Ways to Differentiate to Meet Student Needs

MathFactLab offers several ways you can differentiate to better meet student needs:

1. Adjusting the required fluency rate
2. Changing the number of allowed errors (Whoopsies) on Level Lifters
3. Giving Level Lifter interviews
4. Unlocking Level Lifters
5. Advancing Students Manually
6. Displaying the Fingers Trick for x9 multiplication facts
7. Text-to-Speech during Placement Test

Adjusting the Required Fluency Rate

A student's 'Required fluency rate' is the number of seconds a student is allowed per response to be considered fluent.  Fluency rates can be set from 2 to 120 seconds per problem.  You can edit student fluency rates individually or as a group.

When you do so it is worth keeping the following in mind:

• The default fluency rate in MathFactLab is 4 seconds.  While the literature generally recommends 3 seconds, there is great variation among students; what works for many definitely does not work for all.   We give an additional second to account for typing.  
• While typically teachers may choose a slower pace for those with a learning disability in math, you may also have general education students working at grade level or above who - because of their processing speed - simply are not capable of responding consistently in less than four seconds.
• To keep MathFactLab a positive, pleasant experience, adjust the required fluency rate for students who need it to one that is appropriately challenging while also achievable.
• For students working on addition/subtraction - in order to break dependencies on counting fingers - it is important that their required response time be no longer than necessary.

How to Edit an Individual Student's Fluency Rate

1. Go to the Students tab and select the edit icon on the line of the student whose fluency rate you wish to edit. 

   

2. You will be brought to the Edit Student screen.  Towards the bottom, you will see the Required Fluency Rate dropdown.  Click this and select the number of seconds that will be the student's new fluency rate. 

   

How to Edit the Fluency Rates of Multiple Students

1. Go to the Students tab.  Click the checkbox of the students whose fluency rates you would like to change.  Click the top checkbox if you wish to change it for all students. 

   

2. Click 'Group Edit' in the top right.  

   

3. The Edit Student popup will appear.  The second option down is the Required Fluency Rate dropdown.  Click this and select the number of seconds that will be the new fluency rate for the selected students

   

VIDEO - Step by step instructions for adjusting the Required Fluency Rate

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Changing the Number of Allowed Errors (Whoopsies) on Level Lifters

A ‘whoopsie’ is an error on a Level Lifter. A late response counts as 1 whoopsie, while an incorrect response counts as 2 whoopsies. For example, allowing 4 whoopsies means that a student could respond late to up to 4 prompts or answer 2 incorrectly (or a combination totaling up to 4 whoopsies) and still pass the Level Lifter.

For most students, we recommend 2 or less whoopsies.

The ‘Staggered’ option increases the number of allowed ‘whoopsies’ by 2 with each Level Lifter attempt - up to a total of 8 on the fourth or more Level Lifter attempt.

Providing flexibility in passing requirements helps struggling students stay motivated.

How to Adjust the Number of Whoopsies for Individuals

1. Go to the Students tab and click the edit icon on the line of the student you wish to edit.

2. You will see the Edit Student popup. At the bottom right you will see the Whoopsies dropdown. Select the appropriate number of whoopsies for the student.

Note: The ‘Staggered’ option increases the number of allowed ‘whoopsies’ by 2 with each Level Lifter attempt - up to a total of 8 on the fourth or more Level Lifter attempt.

How to Adjust the Number of Whoopsies for Multiple Students

1. Go to the Students tab. Click the top checkbox (for all students) or the checkboxes of the specific students you wish to edit. Click the Group Edit button.

2. You will see the Edit Student popup. At the bottom right you will see the Whoopsies dropdown. Select the appropriate number of whoopsies for the selected students.

VIDEO - Step by step instructions for Changing the Number of Whoopsies on Level Lifters

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Level Lifter Interviews

Some students, for a variety of reasons, do not perform to their full potential on standard Level Lifters.  For them, we have built Level Lifter Interviews.  Level Lifter Interviews ask the same questions as a typical Level Lifter, but they are implemented by the teacher on the teacher's device and do not require any typing by the student.

You can give a student a Level Lifter Interview at any time.  The student does not need to unlock the Level Lifter first.  (Of course, we would recommend that the student completes the practice activities first, in order to better prepare them.)

To begin a student Level Lifter Interview, do the following: 

1. Go to the Students tab on the teacher dashboard. Click the 3-dot button for the student who you wish to interview and select 'Level Lifter Interview'.

The interview is similar to a typical Level Lifter with the following exceptions:

• The student responds orally.
• The teacher determines if the answer is acceptable (by hitting the space bar) or not (by hitting any key).
• Each section of the test can be ended at any point.
• After both parts of the interview are completed, the student's Level Lifter report is displayed.  The teacher then determines if the student has passed, by hitting one of two buttons: 'Level up!' or 'Not yet.'

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Unlocking Level Lifters

You may feel a student has had sufficient practice at a particular level and is ready for the Level Lifter. Rather than having the student complete all the required tasks, you can just unlock the Level Lifter for that student by doing the following:

1. Go to the Students tab and click the 3-dot button on the student's line.

2. Select 'Unlock Level Lifter'.

Note: This is a one-time action. After the student has taken the Level Lifter, it will be locked again. The student will need to meet the typical requirements to unlock it.

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Advancing Students Manually

If you feel a student is ready to progress to the next level, or even skip a few levels, you can advance them manually.

To manually change a student's level:

1. Click the edit icon on the student's line.
2. Go the level dropdown for their current learning mode.
3. Select the student's new level from the dropdown.
4. Hit save.

If the student is currently logged in, have them hit the refresh button to update the changes.

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Fingers Trick for x9 Multiplication Facts

For most students, pattern recognition makes the x9 facts achievable. For some, however, the patterns may not be sufficient. For these students, we offer the x9 Finger Tricks. This strategy is not available to MathFactLab students by default because it does not rely on reasoning, but we feel that using the x9 finger tricks is better than not being able to solve x9 facts.

Note: On the student dashboard, the x9 Fingers Trick strategy replaces the 9 = 10 - 1.

To activate the x9 Fingers Trick for an individual student, please do the following:

1. Go to the Students tab and click the 3-dot button on the student's line.

2. Click the 9=10-1/Fingers switch.

When the fingers trick is on, the word 'Fingers' will be highlighted

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Text-to-Speech during Placement Test

If a students has difficulty reading the instructions they will be receiving during the placement test they can click on the speaker icon in the top left corner and the text will be read to them. This audio assist will only read the instructions, it will not read the math problems.