Using SAFMEDS To Increase Fluency in Verbal Behavior Related to a Graduate Level Methodologies Course
Simei Carrizales
Simmons College
Abstract
Using both physical notecards and flashcards presented on Flashcard machine, a graduate student attempted to achieve fluency in material related to a methodologies course by using the Say All Fast Minute Every Day Shuffled (SAFMEDS) method. Participant read phrase that appeared on the front of the card and said response that was located on the back. Daily one-minute timings—excluding weekends and holidays—were recorded for 6 weeks. Set size increased weekly so that student began with 19 cards and ended study with 195 cards. Results showed improving learning pictures week by week, however, participant did not reach the fluency aim of 20 or more correct cards with two or less incorrect or “skip” cards per timing. Retention test recorded one week later showed maintenance of level of fluency by participant.
In The Technology of Teaching, B.F. Skinner argues that teaching the student self-management skills and self-reliance are an imperative aspect of an individual’s education (Skinner, 1968, p. 173). Precision Teaching (PT), founded by Ogden Lindsley, gave teachers the ability to “arrange condition to teach important self-monitoring, self-management, [and] organizational skills” (Johnson, 2008, p. 812). Precision Teaching consists of three features: performance measurement, frequency measurement and the Standard Celeration chart. With PT, individuals can track performance and make decisions as to how to improve performance. Frequency, in comparison to percentage, is a much more sensitive measure of behavior change. The development of the Standard Celeration Chart, by Lindsley and colleagues, provided a tool for teachers and participants to quickly see if performance is improving and what, if necessary, needs to be changed. The chart features standard measures of time (minutes and days) and is universal in that it can be applied to any instance occurring in nature (Johnson, 2008, p. 810). Precision Teaching is unique from other methodologies in that it can be used across different subject-matter area, and grade levels or types of students (Merbitz, Vieitez, Merbit, & Binder, 2004, p. 59).
A by-product of Preceision Teaching and the Standard Celeration chart was the development of SAFMEDS—Say All Fast, a Minute Every Day, Shuffle—by Ogden Lindley and Stephen A. Graph in 1978. SAFMEDS is a procedure that involves practicing and assessing a student’s academic fluency by using flashcards that are to be practiced daily in 1-min practice sessions. SAFMEDS is a breakthrough procedure that debunked six common myths and discovered the following: providing a verbal answer, practicing an entire set rather than parts of sets, shuffling the cards, going fast, and making many errors lead to better learning and that “understanding comes after learning” (Potts, Eschleman, & Cooper, 1993, p. 185). In the following study the SAFMEDS method was used to attempt achieve mastery in the form of fluency of verbal responses to stimulus cards containing material relevant to a graduate level methodologies course.
Methods
Participant
Participant is a 24-year-old graduate student at Simmons College studying behavior analysis. Participant works full time as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) at an ABA treatment in Texas. Participant has completed two terms of study prior to enrollment in a methodologies course. At the time of enrollment in the methodologies course, participant was also enrolled in an ethics course. Participant was required to complete experiment as part of the Methodologies II course requirements.
Setting
Timings were completed in a variety of settings. Most timing were completed in participants home office, at the desk. Some timings were completed at an airport and at a local coffee shop. Flashcards were provided in sets increasing in size each week. Flashcards were made available on the Flashcard Machine website. Each set contained the material from all previous sets. Sets were provided by instructor at the end class on Wednesday nights. Timings in Weeks 1, 2, and 3, of intervention were completed using 3.5 in by 2.5 in notecards. Font and color of cards were identical to the electronic cards. All other timings, including baseline, fluency test, endurance test, and retention test, were completed using the Flashcard machine. The baseline timing and final fluency test were timed by class instructor. Class instructor flipped cards in which a response was provided and did not flip cards when a verbal “skip” was provided by participant. The endurance test and retention test were timed by a participant’s colleague. Colleague was instructed to flip cards to check for correct answers unless a verbal “skip” was provided by participant. Data was recorded on a table in a Word Document. Timer app on a cellphone was used for all timings.
Independent and Dependent Measures
The dependent variable is defined as the frequency a participant provides correct or incorrect verbal response to stimulus card for as many cards during a one minute timing. Examples include participant saying “Teaching,” when presented with flash card reading, “The arrangement of contingencies of reinforcement that expedite learning.” Non-examples include the participant writing the word “teaching,” on a sheet of paper when presented with flash card reading, “The arrangement of contingencies of reinforcement that expedite learning.”
Measurement of the Dependent Variables
Frequency of correct and incorrect responses in a one-minute timing were measured. Data was recorded on datasheet provided by instructor. The frequency of correct responses per timing were recorded in the acceleration column. The frequency of incorrect or “skip” responses were recorded in the deceleration column. The total frequency of responses was recorded in the ceiling column.
Experimental Design
An AB without reversal design was used. The A condition consisted of the baseline and the B conditioned consisted of the implementation of the SAFMEDS method. A return to baseline was not possible as the information practiced and learned by participant cannot be unlearned. One limitation of this design is that there is no replication within subject and sequence effects are working in full force from phase to phase. Demonstrative analysis was completed by this study.
Baseline
Baseline was measured one week before intervention began. Class instructor timed and scored the session. Class instructor presented the cards on a screen and flipped the cards after a response or “skip” was provided by participant. Instructor provided an extra 20-30 seconds to the timing to account for the flipping and loading of the card. When baseline data was taken, participant had not yet been exposed to the Flashcard Machine system or the material on the cards. However, participant had attended three classes as part of the Methodologies course and some material had already been covered in discussion, lecture, and assigned readings.
Intervention
The intervention phase began one week after baseline measurements were taken. During the intervention phase participant was instructed to perform one minute fluency tests every day, except weekends and holidays, followed by a ten-minute endurance test. Participant was provided access to cards every Wednesday and timings began on the following day. Weeks 1-3, participant used note cards to create physical cards which were used for timings for those weeks. Timings during weeks 4, 5, and 6, were done using the Flashcard Machine software. Charting of data on a Standard Celeration Chart by participant was to be done for every recording. Based on learning pictures interpreted on the chart, participants were to make decisions about how long study periods should be or what cards to study more. Each week another set was provided to participant that included all cards from previous weeks and new cards for that week. The set of cards began at 19 cards and by then end of the intervention the total number of cards was 195. For a week after final timing, participant refrained from practicing or review cards then a retention test was timed and scored.
Results
During baseline, participant recorded 8 correct responses and 1 incorrect response. Across the six weeks an improving learning picture was shown by the results, week by week (refer to Appendix A). Week 1 showed a “take off” learning picture with correct responses ranging from 12-19, and incorrect responses scoring from 0-1. Week 2 showed a clear “jaws” learning picture, with correct responses ranging from 9-26 and incorrect responses ranging from 3-9. At the end of week 3 participant was sick. Only three timings were completed that week. A “crossover” learning picture was being developed. Correct response scores range from 8 to 18 and incorrect response scores range from 2 to 12. Week 4 results show a “jaw” learning picture with correct scores ranging from 10 to 13 and incorrect scores ranging from 0 to 7. Week 5 results a “dive” learning picture. Correct response scores ranged from 15-19 and incorrect response scores ranged from 0 to 3. Week 6 results show an “uphill” learning picture with correct response scores ranging from 13 to 22 and incorrect response scores ranging from 1 to 3. Participant scored a frequency of 19 correct responses and 3 incorrect responses on the fluency test. During the retention test, participant scored 18 correct response and 3 incorrect responses.
Discussion
The SAFMEDS method did improved the participants verbal fluency with the material for the course. Although the fluency aim was not achieved by participant, the fluency test and retention test showed higher scores of correct answers than the baseline condition. As charting occurred through the weeks, participant was required to make changes to how terms would be practiced in terms of time and or frequency in which certain terms were practiced, according to pattern the learning pictures showed.
During week 1, the set provided was small and participant achieved fluency. Once fluency was established, participant did not follow up with the suggested 10-minute endurance test. Once timing was completed for the day, the session was ended.
Week 2 of intervention consisted of a substantially larger set of cards. This set included 83 cards. No other sets of cards had such a large increase from week to week as this set. During this week, participant was performing a 10-minute endurance test and a 5-minute review of all terms that were incorrect during endurance test. By day three however, the number of incorrect cards was not decelerating, so participant added one extra day of timings and practice which proved to accelerate the frequency of the correct cards and decelerate the incorrect responses.
Week 3 of intervention consisted of only three timings as participant was sick for two session days. This week the participant the participants correct responses did not accelerate as fast previous weeks. The following weeks, frequency of correct responses did not accelerate as fast. However, participant was reaching the aim star for correct responses each week.
Deceleration on the other hand occurred quite slowly and then stopped. Incorrect responses remained stable from phase to phase after week 3. During these weeks, participant added a 10-minute practice session after every endurance test where incorrect responses were targeted for decrease. It has been taken into consideration that because participant did not master set during week 3, as a consequence of sequence effects, there were more cards to master in the subsequent sets. Another aspect to take into consideration is that, starting week 4, the physical cards were no longer used. This change in stimulus control could also have had an effect on the deceleration of incorrect responses. It is also important to take note that although the stimulus format was changed the 1-minute timings did not. It was found that the flashcard machine software takes longer to flip card and moved on to next card because needs to load.
Fluency in precision teaching is characterized by being stable, applied, retained, generalized, and it endures without fatigue (Merbitz et al., 2004, p. 64). Although the participant did not achieve the fluency aim established by instructor, the participant did demonstrate retention of material, stability in distracting and novel situations (in coffee shops, airports, etc.), did generalize material across settings and materials, and was able to apply material during in-class activities and discussions.
An interesting concept to further investigate would be to provide the entirety of the sets at the beginning rather than week by week to see how that would affect the decision-making process of participants based on the learning picture resulting rather than many learning pictures.
References
Johnson, K. (2008). Precision Teaching. In N. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology (pp. 809-813). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302812007_Johnson_K_2008a_Precision_Teaching_In_N_Suskind_ed_The_Encyclopedia_of_Educational_Psychology_2_809-813_Thousand_Oaks_CA_Sage_Publications
Merbitz, C., Vieitez, D., Merbitz, N. H., Binder, C. (2004). Precision Teaching: Application in Education and Beyond. In D. Moran, & R. Mallot (Eds.), Evidence-Based Educational Methods (pp. 63-78). San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press.
Potts, L., Eschleman, J. W., & Cooper, J. O. (1993) Ogden R. Lindsley and the Historical Development of Precision Teaching. The Behavior Analyst, 16, 177-189. doi: 10.1007/BF03392622
Skinner, B.F. (1968). The Technology of Teaching. Cambridge, MA: B. F. Skinner Foundation.