Date of Award
Spring 3-14-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ed.D. Transformational Teaching and Learning
First Advisor
Dr. Kathleen Stanfa
Second Advisor
Dr. Andrew Miness
Third Advisor
Dr. Gregory Shelley
Abstract
Students in junior high school are struggling with mathematics (U.S. Department of Education, 2023). Mathematical fluency—the automatic and accurate recall of facts—is critical to mathematics learning. There is limited research on junior high school general education students and how we can help them master the foundational concepts. Without fluency, students rely heavily on their working memory to learn new mathematics skills. Fluency in operations with integers is one of those foundational topics of junior high school. With many new digital tools available, are digital interventions more effective than the methods teachers have been using? The researcher compared three intervention styles: digital, non-digital, and a combination to see which was the most effective in increasing student fluency. The key components of an intervention were that they were whole group, had high repetition, and fit into a 10-minute time period. The researcher chose game-based interventions to engage students because when students are interested and engaged, they learn more. The researcher found that digital interventions had the highest increase in post-test scores after 10 interventions. Students preferred digital interventions and were the most engaged with them. Additionally, when comparing low- and high-achieving students, digital interventions were more effective in low-achieving students. High-achieving students also preferred digital, but to a smaller degree. They appreciated the variety of mixed interventions. The best way to engage seventh-grade students in practice of operations with integers is through a variety of 10-minute interventions, primarily digital in nature, particularly for lower-ability students.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Brad, Kathleen, "Digital vs. Non-Digital Interventions: A Study of Intervention Types to Reach Fluency in Operations with Integers in Seventh-Grade Mathematics" (2025). Education Doctorate Dissertations. 44.
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/edddissertations/44
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