Traditionally, these skills are taught
with a series of drill and practice problems. Students spend weeks doing practice worksheets that
might contain one to two word problems. With this much practice on basic skills, it is not
surprising that students in a traditional curriculum are able to master these sections of
standardized tests. Conversely, these skills are embedded in real-life scenarios that students work
together to solve in a standards-based classroom; therefore, the number of problems practiced is
considerably less than in a traditional classroom (Goldsmith and Mark, 1999). What needs to be
considered here is which bears greater importance: that students are able to perform rote tasks
that can be calculated instantaneously by technology or that they can identify which operation,
along with how and why it will most appropriately allow them to solve a real-world problem.