"Some people say drill and practice is really 'drill and kill.' What can teachers do to make
sure this kind of use doesn't happen and drill and practice can serve a useful function?"
Their are many drill and practice software programs that can be beneficial to students but to ensure that they are indeed beneficial the programs should have certain characteristics. First of all the students should have control over the presentation rate. The book states that students should have all the time they need or wish to answer the questions and also be able to review the feedback provided before coninuing to the next question. If the software program has open ended questions rather then multiple choice then the program should be able to judge whether or not the answer is correct or incorrect. The software drill and practice program should also provide appropriate feedback. Some programs display feedback that is much to elaborate and can bore the students. The books suggest that feedback should be simple and display quickly. In other occasions the program may be providing feedback that encourages the student to answer incorrectly by displaying feedback when a question is answered incorrectly that is more entertaining or animated than the feedback provided when the correct answer is given. If teachers assign drill and practice software activities that follow the described criteria then there is a greater chance that students will benefit from it instead of having a 'drill and kill" experience.
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