photograph to students for reflection as soon as possible after taking
the photograph. Encourage students to write a detailed description of
what they were doing, thinking, and learning about when the
photograph was taken. In addition, the teacher can add feedback
notes to comment on the students’ pictures and annotations. Posting
the annotated photos further reinforces the importance of sharing
students’ experiences and thinking.
The reflective, annotated writing can be assigned to individual
students or as a group reflection by the students shown in the
photograph. The group reflection provides an additional opportunity
for students to discuss and share their thinking about what they were
doing and learning during an activity. A collection of class
photographs with annotations can be displayed as a visual record of
students’ learning during inquiry for others to see, read, and provide
feedback and reflect upon.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Depends on Cognitive Demand: Medium
availability of camera and
printer
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Younger students may dictate their descriptions to the teacher to
be added as annotations on the photographs. If computers are
available, students can annotate their photographs digitally and
share them on a common web space. This FACT can also be used
with videos. Students can voice-over short videos taken with Flip-
Cams or other digital recording devices.
Caveats
It may not be possible to photograph every student during every
activity. Make sure over the course of a unit that all students have an
opportunity to see and describe themselves in a photograph. Try not
to take more than one day to return the photographs for annotation.
Follow school policies for using digital images of students.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT is also used in *science.

My Notes

#43. POMS: POINT OF MOST SIGNIFICANCE

Description
POMS is the opposite of the Muddiest Point. In this quick
technique students are asked to identify the most significant learning
or idea they gained from a lesson.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

POMS is a metacognitive strategy used to help students connect
with the important goals of a lesson. Students reflect back on the
lesson and identify the key points that contributed to their learning.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 POMS is used at the end of a lesson to gather information on
what students feel were the most significant points made during a
lesson. Teachers can quickly administer, collect, and sort responses
to make judgments about how well the key ideas of the lesson were
perceived as important by the students. If the POMS of the students
differ from the important points the lesson was intended to develop,
the teacher can use this information to clarify and add more
emphasis to those key points.

Design and Administration

At the end of a lesson, ask students to describe orally or in writing
the most significant point made during the lesson that contributed to
their learning. For example, a lesson on linear measurement might
conclude with, “Today we investigated and discussed different ways
to measure dimensions, such as lengths, heights, and widths. What
point made during today’s lesson best helped you understand ways
to measure the dimensions of different-shaped objects?” Collect and
analyze students’ responses to decide if the lesson met its goal or
needs to be modified. Be sure to let students know how you used
their responses. When they understand that the information is
seriously considered by you to make changes that will benefit them,
they will respond thoughtfully and in detail.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
POMS can be changed to Part of Most Significance and used as a
reflection on the most effective part of a lesson, rather than the key
points that contributed to their learning.
Caveats
Focusing only on the most significant point of the lesson may
result in overlooking areas where students are experiencing
conceptual difficulties. Vary this strategy with Muddiest Point in order
to provide opportunities for students to express what was difficult for
them as well.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#44. POPSICLE STICK QUESTIONING

Description
Popsicle Stick Questioning is a technique used to selectively
choose students for No Hands Questioning. The purpose of this
technique is to ensure that certain students, identified in advance by
the teacher, are called on during “random” class questioning. Names
are written on Popsicle sticks and placed in a cup. An inner cup,
placed inside the outer cup, holds the Popsicle sticks with the names
of students the teacher wants to be sure to call on. The names can
be pulled out from the inner cup when needed while giving the
appearance that students are all randomly selected when called
upon to respond to a question (Wiliam, 2005).
How This FACT Promotes Student Learning
This is a type of No Hands Questioning strategy that encourages
all students to think and be prepared to answer questions when
randomly called on. Since hands are not raised, students who do not
raise their hands cannot opt out of the questions; therefore, students
tend to engage more in their own thinking to prepare for the chance
of being called on for a response. All students think they have an
equal chance of being called on. However, this selection strategy
ensures that students who need to be heard from will have an
opportunity to formulate and express their ideas.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

There are times when it is important for the teacher to gather
specific information about individual students in a class. This FACT
provides a way for teachers to ensure that certain students are
called on to share their thinking without their feeling as if they had
been singled out. The teacher can use the information to examine
how individual students are progressing in their learning and select
differentiated strategies as needed to improve their learning.

Design and Administration

Write all students’ names on the Popsicle sticks and place them in
an opaque cup such as a coffee mug. Place another smaller cup
inside the larger cup. The names of a few preselected students the
teacher wants to be sure to call on are placed in the inner cup, which
is visible only to the teacher. The other Popsicle sticks are placed
outside of the inner cup. When the teacher feels a need to call on a
particular student, his or her name is drawn from the inner cup. The
following describes how a teacher might use this FACT:
Mrs. Johnston was questioning students about their ideas related
to transformations. She noticed that three of her students were
struggling through the previous day’s activity. She decided she
needed to call on them during the class discussion so they would
make their thinking visible to the class and receive feedback to
 help understand the different types of transformations. In order to
ensure that they would be selected during the “random” Popsicle
stick draw, she placed their Popsicle sticks in the inner cup, where
she could easily draw them out as needed during the class
discussion.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Depends on
Time Demand: Low the question asked

Modifications
Use different-colored inks for particular subgroups of students.
Write some students’ names down more than once to increase their
probability of being selected. For teachers who teach multiple
classes throughout the day in the same classroom, seats can be
labeled with the labels written on the Popsicle sticks.

Caveats
Don’t allow students to see the inner cup!

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#45. PVF: PAIRED VERBAL FLUENCY

Description
PVF is a technique used to activate thinking about a topic. It is
used between partners to elicit prior knowledge, review a lesson, or
reflect on learning at the end of a lesson or conclusion of an
instructional sequence. Partners take turns in timed rounds talking
about an assigned topic without interruption. While one person talks,
the other listens without speaking until the allotted time has elapsed
and partners switch roles (Lipton & Wellman, 1998).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The purpose of PVF is to activate reflective thinking. This FACT
stimulates students to dig deeper into what they have learned and
make sense of it as they talk without stopping for a specified interval
of time. Active listening by the partner stimulates their own thinking
about the topic as they build upon their partners’ thoughts when it is
their turn. The structured protocol provides a vehicle for students to
be metacognitive in a verbally active way. In a very short period of
time, students can surface a significant amount of information,
beliefs, questions, and understandings from their instructional
experiences.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

After students have engaged in PVF, they may have identified
unresolved difficulties to bring to the attention of the teacher. These
difficulties are then addressed by the teacher to further develop
conceptual or procedural understanding through class discussion or
additional learning experiences. Watching nonverbal behaviors also
indicates the students’ level of engagement, which may be useful to
teachers in assessing their interest in sharing their ideas about the
topic.
Design and Administration
PVF can be used prior to instruction to activate thinking, as a
review of a lesson, or for reflection purposes at the end of a
sequence of instruction. It also works well as a prelude to whole-
class discussion. Some ways to use PVF include having students
talk about a topic to be introduced by sharing what they already
know about it, having students discuss results of a mathematical
investigation, or having students reflect at the end of a mathematics
unit by talking about their key learnings. Start by asking students to
find an “eye contact partner” by standing up and making eye contact
with someone who is not sitting near them. The partners move
together and wait for the teacher’s instructions. Ask each pair to
decide who will be partner A and who will be partner B. (Usually, the
student who wants to go last chooses partner B, so you may want to
announce that partner B will go first!) Give the class a discussion
prompt or topic to discuss. For example, the teacher might say,
For the past 3 weeks, we have been learning about number
properties. I would like you to talk about what you now know about
various properties. What were the most important things you have
learned, and why are they important to you? If there are areas you
are still struggling with, talk them through for your partner to
address when it is his or her turn.
Announce that when you give the signal, one partner will talk for
exactly one minute while the other partner only listens (emphasize
that the other partner may not speak at all until it is his or her turn).
Encourage the listeners to note areas in their partners’ talk that they
can build upon or provide feedback about. Call out “Go” and time the
PVF talk for exactly one minute. After one minute has lapsed call out
“Switch”; partners should trade roles and repeat. At the next switch,
the first partner talks for 30 seconds, followed by another switch,
after which the other partner talks for 30 seconds. End the activity by
having students thank their partners and go back to their seats. Ask
for a few volunteers to share insights from their partners or to
comment on any learning issues they discussed that may need to be
resolved.
General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
The time intervals can be changed to other configurations, such
as 1 minute, 40 seconds, 20 seconds; 60 seconds, 30 seconds, 10
seconds (for a closing statement), or other configurations the teacher
or students select.

Caveats
This strategy may be difficult for English language learners or
students who have difficulty concentrating or hearing. There is a high
level of noise in the classroom when many students are talking at the
same time. Have them spread out so they may better hear their
partners. Refraining from speaking while one is in the listener role
can be difficult. Students should be reminded to only listen until it is
their turn to speak.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#46. QUESTION GENERATING

Description
Question Generating is a technique that switches roles from the
teacher as the generator of questions to the student as the question
generator. The ability to formulate good questions about a topic can
indicate the extent to which a student understands ideas that
underlie the topic.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Students typically think that asking questions is easy and
answering them is difficult (Naylor et al., 2004, p. 120). When they
are put in a position to develop thinking questions that go beyond
recall, they realize they have to draw on their own understanding of
the topic. Generating good questions in mathematics requires more
than superficial knowledge of the topic. It requires students to delve
deeper into their existing knowledge base. As they formulate
“thinking questions,” they practice metacognition by recognizing the
level of understanding needed not only to form the question but to
respond to it as well.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Question Generating can be used at the beginning of instruction in
a topic to find out what students already know about the topic or
throughout a unit of instruction. The number of questions students
come up with, the quality of the questions (recall versus thinking
questions), and the sophistication of the ideas embedded in the
question reveal information about students’ knowledge. As students
learn to distinguish productive questions from nonproductive ones,
their higher-level questions reveal interesting insights into their
thinking about the content. Teachers can also have students
exchange or answer their own questions, revealing further
information about students’ ideas related to the topic. Selected
studentgenerated questions can be saved and used at the end of a
unit of instruction for self-assessment, reflection, or summative
assessment.

Design and Administration

Provide a stimulus such as an object, picture, statement, or
problem around which students can generate their questions. For
example, in a unit on triangles, the teacher might show three
different types of triangles and ask the students to think of some
good questions to ask about the triangles. To help students develop
good questions, the teacher can provide a list of question stems or
post a chart of question stems to refer to in the classroom. Figure
4.32 shows examples of Question Generating stems.

Figure 4.32 Sample Question-Generating Stems

Question-Generating Stems

Why does___?
Why do you think___?
Does anyone have a different way to explain___?
How can you prove___?
Is___always true?
How would you use___?
What could be the reason for___?
What would happen if___?
How does this relate to___?
What facts support___?
Does___when___?
How could we find out if___?
What examples show___?
What other way could you___?
What would happen to the pattern if___?
What kind of pattern does___show?
What rule explains___?
What would best___?
Source: Adapted from Keeley (2008). Used with permission.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: High for higher-level
questions
Time Demand:
Medium

Modifications
If individual students have difficulty generating questions, provide
an opportunity for students to develop questions in small groups.
Questions can also be developed as a whole-class activity.

Caveats
Some students, particularly younger students, may lack the prior
knowledge to answer some how or why questions. These questions
could be better phrased with stems such as “Why do you think …?”
rather than “Why does …?”

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#47. RESPONSE CARDS

Description
Response Cards are a quick way to check for students’
conceptual and procedural knowledge. This FACT involves students
holding up cards that indicate their answer. The cards can be from a
set prepared by the teacher or blank cards the students write on and
then hold up.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Response Cards activate thinking and engage all learners in the
lesson because everyone responds, not just those who raise their
hands. It is a technique that can be used to support a classroom
culture in which all ideas are valued, not just the right answers.
When the cards are held up in front of the students at chest height
facing the teacher, they provide a way to privately share their
answers; because most students are facing the teacher, it will
primarily be the teacher who sees the different responses.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Response Cards help teachers quickly determine levels of
understanding and proficiency in the class after a concept or
procedure has been taught. The teacher uses the information to plan
whole-class instruction or form small groups for reteaching or
enrichment. The cards can also be used to engage students in
mathematical discussions by grouping together students with
different responses and encouraging students to defend their
responses.

Design and Administration

Response Cards can be used in a variety of ways. They can be
sets of A, B, C, D, and E responses used to select answers to an
assessment probe or other selected-response question. They can be
T or F for true-or-false statements. They can be used to indicate
confidence levels (low, medium, high). They can be made up of the
numbers 0 through 9 and used individually or in combination. They
can also be made up of symbols or shapes. After deciding what topic
the cards will be used for, develop and distribute the cards to
students. Explain how they will be used, and model the procedure
with a practice question. Students can respond at their seats or
stand facing the teacher with cards held at their chests so only the
teacher can see their answers. Responses can be sorted by having
students use the Four Corners strategy to discuss the reasons for
their answers in small groups. Teachers can also select different
students to come to the front of the room and share the reasons for
their responses, eliciting feedback from other students or the teacher
as they share their reasoning.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Depends on the question
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Response Cards can be left blank for students to write an answer
on and hold up. This technique can also be used with small
whiteboards.

Caveats
Make sure students respond individually before seeing what cards
other students hold up. Establish the rule that they can’t switch cards
once they hold them up (except after discussion, when their ideas
may change).

Use With Other Disciplines

 This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, foreign languages, health, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#48. SAME A–SAME B PROBES

Description
Same A–Same B Probes are questions that reveal the use of the
intuitive rule “Same A-Same B” (Stavy & Tirosh, 2000). The probe
involves comparing quantities when direct perceptual cues are not
available to determine whether or not they are equal.

How This FACT Promotes Learning

One of the goals of mathematics education is to encourage
students’ critical thinking. Same A-Same B Probes often result in
responses where students rely on external, irrelevant features to
compare problems, figures, or quantities. These probes encourage
students not to rely on external features but to critically examine the
task and their responses to it. It encourages questions such as
(Stavy & Tirosh, 2000): Is my response valid for different types of
numbers? Is my response valid under all conditions? Does this fit
with other things I know?

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Research shows that this rule is widely used in mathematics and
science. By being aware of when students use this rule, teachers
can take students’ reasoning into consideration when they plan
instruction.

Design and Administration

Same A-Same B Probes are designed to ask students to compare
quantities in situations in which two things differ in one quantity but
are the same in another. For example, in Figure 4.33, students are
asked to compare the volume of a cylinder constructed from a sheet
of paper with given dimensions but changing which side of the paper
forms the height of the cylinder. Students often incorrectly apply the
Same A-Same B rule because it is the same piece of paper without
considering the change to the area when the measures of the base
and the height of the cylinder are switched.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Depends on
Time Demand: Low the question

Figure 4.33 Same A-Same B Example

What’s the Capacity?

Each of the figures below is constructed from an 8.5 in. × 11 in. sheet of
paper as shown.
 Circle the best response for the figures pictured above.
A. Figure A has a greater volume than Figure B.
B. Figure B has a greater volume than Figure A.
C. The volumes of the figures are the same.

Source: Rose & Arline (2009), p. 122. Used with permission.

Modifications
A Same A-Same B Probe can be used as a P-E-O Probe when
the concept can be followed with a hands-on investigation or
observable demonstration. Students can also generate their own
examples and nonexamples for the rule Same A-Same B.

Caveats
When using comparison probes such as this one, make sure it is
clear to the student what is being compared. For example, in Figure
4.33 the volume of the cylinders is being compared, not the
dimensions of the paper of which the cylinder is made.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science.

My Notes

#49: SEQUENCING CARDS

Description
Sequencing Cards involves taking a set of statements,
procedures, pictures, or ideas about a mathematical concept or
procedure and putting them together in a logical order. Students
reveal their thinking as they describe why the cards are placed in a
particular order.

How This FACT Promotes Learning

As students examine the cards and discuss their ideas about a
possible sequence, they must clarify their mathematical ideas and
identify areas of uncertainty. In the process of placing the cards in a
sequence, students must defend their ideas and provide a logical
argument for why the sequence is correct.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

When used at the beginning of a lesson, Sequencing Cards
provides an opportunity for the teacher to identify prior knowledge
students have about a concept or mathematical skill. It helps the
teacher pinpoint areas to target during the lesson in response to
what the learners know. Used after instruction, it helps teachers see
how well students can apply their mathematical ideas.

Design and Administration

Choose a mathematical topic that can be sequenced. Decide on a
series of statements, pictures, algorithmic or problem-solving steps.
Place these on cards and distribute the cards to small groups of
students. Students must decide on a logical sequence in which to
place the cards and justify their reasons for the sequence. As
students place their cards in a sequence, circulate among groups,
asking probing questions to reveal their mathematical thinking.
Students can also be invited to share their sequences with the class,
inviting feedback by their peers. Some examples that might be used
for sequencing include different ways of representing numbers
placed from smallest to largest, steps in using a protractor to make
an angle, steps in creating a graph given a set of data, probability
examples placed in order of highest to lowest probability, steps in
solving a word problem, and Fibonacci sequences and other
interesting number patterns.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Once students have sequenced their cards, they can be glued on
paper and collected by the teacher for analysis. When used as an
elicitation, they can be returned after students have completed
instruction in the topic, and students can be invited to modify or
change their sequence based on what they learned after instruction.
You can also insert a blank card in the set and ask students to
provide the missing card for the sequence or extend the sequence
with the additional card.

Caveats
Choose a format, number of cards, and topic for sequencing that
matches the developmental level of your students. Choose more
concrete examples, including ones with pictures, for younger
children.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#50. STICKY BARS

Description
Sticky Bars help students recognize that there is often a range of
ideas among their classmates about a mathematics concept or a
solution to a problem. Sticky Bars are the low-tech version of
personal response systems (clickers). Students are presented with a
selected response question. The answer is anonymously recorded
on a Post-it note and passed in to the teacher. The teacher or a
student arranges the sticky notes on the wall or whiteboard as a bar
graph representing the different student responses.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Sticky Bars makes students’ ideas public. It visually shows that
not everyone in the class responds the same way to a question. It
helps students understand and accept that ideas may differ and that
mathematics learning involves the process of working together to
develop a common understanding. Additionally, it promotes students’
desire to know how their thinking compares to that of their peers.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Sticky Bars can be used as an elicitation to publicly share
students’ ideas before instruction. The graph can be left on the wall
and revisited at any time during instruction to identify the extent to
which students have changed their original answer as a result of
their learning experiences or interactions in group mathematics talk.
Sticky Bars provide a quick way to identify the range of ideas held by
the class, including the percentage of students who may hold
misconceptions or make common errors. The teacher can use this
information to plan targeted learning experiences.

Design and Administration

Develop a selected response question that elicits a variety of
student responses. Always, Sometimes, Never Probes; Example,
Nonexample Probes; Friendly Talk Probes; More A–More B Probes;
Overgeneralization Probes; P-E-O Probes; and Same A–Same B
Probes described in this book can be used with this FACT.
Additionally, a source of excellent probes for this FACT can be
obtained through the source material described in the Appendix at
the back of this book. Remind students to record their own answers,
regardless of whether they think they might be right or wrong. Keep
the Post-it notes anonymous. Collect and quickly sort them into like
responses (with the help of a student assistant if needed). Create a
bar graph by placing each similar response atop the other. Figure
4.34 shows what a Sticky Bar wall graph looks like. Provide time for
students to discuss the data and what they think the class needs to
do in order to come to a consensus on the best answer.

Figure 4.34 Sticky Bars

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Depends on
Time Demand: Low the question used

Modifications
For teachers with more than one class, consider using a different
color for each class and making a combined histogram of responses
from all classes. Compare differences or similarities across classes.
As a reflection activity, compare the first Sticky Bars with a mid- and
post-instruction version using a different-colored sticky note and
placing them alongside the previous results for comparison.
Teachers with technology-based response systems, or clickers, can
have students use the devices to input responses instead of using
sticky notes.

Caveats
Sticky Bars work best with questions that are followed up with
instructional experiences in which students are challenged to change
their ideas as they gain additional knowledge and information.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#51. STRATEGY HARVEST

Description
In this strategy, students complete a problem-solving task and
then circulate among their peers to find students who used a
strategy different from theirs to solve the problem. Students record
the other strategies and describe how the strategy differs from the
one they used. During the process, students give feedback to each
other on their strategy.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

 A Strategy Harvest provides an opportunity for students to
examine others’ processes and compare them to their own. While
examining others’ processes, students build upon them or add new
processes of their own. “Thinking cannot be articulated unless
students reflect on the problem and the strategies used to solve it;
articulation, in turn, increases reflection, which leads to
understanding” (Fennema & Romberg, 1999, p. 188). Often in
whole-group sharing situations, not all students have a chance to
share, ask questions, and provide feedback, due to either time
constraints or comfort level. The Strategy Harvest FACT allows all
students to share their own particular strategy and to ask questions
and give feedback to other students prior to the whole-class
discussion.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Strategy Harvest elicits different processes students use to solve
a problem. As students are sharing, the teacher can gather
information on the range of processes used in order to determine
those to be shared with the whole class. Used prior to instruction,
Strategy Harvest enables the teacher to use the information to plan
lessons that move students toward a particular strategy or process.
Used during the concept development stage, teachers can use the
FACT to gather information to determine students’ ability to apply
new learning within a problem context.

Design and Administration

Provide students with a Strategy Harvest handout, such as the
template in Figure 4.35, and review the problem to be solved. Allow
students time to individually complete the problem, using the first
section to record their processes and solutions. Determine the
amount of time and number of strategies to “harvest” based on the
complexity of the problem. Start by asking the students to find an
“eye contact” partner by standing up and making eye contact with
someone who is not sitting near them. Ask each pair to choose who
will be Partner A and who will be Partner B. Partner A then explains
his or her strategy while Partner B asks questions and provides
feedback; once that is finished, the roles are reversed. Continue the
process with two to three additional “eye contact” partners. At the
end of the Strategy Harvest, ask for a few volunteers to share a
particular type of strategy learned from a partner.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Students can work in pairs on the problem and form groups of four
to share strategies. The time interval and number of partners can be
changed to reflect the complexity of the problem. For less complex
problems, a more random approach can be used, with students
moving quickly from partner to partner in order to find strategies that
differed from their own in at least one way.

Figure 4.35 Example Strategy Harvest Sheet

Caveats
This strategy may be difficult for English language learners or
students who have a hard time concentrating or hearing. There is a
high level of noise in the classroom when many students are talking
at the same time. Have them spread out so they may better hear
their partners.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science to share ways students
might investigate a problem.

My Notes
#52. STRATEGY PROBE

Description
In this strategy, students complete a problem-solving task and
then review written examples of how other students correctly solved
the task. Students are asked to circle the solution process that best
matches their own and to make sense of the other solutions
provided. Figure 4.36 shows an example of a Strategy Probe.

Figure 4.36 Strategy Probe

Source: Rose & Arline (2009), p. 84. Used with permission.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Comparing and contrasting solution methods promotes greater
understanding (Rittle-Johnson & Star, 2007). Strategy Probes draw
out students’ ideas regarding different methods by providing
students with predetermined solutions targeting the strategies,
concepts, and procedures important to the goals of the unit of
instruction.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 By first engaging students in solving the task on their own,
teachers gather important information regarding choices of
strategies. By then providing solution strategies ranging from those
using concrete to those using more abstract methods, teachers can
determine how to bridge gaps in understanding and use of methods.
For example, the result of using the What’s Your Subtraction
Strategy probe (Figure 4.36) may be that the teacher decides to
focus a lesson on subtraction as a constant difference after noticing
the majority of the students were unable to make sense of Pete’s
method.

Design and Administration

If used prior to a lesson, select tasks and solution methods that
focus on specific concepts and procedures students will encounter in
the mathematics lesson. If used after introducing the concept or
procedure, select examples that address the concepts and
procedures students have had opportunities to develop. Write out
the solutions using a format that students are familiar with.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Use actual student work collected from previous years, other
classes, or during the unit of instruction. Use the fictitious or actual
work as a Card Sort, having students sort the cards into two piles,
one for methods they could use and explain and the other for
methods they need to know more about before being able to use and
explain. Have the students create their own Strategy Probes,
demonstrating that they can generate multiple solution methods. If a
Strategy Probe is used prior to instruction, revisit it again at the end
of a lesson with a reflection FACT such as I Used to Think … But
Now I Know … or a K-W-L variation.

Caveats
Students who have not been given previous opportunities to
compare and explain others’ strategies may struggle with this FACT.
If so, adapt the instructions to allow students to explain at least one
other solution strategy or use the Card Sort strategy by having
students work in pairs to support each others’ learning.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science.

My Notes

#53. STUDENT EVALUATION OF LEARNING

GAINS

Description
The Student Evaluation of Learning Gains is a teacher-designed
instrument used to gather feedback on students’ perceptions of how
well a unit of instruction helped them learn. It consists of statements,
on a 5-point scale, about the “degree of gain” in areas such as skills,
content knowledge, attitudes, and dispositions toward mathematics.
How This FACT Promotes Student Learning
Use of a student evaluation instrument provides an opportunity for
students to reflect upon their own learning processes and to become
aware of what they think enables or impedes their learning. It
provides an opportunity for students to self-assess the extent to
which they feel that they gained new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or
dispositions. It increases engagement in learning and student
motivation when students see that their teachers take the feedback
seriously to improve their teaching for the benefit of their students.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

A formal student evaluation instrument of a unit of instruction can
spotlight teaching strategies and components of an instructional unit
that are seen by students as best supporting student learning and
those that need improvement. The FACT provides an opportunity for
teachers to analyze their instruction through the eyes of their
students. The feedback allows teachers to effectively adjust their
teaching strategies and activities to better meet student learning
needs.

Design and Administration

Translate your instructional unit into evaluation statements that
reflect the content, instructional strategies, and activities that
occurred during the sequence of instruction. Use the example in
Figure 4.37 as a guide. For middle and high school students, see the
Appendix for a link to a website that will help you create an online
survey or use a web-based survey program your school may have
available. For each item, keep in mind that you are trying to get
feedback on students’ personal learning gains for each component
of the instructional unit that you deem important. Check the
questions to ensure that they are clear and unambiguous, and do not
ask about more than one thing at a time. Explain to students how to
fill out the form and when it is due. You might consider giving it as a
homework assignment in order to provide enough time for students
to thoughtfully complete it. Emphasize the importance and
usefulness of the feedback the students provide for you and the
seriousness with which their responses and comments are taken.
After responses are analyzed, consider sharing with students what
you learned from their comments and how they will be used to inform
their instructional experiences as well as with future classes.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
The evaluation form may also be used partway through a unit of
instruction to make midcourse corrections to the instructional
methods or activities used. You may consider other data to be
correlated with learning gains such as gender, grade (such as
multigrade classes in high school), class (if not self-contained), and
so on.

Caveats
To ensure meaningful results, student responses should be
anonymous. Beware of changing the emphasis of the instrument on
student “gains” to other purposes such as asking students what they
“liked” about the unit. The purpose of this FACT should stay focused
on student achievement by emphasizing what students perceive as a
gain in their learning.

Figure 4.37 Student Evaluation of Learning Gains for a Fourth-

Grade Unit on Data Analysis
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#54. STUDENT INTERVIEWS

Description
In this strategy, the teacher interviews students individually or in
small groups of two or three students by asking a small number of
predetermined questions relating to concepts, skills, and procedures
foundational to the grade-level learning goals. For each response,
whether correct or incorrect, students are asked to explain their
reasoning or solution method. Figure 4.38 shows an example of
question prompts to use in an elementary grades student interview.

Figure 4.38 Sample Interview Prompts for Elementary Mathematics

About how much do you think the answer to [insert computation] would be?
How did you think about this?
What do you call these shapes? How are they different from each other?
How would you solve this problem [insert problem]? Why did you do it that
way?
Can you use these blocks to build a ___ ? Why did you build it that way?
What is another way you could solve this? Tell me why you could solve it this
way.
How many ____ do you think can fit in this? Tell me how you thought about this.
What would the next three numbers be [insert sequence]? How did you think
about this?
Which is bigger? How did you decide?
Are these the same number? How did you decide if they are the same or
different?
What does this symbol mean to you?
How did you do that?
 Tell me more about that.
Can you draw it for me?
Can you show me how you did that?

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The depth of a misunderstanding is often uncovered only with
follow-up questions pertaining specifically to a student’s solution or
strategy. A one-on-one or small-group interview provides students
with an opportunity to communicate mathematically in a setting
where they have the sole attention of their teacher, creating an
opportunity that is more likely to uncover areas of misunderstanding
or difficulty. In addition, putting mathematical knowledge into words is
an important literacy skill in mathematics. The FACT helps students
put ideas into words and explain their thinking, a critical skill in
mathematics and language.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

One-on-one or small-group interviews often reveal valuable
information that is not available when teachers rely solely on
students’ written work (Burns, 2010). Interviewing provides insight
into a student’s level of understanding and ability to put
mathematical ideas into words and representations. The FACT also
allows teachers to gather information about the range of learning
needs within a class of students.

Design and Administration

“Good interviewing requires careful preparation in advance,
keeping in mind purposes, method of selection, environment,
questions and follow-up probes, and uses” (Stepans et al., 2005, p.
277). Select a topic that is going to be taught in a future unit of
instruction. Align the interview questions to the learning goals of the
unit, and be sure to include questions that target concepts and
procedures that are foundational to developing the key mathematical
ideas within the goals. Use the general prompts in Figure 4.38 to
help you frame specific questions. Prepare in advance a recording
instrument in order to capture student thinking easily. Create picture
cards, or have manipulatives on hand to use during the interview.
Decide on the learning task other students will be engaged in so that
you are able to focus on student responses during the interview.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Depends on
Time Demand: High questions asked

Modifications
Rather than interview each student for each topic, teachers can
select a sample of students to interview, making sure all students are
included over time.

Caveats
Teachers often find it difficult to hold back from turning an
interview into a teachable moment. Refrain from correcting or
teaching during an interview.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science with Informal Student
Interviews.

My Notes
#55. TERMINOLOGY INVENTORY PROBE (TIP)

Description
TIPs are short, simple questionnaires that determine students’
familiarity with mathematics terminology. Students select a response
based on their level of familiarity with the mathematical term. If
students claim to be familiar with the term, then they are asked to
provide a description to reveal the extent of their conceptual
understanding.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

This FACT provides a metacognitive opportunity for students to
determine how familiar they are with the mathematics terminology
used in an instructional unit. Students may recall a mathematical
term but realize they have little or no understanding of its meaning.
Conversely, some students may realize they not only recall a term
from prior experiences but understand it well enough to explain it to
another student.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

TIPs are used at the beginning of a sequence of lessons to
determine how familiar students are with the mathematics
terminology they will encounter in the topic they will study. The
results are used to consider ways to effectively introduce terminology
into an instructional unit so that students can attach conceptual
meaning to a mathematics term.

Design and Administration

Select no more than 12 words from the key mathematics
terminology that students will encounter, learn, and use during the
topic of instruction. Figure 4.39 shows an example of a TIP for a high
school trigonometry unit. Leave plenty of space for students to
describe the term if they are familiar with it, using formal or
operational definitions, descriptions, or examples. Collect and save
student responses if you are planning to administer the TIP again as
a post-assessment, providing an opportunity for students to reflect
on their pre- and post-familiarity with mathematics terminology and
conceptual understanding of the words used during the unit of
instruction.

Figure 4.39 TIP for a Trigonometry Unit

General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
For the third selected response ( I have some idea what it
means) consider leaving a blank space to have students describe
their preconceived ideas about the term. With younger students,
consider using only a few key mathematics terms, providing an
opportunity for them to explain their understanding of the word orally
or in drawings.

Caveats
Be aware that students can memorize definitions without
conceptual understanding. TIPs are used to gauge familiarity with
terminology, not assess for deep conceptual understanding.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used with other types of terminology
encountered in *science, social studies, language arts, health,
foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#56. TEN-TWO
Description
Ten-Two is a reflection strategy originally developed by Dr. Mary
Budd Rowe (Rowe, 1974). Dr. Rowe stated that for every 10 minutes
of instruction, there should be 2 minutes of debriefing or sharing of
notes by students. After 10 minutes of instruction, students work
individually or in teams to summarize, fill in gaps, and help each
other clarify concepts.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Ten-Two provides a metacognitive opportunity for students to
frequently summarize and reflect on their learning. It is particularly
beneficial when large amounts of information, difficult and abstract
ideas, or new information is presented either by the teacher or
through guest lecture, video, audio, or other media.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Ten-Two is primarily used as a metacognitive instructional
technique. Linking it to formative assessment for the purpose of
informing instruction, the teacher asks if the students are ready to
move on after they have had an opportunity to summarize; or, by
circulating through the room and examining students’ summary
notes or discussions with a partner, the teacher may discover that
students are struggling with the information and are not ready to
proceed further without help from the teacher. Student feedback on
use of this strategy may reinforce the critical need to build in short
periods of reflection time throughout any lesson.

Design and Administration

Explain the purpose of the Ten-Two to the students. After 10
minutes of instruction, give students 2 minutes of time to quietly
think, summarize, look at their notes, jot down key points or
learnings, or discuss what they have learned so far with a partner.
Combine this FACT with Fist to Five to gather feedback on whether
students feel they are ready to proceed or need time to discuss their
ideas with the class. Resume instruction and repeat again after 10
minutes if needed. Debrief the usefulness of this FACT with students
the first time it is used to get their feedback on whether it was helpful
to them.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Use any time interval—Five-One, Seven-Two, Ten-Three, Fifteen-
Five—as long as it provides adequate time for instruction and
reflection.

Caveats
Break for summarizing only when the flow of the lesson is not
compromised. Breaking at 10-minute intervals without considering
how the concepts are unfolding may contribute to incoherence. It is
also important to recognize the difference between recall and
conceptual understanding. Often the latter takes much longer to
develop, although recall can provide a starting point from which to
build students’ own ideas.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#57. THINKING LOG

Description
Thinking Logs are a type of writing journal used during problem
solving or other conceptual activities in which students react to a
series of sentence stems as thinking starters. The purpose is to
prompt metacognition during students’ mathematical inquiry and
concept development learning experiences (Flick & Tomlinson,
2006).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Thinking Logs promote metacognition and help students see how
their prior knowledge and classroom experiences relate to their
mathematics problems and the development of conceptual and
procedural knowledge. Using this FACT helps students become
more aware of their own learning and what they can do to self-direct
it.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

Thinking Logs help the teacher identify areas where the students
are aware of their own learning successes or challenges. The
information can be used to provide interventions for individual or
groups of students as well as match students with peers who may
provide learning support. Thinking Logs may also indicate instances
where the class as a whole is having difficulty with a problem-solving
activity or other type of learning experience. It then serves as a
signal to the teacher to modify or redirect the experience to meet the
learning needs of the class.
Design and Administration
Thinking Logs can be constructed for an individual unit of
instruction from five or six sheets of paper folded and stapled down
the center. Students personalize the cover of their Thinking Log.
Inside the cover of the Thinking Log, print, paste, or attach a sticker
with the thinking stems you would like students to use. Examples of
thinking stems are shown in Figure 4.40.

Figure 4.40 Thinking Log Stems

I was successful in …
I got stuck …
I figured out …
I got confused when … so I …
I didn’t expect …
I think I need to redo …
I need to rethink …
I first thought … but now I realize …
Im not sure …
What puzzled me the most was …
I was really surprised when …
I will understand this better if I …
I stopped … because …
I think tomorrow I would like to try …
The hardest part of this was …
I figured it out because …
Right now I am thinking about …
I wish I could …
I really feel good about the way …

Composition or spiral notebooks can also be used for Thinking

Logs that are maintained throughout the year rather than for
individual units. Use impromptu moments during a learning
experience or at the end of a lesson to have students record in their
Thinking Logs. Students choose the thinking stem that would best
describe their thinking at that moment. Provide a few minutes for
students to write down their thoughts using the stem. If the purpose
of using the Thinking Log is to promote student metacognition, there
is no need to collect the logs. However, there are times when it is
helpful to collect the logs and analyze them to gather information to
inform instruction as well as provide constructive feedback to the
student.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
As students become used to using the Thinking Logs, ask them to
generate additional prompts to add to the list of thinking stems. With
younger students, it may be helpful to begin by choosing a common
thinking stem that everyone responds to, giving examples of how to
fill in the stem the first time it is used.

Caveats
If Thinking Logs are collected by the teacher for analysis, be sure
to let students know the reason you are reading their responses is to
help you adjust instruction to meet their needs. Otherwise students
may feel their entries are being read to pass judgment on their
abilities or performance, which might change the reflective nature of
their entries.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.
My Notes

#58. THINK-ALOUDS

Description
Think-Alouds are used to model comprehension processes such
as making predictions, creating images, linking information in text
with prior knowledge, monitoring comprehension, and solving
problems (Gunning, 1997). The teacher models the process he or
she used to solve a problem by thinking aloud through each step
from reading the problem to thinking about a strategy to use to work
through the steps and checking the reasonableness of the results.
Students in turn model Think-Alouds with partners.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Students do not necessarily talk about mathematics naturally;
teachers need to help them learn how to do so (Cobb, Wood, &
Yackel, 1991). When modeled, the Think-Aloud FACT provides
students with the opportunity to hear the metacognitive processes
used by a proficient problem solver. Students then apply the process
with a partner, improving their ability to think through a mathematics
problem.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

By listening to students during the partner Think-Alouds, teachers
can monitor comprehension of concepts, skills, and procedures as
well as the ability of students to think about their own thinking.
Design and Administration
Choose a multistep problem and talk through the process of
finding the solution. Repeated use of starter statements such as
those listed below provides students with a protocol when using the
technique with partners.

1. The problem is asking …

2. The strategy I will use to solve the problem is …
3. The steps to using this strategy to solve the problem are …
4. I know this answer makes sense because …

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Model, develop, and use protocols or prompts such as those
described above to help students who struggle to describe their
thought processes. After sufficient modeling and practice, ask for
student Think-Aloud volunteers periodically throughout the course of
the year to model their thinking processes for others.

Caveats
Avoid using this FACT only during a problem-solving unit. Instead,
employ it with a variety of problem types within units focusing on
different mathematical topics.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science and language arts to think
aloud about scientific, reading, or writing processes.
My Notes

#59. THINK–PAIR–SHARE

Description
Think–Pair–Share combines thinking with communication. The
teacher poses a question and gives individual students time to think
about the question. Students then pair up with a partner to discuss
their ideas. After pairs discuss, students share their ideas in a small-
group or whole-class discussion.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Think–Pair–Share begins by providing students with an
opportunity to activate their own thinking. The pairing strategy allows
students to share their ideas and modify them or construct new
knowledge as they interact with their peers. When students are
asked to share ideas with a larger group, they are more willing to
respond after they have had a chance to discuss their ideas with
another student. As a result, the quality of their responses improves.
This FACT contributes to students’ oral communication skills as they
discuss their ideas with one another. Think–Pair–Share can also be
used as an end-of-unit reflection by asking students to think about
and discuss their response to a reflective prompt given by the
teacher.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 As students share ideas during their paired and larger-group
discussions, the teacher notes inaccurate ideas or flaws in reasoning
that may need to be addressed in targeted instruction. The “share”
part of this FACT provides an opportunity for the teacher to probe
more deeply after students have had an opportunity to surface their
ideas with a partner. The whole-class discussion also provides an
opportunity for the teacher and class to give feedback on students’
ideas. When used as an end-of-unit reflection, the teacher can glean
useful information about the effectiveness of instruction.

Design and Administration

This FACT can be used during any stage of the mathematics
assessment and instruction cycle. It begins by posing an open-
ended question and giving students “think time” to activate their own
ideas. It can also be administered as a Think–Ink–Pair–Share in
which students are asked to write down their ideas before sharing
with a partner. Following “think time,” students pair up with a learning
partner to share, discuss, clarify, and provide feedback on each
other’s ideas. The pair then shares its thinking with a larger group.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
The “share” part of this FACT can be used with Partner Speaks.
Not limited to pairs, it can also be used in a triad. The FACT can be
modified as a Think–Pair–Do–Share in an investigative context in
which pairs of students use manipulatives or other objects to test out
their ideas before sharing with a larger group.

Caveats
 Use different pairing strategies to ensure that students have the
opportunity to form pairs with students other than the ones who sit
next to them in order to avoid having students always interact with
the same group of peers.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#60. THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS

Description
A Thought Experiment involves solving a problem set in an
imaginary context that could not be easily tested using real objects.
Students use mathematics to test their ideas and provide an
explanation of their problemsolving approach. For example, asking
students how many people, standing shoulder to shoulder, would be
needed to stretch from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco,
California, would be considered a Thought Experiment. It probes for
students’ ideas related to measurement and magnitude of number. It
would not be practical to solve this problem and test the solution in a
real setting with real people. However, students can use
mathematical thinking to solve the problem.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

 Thought Experiments provide an engaging way for students to
activate their thinking and apply their mathematical ideas and use of
logic in a novel situation. It generates interest in solving the problem.
As a group activity, Thought Experiments promote interesting
mathematical debate. They can also spark inquiry and connections
to other ideas as students think about ways they can test their ideas
and calculations in related contexts or with models and simulations.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

Students’ solutions to a Thought Experiment provide the teacher
with access to students’ thinking. This is particularly helpful in
abstract situations where it is not possible to empirically test a
mathematical idea. As students test and explain their ideas using
logic, calculations, and problemsolving strategies, the teacher gains
information about student thinking that can be used to design and
monitor subsequent learning experiences. The FACT also provides
an opportunity to transfer conceptual understanding to a novel
context.

Design and Administration

Thought Experiments can be designed to address students’
commonly held ideas using an interesting imaginary scenario. They
can be presented through stories, pictures, text, discussion, or any
combination of these. They can be used as an individual or group
activity. Present students with the Thought Experiment and provide
time for them to discuss their ideas. Students should be encouraged
to draw diagrams, propose models, and choose procedures or
calculations to test their ideas. Results of the Thought Experiment
are used to engage the class in mathematical discourse. Figure 4.23
used with a Mathematician’s Ideas Comparison is an example of a
classic thought experiment question that draws upon students’ ideas
related to proportionality and circumference (Arons, 1977; Leiber,
1942).
General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: High
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Have students come up with ideas for Thought Experiments. Use
situations that are less abstract for younger students.

Caveats
Thought Experiments often use hypothetical situations that may
not be realistic or that involve multiple variables. For example,
consider the following Thought Experiment prompt: “How many
times would a piece of paper need be folded so that the resulting
height is as tall the Empire State Building?” In this situation, you
would ask the students to imagine that any number of folds is
possible.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science and social studies.

My Notes

#61. THREE-MINUTE PAUSE

Description
The Three-Minute Pause provides a break during a block of
instruction in order to provide time for students to summarize, clarify,
and self-assess whether they understand the concept or procedure
being taught. The teacher takes a three-minute pause during
instruction so that students can engage in discussion with a partner
or small group. A three-minute pause is especially helpful when large
amounts of information need to be processed for understanding.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

This FACT provides a short, metacognitive break during a hands-
on activity, video, lecture, or reading assignment so that students
can think about what they are doing and learning before going on to
the next step or chunk of information. By breaking up an information-
heavy lesson or complex activity, students are better able to process
and retain the important conceptual understandings from the
learning experience. The discussion that occurs in pairs or triads
provides an opportunity for students to receive feedback that can
help them resolve difficulties they may be experiencing in
understanding the concept, skill, or procedure targeted in the lesson.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Since this FACT requires students to monitor their own learning
and work together to clarify any difficulties they are having at a given
point in time, it allows the teacher to move ahead with instruction
without interrupting the flow of a lesson with numerous questions.
The responsibility for making sense of the lesson is initially put on
the students. The final 3-minute pause provides an opportunity for
students to list any lingering questions or concepts and ideas they
are having difficulty understanding that were not resolved in their
peer discussions. This information can then be used by the teacher
to clarify parts of the lesson or to design additional experiences to
support student understanding.
Design and Administration
Decide when it is a logical time to break during an information-
heavy lesson or a complex activity. The teacher may set a timer or
provide pairs or triads of students with a timing device. All students
start their timers at the same time on cue. Students discuss the
ideas from the lesson or activity for 3 minutes, helping each other
process their thoughts and clarify misunderstandings. When 3
minutes are up, students stop talking and direct their attention once
again to the teacher, video, lesson, problem, activity, or reading they
are engaged in, and the lesson resumes seamlessly. It is remarkable
how much students can say in as little as 3 minutes. Anything left
unresolved after the time runs out is recorded and saved for the final
3-minute pause at the end of the lesson. The FACT allows the
teacher to continue with the lesson or activity rather than interrupting
the flow with questions. At the end of the lesson, students have 3
minutes to discuss and resolve any lingering questions. Unresolved
questions are then shared with the teacher or the whole class for
clarification. The teacher may also choose to have students write
down any lingering questions to be collected and addressed at the
beginning of the next lesson.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
For difficult topics, it may be necessary to extend the time for
discussion or take time to clarify before resuming. Three-minute egg
timers can be used to keep track of the time. All students start and
end their discussion at the same time, bringing their attention back to
the teacher to facilitate the next steps in learning.
Caveats
Use this strategy only when there is a need to process large
amounts of information; otherwise it becomes a trivial exercise that
can interrupt the flow of learning.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#62. 3-2-1

Description
3-2-1 provides a structured way for students to reflect on their
learning. Students respond in writing to three reflective prompts,
providing six responses (three for the first prompt, two for the second
prompt, and one final response to the last prompt) that describe what
they learned from a lesson or instructional sequence.

How This FACT Promotes Learning

3-2-1 is a technique that scaffolds students’ reflections. The
scaffold activates thinking about key learnings (Lipton & Wellman,
2000). This FACT provides students with an opportunity to share
their success in learning difficult or new concepts as well as
recognize what was challenging for them.
How This FACT Informs Instruction
3-2-1 provides rich information to the teacher about what students
perceive as the key learnings from a lesson or sequence of lessons.
The information can be analyzed to see how well the goals of a
lesson were met. The FACT also provides information to the teacher
about what students are still struggling with so that further
instructional opportunities can be provided that target students’
learning needs.

Design and Administration

This strategy is best used with difficult concepts or during an
instructional sequence when students have learned something new.
Figure 4.41 shows an example of a 3-2-1 reflection sheet. Provide
students with a copy of the reflection sheet and time to complete
their reflection. Students can also be paired up to share their 3-2-1
reflections with their peers.

Figure 4.41 Example of a 3-2-1 Reflection Sheet

3 new things I learned

1.
2.
3.
2 things I am still struggling with

1.
2.
1 thing that will help me tomorrow

1.
General Implementation Attributes
Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
3-2-1 can also be used when students are learning new
algorithms, procedures, or skills. For example, the following can be
used with elementary students who are learning multiplication facts:
Three facts that I always know, two facts that I still have to think
about first, and one strategy I can use when I don’t know a fact. If
more information is desired for a particular instructional situation,
consider using a 5-3-1.

Caveats
Vary this strategy with other FACTS that encourage reflection, and
change the prompts periodically, or students may quickly tire of this
technique.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#63. THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN

Description
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down provides a quick visual check on how
well students understand a concept, procedure, or skill before the
teacher proceeds further with the lesson or activity. Students hold
their thumbs up if they feel ready to move on or put their thumbs
down if they feel they are not ready.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down promotes metacognition and helps
students develop self-assessment skills (Black & Harrison, 2004).
Students use their thumb signals to indicate to the teacher when
they need additional support for their learning.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down is a quick monitoring strategy that can
be used at any time during instruction to help the teacher gauge the
extent of student understanding, which in turn informs the pace of
instruction. When students are asked to hold up their thumbs
showing where they are in their current understanding, the teacher
can get a quick snapshot of the class as well as individual students’
level of understanding. If the majority of students hold up a “thumbs
down,” this is a clear indication to the teacher that instruction needs
to be modified in order to accommodate the needs of the class.
Conversely, a majority of “thumbs up” indicates that most of the class
is ready to move on. A mixture of thumbs up and thumbs down
indicates the need to provide peer and teacher support before
moving on. For example, the “thumbs down” students can be
matched with “thumbs up” students to help them address difficulties
in their understanding. This frees up time for the teacher to circulate
and help individuals who are struggling the most.

Design and Administration

 At any point during the lesson, ask students to raise their fists with
their thumbs out. Ask students to point thumbs up if they “get it” and
are ready to move on. Ask them to point thumbs down if they are
confused, have questions, or need help before moving on with the
lesson or activity. Analyze the ratio of thumbs up to thumbs down to
make determinations on how to proceed with the lesson or note
individual students that may need further help as you proceed.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Thumbs can be turned sideways if students feel they can move on
but may have some questions as they get further into the lesson or
activity. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down can also be used with
assessment probes to indicate students’ confidence level in their
commitment to an idea. For example, a “thumbs up” represents
confidence, “thumbs sideways” represents some confidence, and
“thumbs down” represents no confidence or a guess.
This FACT can also be used to have students evaluate the
solutions and arguments of their classmates. Requiring students to
signal agreement (thumbs up) or disagreement (thumbs down) sets
the expectation that students are actively listening to their
classmates’ explanations.

Caveats
Make sure the “thumbs up” students who are matched up with
“thumbs down” students have an accurate grasp of the content or
skill targeted by the lesson so that one student’s misunderstandings
will not be passed on to another. Choose students carefully for peer
assistance and, if possible, listen in on their discussions to determine
how well students are able to assist others.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual performing arts.

My Notes

#64. TRAFFIC LIGHT CARDS

Description
Traffic Light Cards are a variation on the popular “traffic lighting”
strategy used in the United Kingdom (Black et. al., 2003). The traffic
light icons—red-, yellow-, and green-colored “lights”—are used to
represent levels of student understanding. Students are given three
cards of different colors, asked to self-assess their understanding
about a concept or skill they are learning, and hold up the card that
best matches their understanding. Green means “I understand this
very well,” yellow means “I understand most of it but could use a little
help,” and red means “Help! I don’t get it.”

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Traffic light icons promote metacognition and help students
develop self-assessment skills (Black and Harrison, 2004). Students
use the cards to indicate to the teacher when they need additional
support for their learning.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

 Traffic Light Cards are a monitoring strategy that can be used at
any time during instruction to help the teacher gauge the extent of
student understanding; this, in turn, can inform the pace of
instruction. The colors indicate whether students have full, partial, or
minimal to no understanding. When students are asked to hold up
the card that best represents their current level of understanding, the
teacher can get a quick snapshot of the class as well as individual
students’ level of understanding. If the majority of students hold up
red, this is a clear indication to the teacher that instruction needs to
be modified in order to accommodate the needs of the class.
Conversely, a majority of greens indicates that most of the class is
ready to move on. A mixture of colors indicates the need to provide
peer and teacher support before moving on. For example, the
yellow-card students can be matched up with green-card students to
help them address difficulties in their understanding. This frees up
time for the teacher to work with the red-card students, who may
have more serious learning difficulties.

Design and Administration

Cut red, yellow, and green squares out of card stock. Provide
each student with a set to keep in his or her desk, the inside flap of a
notebook, or other accessible area. When the teacher knows the
traffic cards will be used in a lesson, students are asked to put them
on their desk. When the teacher decides on the right moment to get
feedback from students on their understanding, students are asked
to hold up the card that represents how well they feel they
understand what they have been doing or learning thus far. A traffic
light graphic posted in the front of the room can be used to remind
students what the colors represent. See the Appendix for a source
that explains in detail the use of this strategy.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low
Time Demand: Low
Modifications
Traffic Light Cards can be used with assessment probes to
indicate students’ confidence level in their commitment to an idea.
For example, a green card represents confidence, yellow represents
some confidence, and red represents no confidence or a guess. Flip
cards for readiness can also be made by gluing a red card to a green
card. Students hold up the side that represents how ready they are
to proceed with the lesson or next step in a procedure. The green
side indicates readiness, and the red side indicates that students are
not yet ready.

Caveats
Make sure the green-card students who are matched up to help
the yellow-card students have an accurate grasp of the content or
skill targeted by the lesson so that one student’s misunderstandings
will not be passed on to another. Choose students carefully for peer
assistance and, if possible, eavesdrop on the discussions to
determine how well students are able to assist others.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#65. TRAFFIC LIGHT CUPS

Description
Traffic Light Cups are used during group work, including work with
manipulatives or other hands-on mathematics investigations to
signal to the teacher when students need help or feedback. Red,
yellow, and green stackable party cups placed in the center of a
group’s table or work station represent whether the group is able to
proceed without the need for teacher intervention, assistance, or
feedback.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Traffic Light Cups promote self-assessment by increasing
students’ awareness of when they can proceed with a task without
assistance or feedback from the teacher.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

During hands-on activities or other small-group problem-solving
tasks, the teacher is constantly monitoring groups that need
assistance. Traffic Light Cups provide a visual signal to the teacher
that a group may need assistance or would like feedback on their
progress. It allows the teacher to use time more efficiently to work
with groups that have the greatest needs. Traffic Light Cups signal to
the teacher when a group is proceeding successfully without the
need for assistance (green), when a group might like feedback or
assistance from the teacher in order to best continue with their work
but are still able to proceed in the meantime (yellow), or when a
group is stuck and can’t go any further until they get assistance or
feedback from the teacher (red).

Design and Administration

Obtain green, orange or yellow, and red stackable party cups of
the same size from a party store. Give all groups a set of cups and
ask them to stack them, one inside the other, with the green cup on
the outside. The stack of cups is placed in the center of their work
area where it can be seen by the teacher. All groups should start
with green on the outside. As their needs for instructional support
from the teacher increase, students change the outer color to yellow
or red. As the teacher scans the room, students with red cups on the
outside receive assistance first, followed by yellow cups.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Traffic Light Cups can also be used for individual tasks. They can
also be used to signal time on task. Green means that the group or
individual feels there is plenty of time to finish on schedule. Yellow
signifies the need for just a little more time. Red signifies that a
group or individual is behind and will need more time to finish.

Caveats
When this strategy is new, students need to be frequently
reminded to change their outer cup when their learning needs
change. The teacher should check in occasionally with the green
cups to keep informed of the groups’ progress. Don’t assume
because the green cup is on the outside that you don’t need to check
on a group. Some students may use this tactic if they are off task
and do not want the teacher to know they are doing something else!

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#66. TRAFFIC LIGHT DOTS

Description
Traffic Light Dots are used by students to self-assess their work
and get feedback from peers or the teacher. Small peel-off colored
dots that come in sheets from office supply stores serve as traffic
signal icons. Students place the dots in the margins of their work to
indicate areas where they feel that they successfully completed the
task (green), areas where they aren’t sure about their work and
would like feedback (yellow), and areas where they feel they didn’t
understand or perform well on the task and need help (red).

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Traffic Light Dots provide a way for students to self-assess areas
of their work and seek help in developing understanding. When
students exchange a traffic-light-dotted paper with another student,
the FACT supports peer assessment and helps students think further
about the concepts or problem-solving strategy they used in order to
provide feedback to other students on their yellow or red areas.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

Student work submitted to the teacher for feedback that has been
traffic-light dotted saves considerable time on the part of the teacher
by enabling the teacher to focus on the yellow and red areas for
feedback. A quick scan of a collection of student work from a class
that contains a majority of red dots signifies to the teacher that
students may not have been ready for the assignment or task and
require an adjustment in instruction to help them develop the
understanding needed to complete the task. Conversely, papers that
have a majority of green dots signify that students were generally
able to use their understanding to complete the task. A mixture of
dots may indicate the need to have students work in groups to help
each other. For example, a student who put a green dot in one area
of work may help a student with yellow or red in the same area.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Students can traffic-light-dot other students’ papers as a form of
peer assessment. Green means good work, yellow means that the
work needs some improvement, and red indicates the need for major
revision. If peel-and-stick dots are not available, students can create
their own dot icons with red, yellow, and green markers, crayon, or
colored pencils.

Caveats
Feedback on yellow and red dots should be given soon after
students have submitted their work in order for the feedback to be
useful. It is also useful to provide feedback on the green dots, letting
students know that you acknowledge areas where they feel they
have done well; comment on what you found to be good about their
work. When using this FACT, avoid assigning grades to
assignments, because the purpose is to provide feedback, not
judgment.

Use With Other Disciplines

 This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#67. TWO-MINUTE PAPER

Description
The Two-Minute Paper is a quick and simple way to collect
feedback from students about their learning at the end of a lesson or
other learning experience. Students are given two minutes to
respond to a predetermined prompt in writing.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

The Two-Minute Paper requires students to use more than recall
in responding to questions about a learning experience. Students
must first think about what they have been learning about and
determine how well they feel they learned the concept or skill. The
FACT also demonstrates to the students the teacher’s respect for
their feedback, particularly when they see how it is used to make
their learning experiences more student centered.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

The Two-Minute Paper allows the teacher to collect feedback on
student learning with minimal effort and time. Student responses are
read, sorted, and analyzed in order to determine how to make
adjustments to the lesson the next day.
Design and Administration
Provide a half sheet of paper to students during the last 3 to 5
minutes of a lesson. Write one or two questions on the board or on a
chart that you want students to respond to. For example, use some
variation of the following:

What was the most important thing you learned today?

What did you learn today that you didn’t know before class?
What important question remains unanswered for you?
What would help you learn better tomorrow?

Give students 2 minutes to write, and then collect their papers.

After their responses have been analyzed, share the results with
students the next day, letting them know how you are going to use
the feedback they shared with you.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low/Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
The Two-Minute Paper can be used at the beginning of a day’s
lesson to reflect on the previous day’s lesson in order to inform the
teacher about modifications that may be necessary. It can be used
after completing homework or a class assignment. This technique
has also been used as a One-Minute Paper with older students
(Angelo & Cross, 1993). Extend the time allowed for younger
students or students who have difficulty writing in the English
language into a Three- or Four-Minute Paper.

Caveats
Adjust the time according to students’ writing ability so that slower
writers feel they have had adequate opportunity to give feedback.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#68. TWO OR THREE BEFORE ME

Description
Two or Three Before Me provides opportunities for more students
to share their ideas during class. It prevents individual students from
dominating the responses to the teacher’s or other students’
questions. The rule is that at least two or three students must have
an opportunity to talk before the same person can speak again.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

This FACT provides opportunities for a greater number of students
in a class to share their thinking, particularly when there are
dominant voices in a class. It also provides an opportunity for
students who tend to be overly responsive to teacher questioning to
listen to the ideas of their peers. Taking the time to listen to the ideas
of others before voicing their own ideas helps dominant students
reconsider their own thinking in light of what others think.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

 Two or Three Before Me provides a classroom norm that teachers
can use to ensure that more students in a class have an opportunity
for their ideas to be heard. When more student voices are heard, the
teacher is better able to determine the extent of understanding and
range of ideas in the class that can be used to inform instruction.

Design and Administration

Explain the strategy to students, including the purpose of Two or
Three Before Me, and practice using it during a class discussion.
Eventually students will adopt it as a discussion norm.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Low
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
The strategy can be changed to any number of students such as
One or Two Before Me or Three or Four Before Me. This FACT can
also be applied in reverse to the teacher by encouraging two or three
students to speak before the teacher will speak again. It can be used
by small groups of four to six students to monitor participation within
a group.

Caveats
Make sure to accompany this technique with Wait Time strategies.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.
My Notes

#69. TWO STARS AND A WISH

Description
Two Stars and a Wish is a technique used in Comments-Only
Marking. It is a way to balance positive comments with the need for
improvement when providing students with feedback on their work
(Black & Harrison, 2004). The first two sentences provide detailed
comments on good features of the student’s work. The third
sentence provides a detailed comment that encourages revision or
further improvement.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Specific comments, both positive ones and those that indicate a
need for improvement, provide students with a better understanding
of where their strengths and weaknesses are and how to improve
their work. These comments provide the student with better insight
into ways to improve their work than comments like Great job, Nice
explanation, Needs revision, or Unclear. The balance and tone used
with Two Stars and a Wish encourages students to take action on
their work for the purpose of improving their learning. Providing two
positive comments for every area of improvement raises the
confidence and self-esteem of students who typically feel
discouraged and give up when papers are marked up with wrong
answers or given low grades. Because it does not pass judgment by
grading, students feel successful, while acknowledging they can do
better. This approach is particularly helpful with lower-achieving
students in improving their desire to learn and ability to succeed.
How This Fact Informs Instruction
Teachers who use this strategy support the culture needed in a
classroom to focus on success and the belief that all students can
achieve when given feedback that focuses on the learning target.
The comments from Two Stars and a Wish also provide a stimulus
for students to discuss their work with the teacher so that the teacher
can individualize improvements for each student.

Design and Administration

Use with assignments that provide an opportunity for students to
demonstrate their conceptual understanding, including solving
multistep problems and explaining solution steps, making and
justifying conjectures, and providing examples and nonexamples.
Instead of marking students’ work right or wrong, look for areas
throughout the work where you can identify two good features of the
students’ work and one area for improvement. Place comments on a
sticky note or in the margin of their work. The following are examples
of feedback given using Two Stars and a Wish:
Feedback on a high school student’s strategy for solving a
problem: You were able to identify the relevant and nonrelevant
information from the problem and your answer is clearly labeled.
However, you left one piece of relevant information out of your
solution steps. Please review what you had labeled as relevant
and your solution to determine what is missing.
Feedback on homework questions from a middle school lesson on
linear equations: You have graphed each of the problems correctly
and have accurately labeled the y-intercepts. Although the
process used to determine slope is correct, your choice of points
to use sometimes results in a wrong answer. Review your notes to
find a method that ensures the points are on the line. Use this
process to determine which of your slopes need to be
recalculated.
Feedback on an elementary student’s construction of a bar graph:
Your graph clearly describes the data collected in class yesterday,
 and you have created two questions that can be answered directly
by finding the number of students who liked a particular color. Now
you need to write an additional question that relates two or more
of the color categories.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
This FACT can also be used by students to self-assess their own
work or peer-assess the work of other students. Students provide
two positive statements about their work or the work of their peers
and indicate one area that can be improved.

Caveats
This is a comments-only FACT. Research indicates a less positive
effect on student learning when grades are given in addition to
comments (Black & Harrison, 2004). Because this strategy
reinforces the notion that the teacher wants students to improve their
work and that their improvement is being monitored by the teacher,
time should be provided in class for students to read and react to the
comments. If possible, provide time in class for students to work on
their revisions.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
#70. TWO THIRDS TESTING

Description
Summative end-of-unit tests often cover a lot of information. This
technique provides an opportunity for students to take an ungraded
practice test two thirds of the way through a unit (Wiliam, 2006).
Students are then provided time to get feedback from their peers and
the teacher on their responses, gaps in understanding, or difficulties
in arriving at their answers.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Two Thirds Testing provides a metacognitive opportunity for
students to identify areas of difficulty or misunderstanding two thirds
of the way through an instructional unit so that interventions and
support can be provided to help them learn and be prepared for a
final summative assessment. It alleviates the pressure of trying to
recall all the concepts, procedures, and skills learned throughout an
instructional unit by providing an opportunity to practice using what
they learned in a nonjudgmental way two thirds of the way through
their learning. In addition, working on the test in small groups or
sharing and discussing answers afterward through discussions with
a partner or in a small group further develops and solidifies
conceptual and procedural understanding.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

Examining students’ cumulative knowledge and understanding
two thirds of the way through a unit may reveal nonreadiness or
areas of difficulty for individual students or the class as a whole. The
information can be used to differentiate instruction for individuals or
revisit difficult concepts with the entire class. This FACT indicates to
the teacher whether instruction is on pace in preparation for
readiness to take an upcoming summative assessment. It provides
an opportunity to give students targeted feedback and assistance in
the areas where they need help the most.

Design and Administration

Select an alternative version of a test that will be given at the end
of a unit, or create a similar test. Select or make up a new version of
questions that were addressed by students’ learning experiences
two thirds of the way through the instructional unit. Have students
work individually, in pairs, or in small groups on the items. Use the
results for differentiated feedback or class discussion about items
students have the most difficulty with.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Depends on
Time Demand: Medium/High type of questions

Modifications
Depending on the unit of study, this FACT can be modified to one
third testing, one half testing, three quarters testing, etc. It can also
be used as a one half or two thirds testing for midterm, semester, or
year-end final exams.

Caveats
The use of summative tests with this technique is for formative
purposes only. Thus, use comments-only marking for feedback, not
grades.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#71. VOLLEYBALL, NOT PING-PONG!

Description
Volleyball, Not Ping-Pong describes a technique that changes the
nature of the question-and-answer interaction pattern in the
classroom from a back-and-forth teacher-to-student exchange to one
of teacher to student A to student B to student C, D, and so on, then
back to the teacher. The ping-pong metaphor represents the typical
rapid-fire, back-and-forth cycle of questions and responses that take
place between the teacher and students. The volleyball metaphor
represents the teacher asking a question, a student responding, and
other students building off the response until the teacher “serves”
another question.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Good questioning techniques that involve all students provide an
opportunity for deeper engagement with ideas in mathematics and
richer responses to questions. “Volleyball” questioning helps
students link, apply, and give reasons for their ideas. It motivates
students to consider the ideas of others as they think about how their
own ideas may enhance, extend, or challenge other students’
thinking. Encouraging several students to put their ideas forth in the
public arena of the classroom rather than accepting one answer and
moving on enhances the opportunity for sustained, thoughtful
discussions that promote student learning.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

This FACT encourages teachers to change their questioning
techniques from simple recall questions that can be answered by
one student to more open-ended questions that elicit thoughtful,
more detailed responses. A consequence of using this technique is
that teachers have a greater opportunity to listen to their students in
order to learn more about their understandings, gaps, or
misconceptions. The information is used to inform their next
instructional moves so as to address their students’ ideas and
needs.

Design and Administration

Share the volleyball and ping-pong metaphor with students before
using this strategy. Practice “serving” a question and having several
students respond as if they were setting up the ball for the next
student and hitting it over the net. When the question becomes
exhausted, the “ball” goes back to the teacher for a new “serve.” This
type of questioning and response takes practice the first few times it
is used. It may help to have students sit where they can see each
other, such as in a circle, the first time it is used. Encourage students
not to look at the teacher when they reply, because they are putting
their ideas forth to the class, not just to the teacher. They should look
at their classmates when they respond. Students should also be
encouraged to ask new questions that build off the responses of
others that can sustain the “volleys.”

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: Medium Cognitive Demand: Depends on
Time Demand: Low/Medium the question

Modifications
Consider setting a minimum number of times the question and
responses must go back and forth among students before the next
question is asked or a comment is made by the teacher. The first
time the strategy is used, it may be helpful to use a physical prop
such as a Koosh ball, beach ball, or other type of soft ball that can
be passed from student to student.

Caveats
This strategy also involves the use of Wait Time. It may appear
that students are not going to respond when in fact, they are using
wait time to think and formulate their comments. Be patient, and
don’t throw out a new question too soon!

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#72. WAIT TIME VARIATIONS

Description
 Wait Time, also called the “miracle pause,” has an extensive body
of research behind it (Walsh & Sattes, 2005). Mary Budd Rowe, a
former professor at the University of Florida, discovered the value of
silence as she conducted research on interactions in K-12
classrooms. Her research found that teachers tend to leave no more
than one second of silence before addressing an unanswered
question or asking someone to answer it. Wait Time is the interval
between the time a question is posed and the time either a student
or teacher responds to the question. When teachers increase their
Wait Time to at least 3 seconds, class participation increases,
answers are more detailed, complex thinking increases, and science
achievement scores increase significantly (Rowe, 1974). Wait Time
II involves the interval between when a student answers a question
and the teacher responds.

How This FACT Supports Student Learning

Complex questions require time for students to formulate an
answer. Wait Time provides the opportunity students need to think.
Research has found numerous benefits of various kinds to students
when Wait Time of three to five seconds is deliberately practiced
(Rowe, 1986; Walsh & Sattes, 2005):

Students give longer, more detailed responses.

Students give evidence for their ideas and conclusions.
Students speculate and hypothesize.
Students ask more questions.
Students talk more to other students.
There are fewer “I don’t knows.”
Discipline problems decrease as students become more
engaged in the lesson.
More students respond.
Students answer with more confidence.
Achievement improves on cognitively complex items.

How This FACT Informs Instruction

 In addition to dramatically increasing the participation of students
in a class discussion, this FACT also provides information to the
teacher about students’ understanding and ways of thinking. Since
Wait Time encourages longer, richer answers, the teacher gains a
better sense of what the students know and the reasoning students
use to formulate their ideas. Furthermore, practicing Wait Time
increases the sample of students from which teachers can gain
information about the progress of learning in the class. This
information is then used by the teacher to monitor student learning
experiences, differentiate individual students, and adjust instruction
accordingly to meet the learning needs of the class. In addition to
promoting student thinking and informing instruction, Wait Time has
been shown to have the following effects on teacher practice:

Teacher responses are more thoughtful and tend to keep the

discussion focused and ongoing.
The quality of teacher feedback improves.
Teachers ask fewer questions. The questions they do ask
increase in cognitive level.
Teachers expect more from previously nonparticipating
students.

Design and Administration

Students are accustomed to rapid-fire questions and answers.
Discuss with students what Wait Time is and why it is used, so they
will understand the reason for your long pause. Establish Wait Time
as a classroom norm practiced by both teachers and students.
Practice Wait Time by silently counting to at least 3 seconds (“one -
one thousand, two - one thousand, three - one thousand”) before
calling on a student. Continue to use 3- to 5-second Wait Time after
a student answers and before you respond to the student’s answer
so that both the student and the rest of the class have time to think
about the response. Use lead-ins that encourage the overeager
students to wait, such as “I want everyone to think carefully about
their own ideas before we tackle this question” or “I’m going to wait
until everyone has had a chance to think before I ask you to share
your thinking.” Teachers can also try deliberately pausing, indicating
thinking time, and then asking for no hands to be raised until the
teacher gives a signal. Sometimes it helps to give students a chance
to jot their own ideas down on paper first before asking for
responses. Another way is to have students discuss the proposed
question with a partner, using FACTS such as Think–Pair–Share
before taking responses from the whole class.
The following example shows how Wait Time can be used:
“Who can remember why common dominators are important when
adding and subtracting fractions?” Silently count to 4 seconds
before selecting a student to respond. Kerry responds with “So
that there are the same number of pieces for each bar.” Include a
4-second wait time before responding to the student or calling on
another student. “Kerry pointed out that common denominators
have something to do with the same number of pieces. I want you
think about what she said, and then I’d like to hear who agrees,
disagrees, or would like to add to what Kerry said.” Wait time …

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low

Modifications
Wait Time between students can also be encouraged and
practiced with a variety of FACTs in which students interact in pairs
or small groups. Remind students to practice pausing before
responding to another student or building upon someone else’s
response so that everyone has a chance to think and process his or
her ideas. Consider using a chart like the one in Figure 4.42 to help
students practice wait time. See the Appendix for more details on
using Wait Time and the timeless research that supports it.

Figure 4.42 Wait Time Classroom Poster

 Wait Time

When the teacher asks a question:

Listen carefully.
Silently think about your own ideas.
Don’t raise your hand.
Wait to be called on.
Answer in a clear voice so everyone can hear.
Remember all ideas are important.
If you are not called on, listen to others’ responses.
Think about how your ideas are similar to or different from the
answers you hear.

When a student answers a question and other students can add

their ideas:

Use the silent time to think about your own ideas.

Be prepared to build on others’ responses.
Think about what others have said before it is your turn to
talk.
Respect others’ ideas when you challenge them.
Make eye contact with the class, not just the teacher.

Source: Adapted from Walsh & Sattes (2005). Used with permission.

Caveats
Three to five seconds of silence can seem agonizingly long! Don’t
succumb to the silence or students’ strategy of waiting out the
teacher. Students have learned in the past that if they wait long
enough, the teacher will answer his or her own question. Don’t give
up, and if there are no takers, use the No Hands Questioning
strategy. Keep quiet, and don’t interject comments during Wait Time,
such as “Think about it,” that distract student thinking.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#73. WHAT ARE YOU DOING AND WHY?

Description
If a visitor walked into your classroom and asked students what
they were doing and why they were doing it, you would hope all
students could answer. This FACT helps teachers find out if their
students know the goal of an activity-based mathematics lesson and
how or why the activity can help them learn. This technique “models”
the visitor who walks into the room scenario.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

What Are You Doing and Why? activates students’ thinking about
the purpose of the activity they are engaged in. It asks students to
describe what they are supposed to be learning about and how the
task they have been working on will help them learn. Students are
more engaged in their learning when they understand the learning
goal and purpose of an activity.
How This FACT Informs Instruction
This short, simple monitoring strategy can be quite an eye-opener
to teachers, especially if students are highly engaged in an activity
yet show they do not know what the purpose of the activity is or how
it is helping them learn. It encourages teachers to be clear and
explicit about the learning targets for the activity and explain to the
students how the activity will help them develop new skills or
understandings. When this question is used as a spot check during
an activity, teachers can get a quick read from the class on whether
the purpose of the activity is understood by students. If not, teachers
can readjust to make sure the activity’s purpose and goals are
clearly communicated to the students and understood by all. This
FACT helps avoid “activitymania” in mathematics, which occurs
when teachers use hands-on activities that are fun and engaging
even though students have no understanding of the purpose of the
activity and what they will learn from it. Rather, they are merely
following teacher directions with no or minimal learning gains.

Design and Administration

At any point partway into an activity, the teacher gets the class’s
attention and asks a “What are you doing and why are you doing it?”
question. Responses can be shared with the class, discussed
between partners, or recorded in writing as a One-Minute Paper to
be passed in to the teacher. The data are analyzed by the teacher to
determine whether the students understand the purpose of the
activity they are involved in and how it may or may not be supporting
student learning.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Low
Modifications
This FACT can also be used with non-hands-on learning
experiences such as assigned readings, homework, videos, and
problem-solving tasks. Any instructional task a student is asked to
engage in should be clear about the purpose and intended
outcomes.

Caveats
Do not use this FACT as a substitute for explicitly addressing the
purpose and outcome of a learning activity. Make sure the purpose
and outcome are addressed before students start the activity.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in *science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes

#74. WHITEBOARDING

Description
Whiteboarding is used in small groups to encourage students to
pool their individual thinking and come to a group consensus on an
idea or problem-solving approach that is then shared with the
teacher and the whole class. The use of whiteboards supports a
classroom environment that encourages student-generated ideas
and solutions. Researchers have found that when students use
whiteboards their discussions are more animated and on task and
draw upon higher-level thinking (Henry, Henry, & Riddoch, 2006).
The technique involves using portable 24-by-32-inch whiteboards
and dry-erase markers. Students work collaboratively around the
whiteboard to draw and record their ideas and solutions in response
to a prompt given by the teacher. Students use the whiteboard
during class discussion to communicate their ideas to their peers
and the teacher, thus modeling an essential feature of mathematics:
communication supported by evidence and reasoning.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Whiteboarding can be used at the beginning of an instructional
unit or throughout a sequence of instruction to elicit students’ prior
knowledge and problem-solving strategies. It activates their thinking
and construction of new understandings through interaction with their
peers. As students collaborate on getting their ideas and solutions
down on a whiteboard and sharing them with the class, they reveal
their own thinking. They accept, discard, or modify their own ideas
and solutions based on their consideration of alternative ideas and
the problem-solving approaches of others. Unlike writing on chart
paper, what is written on the whiteboards is erasable, allowing
students to easily modify their work as new ideas emerge through
discussion. The nonpermanent nature of the writing surface
encourages students to draw or write something that they may not
be sure of, because they know it can be easily changed or modified.
Whiteboarding can also be used to help students design approaches
to solving problems as well as analyze data and draw conclusions
from mathematical investigations.

How This Fact Informs Instruction

The size of the whiteboards allows teachers to quickly see and
examine a group’s thinking, providing students with feedback when
necessary. As students are working on the whiteboards, the teacher
is able to circulate through the class, asking questions, probing more
deeply, and encouraging students to make their thinking visible. The
teacher can observe their drawings, writing, and discussions to note
areas where additional instructional support might be needed. As
students present their whiteboards to the class, the teacher can help
students clarify and solidify their understandings. In addition, the
whiteboard presentations provide an opportunity for teachers to give
feedback to students on their communication skills, such as how to
share ideas so that others can understand their reasoning, how to
listen carefully to critique others’ ideas, how to look for
commonalities in thinking, and how to engage in mathematical
argumentation in a constructive way, including coming to consensus
when there are differences in opinions and ideas.

Design and Administration

Whiteboards can be purchased from suppliers but they are less
expensive and a more suitable size when cut from 4-by-8-foot sheets
of white economy tile board, available from home building supply
stores. Many of these stores will custom-cut them for teachers and
even cut handles into the top and round off the edges. You will also
need low-odor dry-erase markers (four colors, preferably black, red,
green, and blue), an eraser, and cleaners for dry-erase surfaces.
Inexpensive tube socks can be used as erasers and also provide a
handy storage receptacle for the markers. Provide students with a
prompt that encourages them to work together in groups of two to
four, huddled around the whiteboard, to draw and write about their
ideas so that they can use the whiteboard to present their thinking to
the class. For example, a prompt for a middle school lesson on
perimeter and area might be as follows:
Draw and label at least three figures that each have a perimeter of
30 units but have different areas.
Encourage students to use different colors to differentiate parts of
their drawing and solution. When groups have finished with their
boards, use them to facilitate a whole-class discussion, revealing the
variety of ideas in the class. Sometimes it is helpful to line up the
whiteboards and allow students an opportunity to do a “walk-
through” first, silently walking around to look at other groups’ work.
During whole-class discussion with the whiteboards, it is important to
allow the student group to be the center of attention, with other
students’ eyes on them and their whiteboard. Position students so
that everyone can see the whiteboard that is being presented.
Encourage the students to interact and exchange ideas, using
strategies like Volleyball, Not Ping-Pong so that the conversation is
between the students, with the teacher as listener. After students
have had an opportunity to take turns describing and discussing their
boards, the teacher may choose to photograph each board for a
digital record of students’ thinking.

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium/High
Time Demand: Medium/High

Modifications
Smaller individual whiteboards can be used but are not as
effective for promoting group thinking as the larger sizes. If
whiteboards are not available, shiny-sided freezer paper also works
with dry-erase markers and allows the teacher to keep a record of
the group’s ideas. Depending on the prompt and the size of the
whiteboards, they can be divided into four sections, with each
student in a group contribute to one of the four sections.

Caveats
As with any new technique, students should be introduced to the
use of Whiteboarding by modeling the first time it is used for group
work and presentation, including ways to use features such as
bullets, diagrams, symbols, arrows, color, and text size. Make sure
there is enough room to accommodate the larger whiteboards either
on a table or on the floor, including room for three to five students to
work on the board simultaneously.
Use With Other Disciplines
This FACT can also be used in *science.

My Notes

#75. WORD SORT

Description
This FACT is a variation of Concept Card Mapping. Students are
given cards with words written on them. They move the cards around
to determine categories in which to groups the words.

How This FACT Promotes Student Learning

Students need to develop an appreciation of the need for precise
definitions and for the communicative power of conventional
mathematical terms by first communicating in their own words.
Allowing students to grapple with their ideas and develop their
own informal means of expressing them can be an effective way
to foster engagement and ownership. (National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics, 2000, p. 62)
This FACT activates prior knowledge of mathematical terms. Moving
the cards during a Word Sort provides an opportunity for students to
explore what they know about a mathematical term and to think
about various relationships to other words in the set.
How This Fact Informs Instruction
This FACT can be used at the beginning of a unit of instruction to
elicit students’ initial ideas and to motivate them to want to learn
more about the mathematical words and their relationships.
Students’ descriptions of categories provide insight into prior
knowledge and can help teachers plan for instruction that will build
on or clarify misunderstandings that have been uncovered.

Design and Administration

Select no more than 12 key mathematical words that students will
learn and use during the unit of instruction or encounter in their
instructional materials. Figure 4.43 shows an example of a Word
Sort list for an elementary class on area and perimeter. You can
place the words on index cards or make cards from preprinted
matchbook-size squares on a sheet of paper, cut out and sorted into
zip-lock bags (or have students cut out the squares). Have students
work in small groups to discuss each of the words and brainstorm
possible categories. Provide students with blank cards on which to
write their categories once agreement has been reached. Listen
carefully to students as they discuss and argue for their ideas about
how to sort the words. Note examples where you may need to
provide additional instructional opportunities to address students’
misunderstandings. If a record of student thinking is needed, provide
individual students or small groups with a recording sheet to note
where each word was placed, along with a justification for its
placement, or glue the cards onto a sheet of paper.

Figure 4.43 Word Sort for Area and Perimeter Unit

tiling unit square unit

dimension side length

width height decompose

 measure cover surround

General Implementation Attributes

Ease of Use: High Cognitive Demand: Medium
Time Demand: Medium

Modifications
Rather than calling for an open sort, provide the number of
categories you would like students to generate, or provide some of
the categories and have students generate additional categories.

Caveats
The cognitive demand of this FACT depends on the concrete or
abstract nature of the words selected and the number of cards to be
categorized. Choose the appropriate level of demand that matches
the grade level of the students and complexity of the topic they are
learning about.

Use With Other Disciplines

This FACT can also be used in science, social studies, language
arts, health, foreign language, and visual and performing arts.

My Notes
Appendix
Annotated Resources for Mathematics Formative
Assessment

The following resources provide sources of supplementary material

to use in designing or informing your use of the FACTs. In addition,
several of the listed resources provide the FACT numbers for those
that are referred to in the FACT Design and Administration
descriptions provided in Chapter 4.

Annenberg Videos.Several of the Annenberg video series show

examples of students being interviewed about their ideas in
mathematics. They also show teachers using various formative
assessment techniques. These videos are available online as
streaming videos by going to www.learner.org and selecting the
mathematics link.

Assessment for Common Misunderstandings.These assessment

tools are based on a series of highly focused, research-based Probe
Tasks. The Probe Task Manual also includes a number of additional
tasks and resources that have been organized to address common
misunderstandings. http://www.
education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/maths/com
mon/ default.htm

Assessment for Learning. This book provides an excellent

description of the rationale for formative assessment, the research
that supports it, and information on specific techniques teachers
have used. This resource is referenced in FACTs 6, 34, 64, and 70.
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for
learning. Berkshire, UK: Open University Press.

Concept Cartoons.The Concept Cartoon Web site at

www.conceptcartoons.com gives examples of concept cartoons and
ordering information. The cartoons can be ordered as a book or on a
CD. There are posters and big books that use the concept cartoon
format to stimulate discussion. The site also contains selected
research studies done in the United Kingdom to examine the impact
of concept cartoons on student learning. This resource is referenced
in FACT 10.

Early Mathematical Thinking (EMT).This set of diagnostic

assessment tools can be used as a formative assessment strategy
to uncover students’ current level of thinking in mathematics and
guide instruction. Funded by the Maine Department of Education for
use in a project at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, its
professional development component focused on the use of the EMT
tools and relevant cognitive research to enhance student
achievement in mathematics. EMT was developed from state,
national, and international math research as well as cognitive
research on how students learn math. The EMT diagnostic tools
were derived and adapted from Australia’s Early Numeracy
Research Project (ENRP). Information about ENRP can be found at
http://www.education.
vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/maths/enrp/default.htm
.
For additional information on EMT professional development and
diagnostic tools, contact the Maine Mathematics and Science
Alliance at www.mmsa.org.

How Students (Mis)understand Science and Mathematics:

Intuitive Rules. This book provides an explanation and examples of
intuitive rules students use to reason in science and mathematics
and instructional strategies for addressing students’ use of these
rules. This resource is referenced in FACTs 32 and 34.
Stavy, R., & Tirosh, D. (2000). How students (mis)understand science and
mathematics: Intuitive rules. New York: Teachers College Press.
Interactive Technology Applets.Some concepts elicited by the
FACTs can be addressed through available online resources. Keep
in mind that most of these applets were developed as instructional
resources or to provide practice and were not developed to address
a specific misconception. When searching for available applets that
meet students’ needs as elicited by a FACT, be sure to review the
applet carefully to consider the range of examples and nonexamples
that can be modeled using the tool. Before using with students,
prepare a scaffolded set of questions designed specifically to
highlight the misunderstandings elicited by the probe items.
Sample list of sites to look for freely available interactive applets:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives:

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

NCTM’s Illuminations: http://illuminations.nctm.org

Educational Development Center: http://maine.edc.org

Interactive applets are referenced in FACT #40.

Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study: Bridging the Gap

Between Standards and Practice. This book was funded by a grant
from the National Science Foundation. It provides a process for
using national standards and cognitive research to deeply examine
K–12 teaching and learning in 92 mathematics topics. The vetted
readings included in the Curriculum Topic Study guides point out
areas of the cognitive research where teachers can learn more about
students’ misconceptions. Chapter 4 includes a process for
developing formative assessment probes similar to the ones
described in several of the FACTs. The book is available through
Corwin (www.corwin.com). This resource is useful in designing
FACTs 4, 9, 13, 19, 24, 28, 36, 37, and 40. There is also a website at
www.curriculumtopicstudy.org that includes a supplementary
database where you can access a variety of articles that inform
teaching and learning.
Keeley, P., & Rose, C. (2006). Mathematics curriculum topic study: Bridging the
gap between standards and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Note: In addition, A Leader’s Guide to Mathematics Curriculum Topic
Study (Keeley, Mundry, Rose-Tobey, & Carroll, in press), also
available through Corwin, provides facilitation materials for guiding
professional development sessions in which teachers design their
own formative assessment probes as well as strategies for
examining student work.

National Center on Response to Intervention.The tools chart

provided on the website reflects the results of the second annual
review of research studies of screening tools by the Center’s
Technical Review Committee. Many of these tools are interview
based and can be used to supplement FACT 54.
http://www.rti4success.org/chart/screeningTools/screeningtoolschart.
html

Online Interviews.These can be used to support the use of FACT

54. The Australian website listed below provides examples of
student interviews. The Fractions and Decimals Online Interview is
designed to help teachers better understand their students’
knowledge, skills, and behaviors with regard to fractions and
decimals, a known area of difficulty for many students. The
Mathematics Online Interview consists of appropriate hands-on
assessment tasks in which students demonstrate mathematical
understanding and preferred strategies for solving increasingly
complex tasks.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/
maths/assessment.htm
Quality Questioning. This book provides a wealth of information on
asking good questions. In addition to the FACTs described in
Chapter 4, this book provides additional techniques for asking
questions, prompting students’ responses, and generating,
preparing, and processing questions. This resource is referenced in
FACTs 14, 46, and 72.
Walsh, J., & Sattes, B. (2005). Quality questioning: Research-based practice to
engage every learner. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
The Rational Number Project (RNP).This project advocates
teaching fractions using a model that emphasizes multiple
representations and connections among different representations.
Important outcomes from early RNP work include a deeper
understanding of children’s thinking as they develop initial fraction
ideas and a curriculum module for teaching students fractions using
a multiple representation approach. The materials include
assessment and interview questions.

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/rationalnumberproject/rnp1-09.html

SALG—Student Assessment of Learning Gains.This website

(http://www.salgsite.org/) was developed with funding from the
National Science Foundation to help college course instructors
evaluate their courses in terms of how well their students think the
course components advanced their learning. The site, which can be
also used by middle and high school teachers, has an online
instrument so that teachers can develop their own surveys and
provide access to students to take the survey online. This resource
is referenced in FACT 53.

Science Formative Assessment: 75 Practical Strategies for

Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning. This is the
science version of this FACTs book. It is a parallel resource that
provides 75 examples of FACTs science teachers can use. Several
of the FACTs in the science version overlap with this book. The book
is available through both Corwin and NSTA at nsta.org.
Keeley, P. (2008). Science formative assessment: 75 practical strategies for linking
assessment, instruction, and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Uncovering Student Ideas Website.Visit

uncoveringstudentideas.org to get information and updates on
science and mathematics formative assessment and to share tools
and resources with other educators.

Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics Series.This

multivolume series contains ready-to-use formative assessment
probes that can be used as is or adapted for use with several of the
FACTs described in this book. Each book contains a set of probes
along with extensive teacher background notes. The books are
available through Corwin at corwinpress.com or through the Maine
Mathematics and Science Alliance at www.mmsa.org. This resource
is referenced in several of the assessment probe FACTs.
Rose, C., Minton, L., & Arline, C. (2007). Uncovering student thinking in
mathematics: 25 formative assessment probes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Rose, C., & Arline, C. (2009). Uncovering student thinking in mathematics, grades
6–12: 30 formative assessment probes for the secondary classroom. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Rose Tobey, C., & Minton, L. (2009). Uncovering student thinking in mathematics,
grades K–5: 25 formative assessment probes for the elementary classroom.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Workshops and Professional Development on Formative

Assessment. Both of the authors of this book provide professional
development on formative assessment for mathematics and science
educators. Page Keeley and Cheryl Rose Tobey have worked
extensively with school districts, math-science organizations, math-
science partnership projects, leadership institutes, and curriculum
developers throughout the United States to build teachers’ capacity
to use formative assessment. Professional development ranges from
invited talks to half-day, full-day, and multiday sessions. To arrange
for professional development or invited presentations, contact the
authors at pagekeeley@gmail.com or pkeeley@mmsa.org, or
cheryltobey@gmail.com or ctobey@edc.org, or visit the website
www.uncoveringstudentideas.org, to learn where and when the
authors are presenting at state, regional, and national conferences.
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Index

Abstract reasoning, 30
Accountability, 5, 27
A & D Statements, 24, 43, 52–54
Agreement Circles, 43, 54–57
Always, Sometimes, or Never True, 24, 31, 43, 57–59
Annenberg Videos, 223
Arguments, 31
Assessment(s)
diagnostic, 4
instruction and learning associated with, 25–26
for learning, 3–4
of learning, 4
summative, 4
Assessment-centered environment, 9
Assessment for Learning, 8, 223
Atkin, J. Myron, 18

Bruner, Jerome, 71
Budd, Mary, 183

Card Sorts, 23, 43, 59–63

CCC: Collaborative Clued Corrections, 43, 63–65
Classroom environments
description of, 8–9
FACTs selection based on, 34–35
Comments-Only Marking, 43, 66–67, 207
Commit and Toss, 23, 31, 43, 68–71
Common Core Standards for Mathematics, 30–32
Community-centered environment, 9
Competence, 7
Concept Attainment Cards, 43, 71–74
Concept Card Mapping, 24, 43, 74–77
Concept Cartoons, 24, 43, 77–80, 224
Constructivist model, 25
Content knowledge, 12
Create the Problem, 43, 80–82

Diagnostic assessments, 4
Discourse community, 25–26
Documentation, 5

Early mathematical thinking, 224

Every Graph Tells a Story, 31, 43, 82–85
Example, Nonexample, 43, 85–87

Fact-First Questioning, 43, 87–89

FACTs
adapting of, 34
assessment, instruction, and learning link supported by, 25–26
classroom context, 34–35
classroom environments that support, 8–9
content considerations for, 29
data usage, 39–47
implementation of, 35–40
learning promotion using, 16–18, 49
maintaining of, 39
planning to use, 35–37
prior ideas brought by students elicited using, 6
purposes of, 4–5, 10
reasons for using, 3–6
reflecting on use of, 37
research support of, 6–8
schoolwide support for, 39
selection of, 28–35, 48–49
teaching goals and, 32–33
teaching practice, 15
thinking promotion using, 16–18
Feedback, 7, 10, 23, 27, 41, 63–64, 207–208
Feedback to Feed-Forward, 43, 89–92
Fist to Five, 43, 92–94
Formative assessment
definition of, 4
interactive, 35
planned, 35
professional learning communities use of, 38–39
purpose of, 4
 relevancy of, 39
Formative assessment-centered classroom
description of, 1–3
learning goals of, 12–13
shift to, 11–14
students’ ideas acknowledged in, 13
teacher’s role in, 12
Formative assessment classroom techniques. See FACTs
Four Corners, 32, 43, 94–96, 164
Frayer Model, 44, 73, 96–98
Friendly Talk Probes, 20, 44, 99–101, 139

Give Me Five, 44, 101–102

Graphic organizers, 18

Hot Seat Questioning, 44, 103–104, 136

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, 6, 8
How Students Learn Mathematics in the Classroom, 6
How Students (Mis)understand Science and Mathematics: Intuitive Rules, 224
Human Scatter Graph, 44, 104–107

Instruction
assessment and, 15–16, 25–26
formative assessment techniques effect on, 10, 49–50
learning and, 25–26
“metacognitive” approach to, 7
Interactive formative assessment, 35
Interactive technology applets, 224–225
Is It Fair? 44, 107–109
I Used to Think… But Now I Know…, 25, 44, 109–111

Justified List, 24, 44, 62, 111–113, 141

Justified True-or-False Statements, 44, 113–116

Karplus, Robert, 18
Knowledge-centered environment, 8–9
K-W-L Variations, 44, 116–119

Learner-centered environment, 8
Learning
assessment and instruction associated with, 25–26
constructivist approach to, 13
formative assessment classroom techniques that promote, 16–18, 49
teaching and, 10–11
Learning cycle, 18–20
Learning goals, 12–13
Learning Goals Inventory (LGI), 20, 44, 119–121
Listening, 26
Look Back, 44, 121–123

MAIL cycle. See Mathematics, assessment, instruction, and learning cycle

Matching Cards, 31, 44, 123–125
Mathematical literacy, 11
Mathematicians’ Ideas Comparison, 24, 44, 125–129
Mathematics, assessment, instruction, and learning cycle
concept and procedure transfer stage of, 24
concept and skill development stage of, 22, 24
description of, 18
eliciting prior knowledge stage of, 20–21, 23
engagement and readiness stage of, 20–21
exploration and discovery stage of, 21, 23–24
schematic diagram of, 19
self-assessment and reflection stage of, 22, 24–25
Mathematics Curriculum Topic Study: Bridging the Gap Between Standards and
Practice, 29, 62, 139, 225
“Math talk,” 26
Metacognition
definition of, 7, 17
indicators of, 17
self-monitoring through, 17
student awareness of, 26
support for, 18
Misconceptions, 13
Modeling, 31
More A–More B Probes, 45, 130–132
Muddiest Point, 25, 45, 132–134

National Center on Response to Intervention, 336

Negative feedback, 41
No-Hands Questioning, 45, 134–136, 157, 216

Odd One Out, 24, 32, 45, 137–138

Online interviews, 225
Opposing Views Probes, 23, 45, 139–141
Overgeneralization Probes, 32, 45, 141–143

Partner Speaks, 31, 45, 143–145, 190

Pass the Problem, 45, 145–147
Peer-to-Peer Focused Feedback, 45, 150–152
P-E-O Probes, 45, 147–150
Picture Tells a Thousand Words, A, 45, 153–155
Planned formative assessment, 35
POMS: Point of Most Significance, 45, 133, 155–156
Popsicle Stick Questioning, 45, 136, 156–158
Professional development, 227
Professional learning communities, 38–39
PVF: Paired Verbal Fluency, 45, 158–160

Quality Questioning, 226

Quantitative reasoning, 30
QUEST cycle, 41–42
Question Generating, 46, 161–163

Rational Number Project, 226

Reasoning, 30–32
Response Cards, 46, 163–164

Same A–Same B Probes, 46, 165–167

Science Formative Assessment: 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment,
Instruction, and Learning, 39, 51, 226
Self-assessments, 22, 24–25
Self-monitoring, 17
Self-reflection, 26–27
Sequencing Cards, 46, 167–168
Sticky Bars, 46, 168–171
Strategy Harvest, 46, 171–173
Strategy Probe, 24, 46, 174–176
Student(s)
acknowledging the ideas of, 13
competence development by, 7
learning experiences, 6–7
learning goals shared with, 12–13
listening by, 26
prior ideas brought by, 20–21, 23, 60
risk taking by, 26
self-reflection by, 26–27
sharing of ideas by, 25
Student Assessment of Learning Gains, 226
Student Evaluation of Learning Gains, 46, 176–179
Student Interviews, 46, 179–181
Summative assessments, 4

Teachers
feedback from, 27
in formative assessment-centered classroom, 12
goals of, 6
in knowledge-centered environment, 8
Teaching
assessment and, 16
constructivist approach to, 13
FACTs aligned with goals of, 32–33
learning and, 10–11
learning goals’ effect on, 12
Ten–Two, 46, 183–185
Terminology Inventory Probe, 46, 181–183
Think-Alouds, 46, 187–189
Thinking, 16–18
Thinking Logs, 46, 185–187
Think–Pair–Share, 46, 189–190
Thought Experiments, 24, 31, 46, 191–192 3–2-1, 46, 194–196
Three-Minute Pause, 46, 192–194
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, 47, 196–198
Traffic Light Cards, 47, 198–200
Traffic Light Cups, 47, 200–202
Traffic Light Dots, 47, 202–203
Two-Minute Paper, 25, 47, 204–205
Two or Three Before Me, 47, 205–206
Two Stars and a Wish, 47, 67, 207–209
Two Thirds Testing, 47, 209–210

Uncovering student ideas website, 226

Uncovering Student Thinking in Mathematics, 41, 112, 226–227

Venn diagram, 129

Volleyball, Not Ping-Pong! 47, 211–212

Wait Time Variations, 47, 136, 212–216

What Are You Doing and Why? 47, 216–218
Whiteboarding, 47, 218–220
Word Sort, 47, 221–222
Workshops, 227

Zone of proximal development, 25

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mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students through
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