DreamBox Learning’s instructional philosophy

Our math curriculum simultaneously develops conceptual understanding, computational fluency, and problem-solving ability. We believe that all children can become proficient, flexible, mathematical thinkers when their learning environment is engaging, personalized, and responsive to their developing mathematical ideas and strategies. We provide children with opportunities to develop the full range of skills and logical thinking, from learning the basic facts for computation, to developing problem solving strategies.

Developing mathematical strategies and proficiency

The DreamBox Learning environment is rich with challenging inquiries and digital manipulatives for developing mathematics proficiency through first-hand experience. Students choose from developmentally-appropriate challenges that encourage them to try out their own strategies. At the same time, we provide many opportunities for developing and practicing important skills such efficient computation and automaticity with the basic math facts. DreamBox provides them with tailored instructional support as they develop deep understanding of key math concepts, ensuring effective learning results.

An appropriately-challenging experience

We have designed an adaptive online environment, with initial and continuous assessment to ensure a child is always working at the right place in the curriculum. DreamBox tracks each student’s behavior in order to offer the appropriate kind and level of instructional feedback, pacing and sequence of the lessons, and much more. Every aspect of the experience is adapted to the learning needs of every child, to keep them appropriately challenged and having fun.

A highly individualized response to student errors

Good teachers know it’s a judgment call when and how best to intercede when a child makes a mistake. At DreamBox, we have many powerful strategies for appropriately adapting and responding. We adjust the number and type of questions in the game depending on a child’s responses. Did he get a problem correct the first time, or did he need a second chance? Was the incorrect answer within a reasonable range? Was the problem solved in a reasonable amount of time? Based on the answers to these questions, we give hints of varying degrees to help the child solve a problem. Then all of this data is used to determine how comfortable a child is with a particular objective. Should he continue to practice this objective, practice a prior objective or move on to new objective?

At DreamBox, we analyze the full range of errors students make, doing real-time assessment to determine if reinforcement in a particular area of the curriculum is needed. If it is, the lesson sequence is adjusted on the fly to provide more practice-based lessons. By combining the latest educational research with the expertise of our board-certified teachers who develop the curriculum, we’ve developed a technology that constantly adapts to optimize learning for each child.

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