Drill & Practice
An Introduction of Instructional Software
I. Definition
According to M.D. Roblyer, drill and practice instructional software presents…
- Content areas one at a time
- Positive feedback
- Positive reinforcement
- Assistance for students
- Created to fit the student’s need
- May include activities such as flash card activities, branching drill, extensive feedback activities
- E.g. Rosetta Stone- Spanish I
- High teacher directed
- Common use for teachers
- Effective for information provision
- Development of systematic skills
- Includes some problem solving strategies
- Assists students in practicing a structured problem (e.g. Math, Foreign Language, or or ESL).
- Positive Test preparation tool
- Includes sentence completion, multiple choice, true or false, identification, and short-answer questions
II. Relative Advantage
- Immediate Positive feedback
- Allows student to master the materials at his or her learning pace
- Educators are familiar using the drill and practice software
- Builds memorization and concept building block knowledge
- Increases motivation with students
- Some software contain a tracking or progress monitor
- Increases the student's Basic Skill knowledge
- Explains the correct answer (in some software)
- Software is interactive
- Small amounts of usage benefits and supplements student learning
- Provides repetitive practice
- Allows more teacher/student interaction and less grading for teachers
- Personalized for student's needs
- Effective software for test preparation
- Provides direct instruction
- Positive reinforcement
- Multimedia interaction
- Encouraging Practice
- Improvement within content area skills
- Teacher can tailor content to student
- Positive Student response
- May replace worksheets to reduce copies, ink, and printing costs
III. Brief Description
IXL.com
A. Content Area: Mathematics
1. Website: http://www.ixl.com/math/
- IXL.com is an online drill & practice
- Grade Levels: K-12
- Efficient inside & outside of the classroom
- IXL.com is an online drill & practice software
- Pre-8 grade levels
- 28 Topics
- Including Algebra for basic higher education needs
- Inside and outside class practice
- Includes individual state standards
- Aligned to match state standards
- Includes standard reporting
- Lists free trials without signing up
- $199.00/ year for membership
- Includes improvement tools
- Progress tracking
- Goal-setting tools
- Awards
Free Rice.com
Website: http://freerice.com/
- Grade Levels: K-12, Adult Education, Higher Education
- Online Drill & Practice website
- Efficient for classroom use
- Efficient for independent practice or homework
- Study aid tool
- Created by United Nations World Hunger Programme
- Non-Profit Website
- Provides free education
- Created to provide free education and assist in providing food to less fortunate countries
- Provides rice to less fortunate countries
- Drill & Practice Software combined with a Web 2.0 Tool format
- Free Drill & Practice Vocabulary website
Offers eight content areas:
- Humanities
- English
- Chemistry
- Science
- Geography
- Math
- Foreign Language Learning
- Test Preparation
- Grade Levels: K-12, Adult Education, Higher Education
- Online Drill & Practice website
- Efficient for classroom use
- Efficient for independent practice or homework
- Study aid tool
- Created by United Nations World Hunger Programme
- Non-Profit Website
- Provides free education
- Created to provide free education and assist in providing food to less fortunate countries
- Provides rice to less fortunate countries
- Drill & Practice Software combined with a Web 2.0 Tool format
- Free Drill & Practice Vocabulary website
(Free Rice, 2012)
Type Online
Website: http://www.typeonline.co.uk/lesson1.html
Content area: Vocational technology education, Business technology
(Typing Online, 2012)
Content area: Vocational technology education, Business technology
- Free Typing lessons
- Drill & Practice online software
- Immediate Positive feedback
- Reinforces 7-9 grade keyboarding
- Features 9 lessons (10 exercises each)
- Includes a speed test
- Includes on-scree examples
- Use for word processing introduction
(Typing Online, 2012)
Khan Academy
Website: http://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/basic-geometry/e
Content area: Math
- Grade Levels: K-12, Adult Education; Higher Education
- Allows teacher to track student progress
- Allows teacher to create online course
- Allows teacher to create progress monitoring
- Teacher can monitor student activity, focus, and exercise progress
- Over 144,511,711 lessons delivered
- Teacher can monitor progress overtime
(Khan Academy, 2012)
V. Potential Use
- Mathematics
- Reading
- Foreign Language
- English as a Second Language
- English Language Learners
- Citizenship courses
- Social Studies
IV. Purpose
The purpose of this drill & practice software is to…
- Assist students in mastering specific skills
- Within a given content area
- Includes repetition
- Assist students in mastering a subject such as math or reading
- It serves as a memorization tool for historical facts, figures, names, dates, and key-terms.
- It is a great software for vocabulary and spelling
VI. Problems
-- Students lack creative input
-- Software requires a dedicated teacher
-- Lack of teacher and student interaction (with the software)
-- Constructivism do not believe this is appropriate for student learning
---(Cometa, 2010)
VII. Additional Teacher Resources
1. A Plus Math:
Websites:
2. Algebra Planet Blaster:
- Grade Level: K-5
- Created with flash and Java.
- The game “Hidden Picture” instructs the student to solve numerical math problems to view the photo
- If solved incorrectly, the student must repeat the problem
Websites:
- A Plus Math: http://aplusmath.com/
- A Plus Math Flash Cards: http://www.aplusmath.com/flashcards/
- A Plus Math Games: http://www.aplusmath.com/Games/PlanetBlast/index.html
2. Algebra Planet Blaster:
- Grade Level 9-12, adult education, and Developmental high education
- The objective is to solve an algebra problem to save the earth.
- If solved correctly the earth is saved, if not the earth or another planet is destroyed.
VII. Additional Teacher Resources
3. Math Flashcards:
- Grade Level: K-12, Adult education
- Flash cards with math problem
- Student must solve within 1 minute
- If not answered correctly, student must repeat until solved
4. Quia Spanish:
Website: http://www.quia.com/quiz/438253.html
Content Area: Beginning Spanish
Grade Level: 7-12, Higher Education
- Drill & Practice Software
- 11 Questions
- Play activities
- Take quizzes
- View Results
- Share Activities
VII. References
Cometa, S. (2010). Drill and Practice Presentation. Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/diginiyaki/drill-and-practice-5914702 . Retrieved March 3, 2012.
Roblyer, M. D. (2006). Chapter 3: Teaching with Instructional Software. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. (4th ed.). (pp. 79-84). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Saskatoon Public Schools (2009). Instructional Strategies Online. Drill & Practice:
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/strats/drill/index.html . Retrieved March 3, 2012.
Roblyer, M. D. (2006). Chapter 3: Teaching with Instructional Software. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. (4th ed.). (pp. 79-84). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.
Saskatoon Public Schools (2009). Instructional Strategies Online. Drill & Practice:
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/de/pd/instr/strats/drill/index.html . Retrieved March 3, 2012.
"These materials are not endorsed, approved, sponsored, or provided by or on behalf of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville."
Copyright © 2012. Beashua Spearman. All Rights Reserved.
Last Updated December 1, 2012
Copyright © 2012. Beashua Spearman. All Rights Reserved.
Last Updated December 1, 2012