How a new teaching strategy in South Bend Schools is replacing memorization in math

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Memorizing times tables could become a thing of the past. Starting this school year, math will be taught differently under a new Indiana law.

In fourth grade reading, Indiana jumped from 19th place in 2022 to 6th place out of all states in 2024. State leaders attribute this to former Governor Eric Holcomb’s “Science of Reading” law signed in 2023.

The law uses evidence-based curricula, and it appears to be working, according to State Rep. Jake Teshka (R-North Liberty).

Now, Teshka is looking to find similar success with a newly signed math law.

Roughly half of third grade students are proficient at math but by the time they reach high school, only 20 percent of students are proficient, according to Teshka.

“Math is one of those things that builds on itself,” Teshka said. “If you don't have those foundational math skills, it's really difficult to do those advanced, more difficult math courses. So, what we have really wanted to do here is to ensure that we're getting those foundation skills in place.”

Old school methods of teaching foundational math skills, like flashcards and time tests, can cause a lot of math anxiety in kids, according to South Bend Community School Corporation K-12 STEM Director Rachel Sachritz.

Now to relieve some of that stress, Sachritz said teachers will focus on teaching number sense – a more conceptual understanding of math.

“What we are trying to get away from is memorizing for the sake of memorizing, and instead getting into what numbers truly mean,” Sachritz said.

Number sense is about understanding quantities while recognizing and visualizing numbers, models, and their relationships.

Take eight times seven.

“If a student ever is at a point where they don't remember what eight times seven is, if they can remember what two times seven is, and adding is easier, than we do two times seven, four times,” Sachritz said.

This method can be applied to more complicated problems by breaking down numbers.

“When we get into more difficult and we're doing things like eight times 17, we can use our friendly numbers and do something like eight times 10 and eight times seven, and we can add those together,” Sachritz said.

In practice, introducing number sense in the classroom comes in the form of a “Number Talk,” or a short mental exercise for students. As part of the “Number Talks,” students are encouraged to work in small groups to facilitate discourse.

In early elementary school, “Number Talks” include counting exercises. Later elementary school classes are taught what a variable is through modeling numbers. For example, with acorns and pumpkins in simple equations.

In middle school, these exercises work to strengthen students' mathematical reasoning by introducing them to a problem and having them draft an argument to defend their answer.

SBCSC implemented “Number Talks” into elementary schools last year. Sachritiz said they are already seeing growth.

“I worked with a kindergarten teacher last year who started her math lessons every day with our ‘Number Talks,’ and her kids loved them,” Sachritz said. “They were super engaged because it is a very quick thing. It is only meant to take just a couple minutes, and it is easily accessible for them.”

Number sense is especially important once students begin higher level math classes like Algebra 1.

“We are seeing that when students don't have that number sense, any work to do with fractions, equations, anything that has to do with multiplying and dividing, which is the math that is across the board in every grade level, students are struggling more with that because they don't have those foundational number and numeracy skills,” Sachritz.

SBCSC expands teaching number sense to all middle schools starting this fall.