HELP Intervention and Repair Library | Mathematics Teaching

Different Mathematics difficulties need different kinds of help. A hint is useful when the learner is close; direct teaching is more appropriate when an important idea is genuinely missing.

Common forms of useful intervention

• Ask a question that exposes the learner’s current thinking.
• Change the representation: words, diagram, table, graph or symbols.
• Show a simpler parallel example.
• Teach the missing relationship explicitly.
• Reduce unnecessary working-memory load while keeping the Mathematics intact.
• Reconnect an earlier idea to the student’s current work.
• Practise with support, then remove the support.
• Verify on a changed question.

The best intervention is not the biggest one. It is the one that restores useful learning and can then fade.

The detailed internal intervention catalogue and selection rules are kept private.