When we first started teaching in the Experience First, Formalize Later (EFFL) model, we were pleased to see some promising early results with our students. As we continued to develop the model and hone our own teaching strategies, we got to witness even more of EFFL’s impact. We saw students reasoning and making sense of problems, rather than just mimicking steps and memorizing facts. Diverse student voices were being elevated for their strategies and ideas, demonstrating that there is so much more to doing mathematics than just getting a right answer. Students were learning to collaborate, to construct and critique arguments, and to disagree respectfully using convincing mathematical arguments.
But all of this was anecdotal evidence, which, while powerful, would probably score low on the “convincing mathematical argument” scale. We needed some stone cold facts. We needed actual research. Instead of just perceiving that it was working, we needed to know why it was working. It was time to really dig into the literature and see what the researchers had to say.
It turns out that there is loads of research to explain why we were seeing all these positive benefits with our own students. Excited by these findings, we set out to write a journal article that would take a deep dive into the research supporting the EFFL structure and philosophy. After many rounds of edits and a lengthy peer-review process, we are proud to share that our article was published in NCTM’s Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12 journal in the July 2023 issue!
If you have an NCTM membership you can read the full article here.
In the article, we describe the structure and philosophy of EFFL and do a deep dive into one of our lessons on solving linear systems using elimination titled “How Much for a Bagel and Cream Cheese?” (You knew there had to be a reason for that mouth-watering bagel and schmear header image they chose!)
We also look at the five research-based design features of every EFFL lesson:
Contexts that build on students’ intuition and experiences
Opportunities for rich mathematical reasoning and sense making
Experiences that gradually build in complexity
Learning through collaboration
Inviting, informal language
Finally, we talk about the impact of EFFL and look at a wide body of math education research to show how EFFL increases equity in the math classroom, invites students to take ownership of their learning, and helps students foster a new perspective on what it means to know and do mathematics.
Here are just a few of the references that were pivotal in our work (or you can check out the full list of references):
Articles
Delegating Mathematical Authority as a Means to Strive Toward Equity (Dunleavy, 2015)
Why is Teaching with Problem Solving Important to Student Learning? (NCTM Research Brief, 2010)
Does Race Matter? (Martin, 2009)
Books
Strength in Numbers: Collaborative Learning in Secondary Mathematics (Horn, 2014)
Teaching Mathematics Through Problem Solving (Shoen, 2006)
The Math Pact, High School: Achieving Instructional Coherence within and across Grades (Dougherty, Bush & Karp, 2021)
We are thrilled to see this article come to fruition and hope to continue the work of connecting the best math education research with practical tools for the classroom. Thank you for the huge part you’ve played in helping us spread the #EFFLrevolution!
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