Students with learning difficulties need different forms of help and sufficient opportunities in order to gain the knowledge and to reach the goals (Magajna et al., 2008). It has been shown that a cross-age assistance or a cross-age tutoring is one among successful methods of approaching the students with learning difficulties. The cross-age tutoring involves students of different age and needs, where older students provide help to the younger counterparts (hhtp://www.readingrockets.org/article/22029).
A multiplication table is a part of a mathematical declarative knowledge. Mathematical facts stored in memory networks have different power which affect the speed of a recall (Snyder, 2005). Beside the ability of an automatic recall the children need to have an adequate conceptual knowledge of numbers and a sufficient counting strategy (Hopkins and Egeberg, 2009, Mrak, 2010). In order to achieve the automaticity of arithmetical facts and procedures, the children need to practice and mechanically exercise or directly learn the strategies. Many children, especially those with specific arithmetic difficulties have problems in recalling the basic arithmetic facts and procedures during the basic schooling, which means that they memorize less facts and less procedures than their counterparts. The former also forget the facts faster than the latter (Kavkler et al., 2004).
The purpose of the diploma thesis is to find out whether the cross-age tutoring can increase motivation of the students with learning difficulties in learning multiplication table and whether it can influence the progression in the automaticity of multiplication facts. In the thesis I also intend to find out what opinion have students-tutors, students with learning difficulties, their teachers and parents toward the cross-age tutoring. A sample included 15 students from four different schools. Eight students out of fifteen have general learning difficulties in mathematics, seven students have a deficient knowledge in specific areas of learning and also specific learning difficulties in mathematics. In the research also participated their parents, students-tutors and teachers who teach the students with learning difficulties. As a method of research I used the opinion poll. Another opinion poll was used to measure the children's motivation in learning the multiplication table. Before and after the process of cross-age tutoring, all the the children were tested in the multiplication table knowledge and controlled whether they made a progression in the automaticity. The cross-age tutoring took place from the april 2015 to the june 2015, during the morning and afternoon day care and one school hour a week.
The results of the research has shown that all the participants have a positive attitude toward the cross-age tutoring. The cross-age tutoring has also increased the children's with learning difficulties motivation in learning the multiplication table. The results of a final testing of the multiplication capacities have shown a progress in the automacity of multiplication table in the students with learning difficulties that were helped by the tutors.
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