Why do so many students struggle to master math? Journalist Holly Korbey put that question to Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden, founder of SpringMath, in this Bell Ringer interview. Dr. VanDerHeyden explains the instructional hierarchy, the stages students move through on the way to mastering a skill: acquisition, fluency and generalization, and how each stage calls for different teaching. New skills need modeling, worked examples, and immediate feedback. Once students have a skill, they need plenty of practice to build fluency. Challenge problems and applied work come only after mastery. Dr. VanDerHeyden says this is why productive struggle often fails, since teachers use it while students are still learning a new skill. She also explains a simple way to plan core lessons in thirds and how to find the right starting point for students who need intervention.
