College of Education professors research use of CRA-I method

Two professors in Auburn’s College of Education have spent the past year working with students from Loachapoka Elementary School who are struggling with math concepts, particularly fractions. Margaret Flores, professor, and Vanessa Hinton, clinical professor, both from the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling, worked with small groups of fifth and sixth graders whose test scores and teacher feedback indicated they needed extra help with fractions.

In 20-minute sessions over five weeks, Flores and Hinton taught fraction concepts from previous grade levels, including identifying fractions on number lines, adding and subtracting fractions, making fractions equivalent, and working with decimals, to help students understand the why behind the methods. 

The professors used the concrete-representational-abstract integrated sequence, or CRA-I, which means that students use hands-on manipulatives, like blocks, with visual aids such as pictures, drawings, number lines, and mathematical symbols. Those hands-on and visual supports are then faded out gradually as students learn to solve equations or complete tasks using only numbers.

 “I’m enthusiastic about this method because it helps students understand the why of mathematics,” Flores said. “Students can see these pretty abstract, complicated concepts and can experience them in different ways with different kinds of representation.

The purpose of CRA-I is to help students understand the mathematics concept and associated processes with multi-sensory experiences. The method is best used in small groups of students who need more help following the lesson. For example, if the class has 25 students and 21 firmly grasp the concepts, the teacher would provide extra help to the remaining four students using the CRA-I method during their intervention time rather than repeating the lesson that was just taught to the whole class.

In their research, Flores and Hinton measured the extent to which students who received CRA-I improved their fraction skills and how it compared to the skill levels of students waiting to receive CRA-I. The end goal of the research is to continue to show evidence that CRA-I is an effective method to teach mathematics for students who need intervention.

At Loachapoka Elementary, Flores and Hinton found that the students they worked with made significant improvements and that their benchmark test scores had gone up from before they received the extra help. The results show that the CRA-I intervention is effective, and the timeframe shows CRA-I is a feasible method for teachers who must implement the extra support during school hours.

After the initial findings, Flores hopes teachers will adopt the CRA-I method as a helpful tool when providing extra support to students who are struggling rather than repeating the same methods used with the whole class. 

“The project has gone well so far but we need more research across mathematics concepts to show teachers that going in this particular sequence works,” Flores said.

The pair of professors plan to return to Loachapoka this fall to work with more students and continue their research into the CRA-I method.