# The value of making students copy your derivations exactly

I have a hypothesis that I have not yet implemented, and am seeking guidance before I do. I have always taught algebra (and above) in such a way that the students understand the derivations. I check their understanding through discussion. The problem is that I have found that these students are unable to recreate the derivations, nor do anything on their own. My hypothesis is that if, in addition, I require them to copy my on-board derivations exactly in their notebooks, that, although this might distract from understanding somewhat, it will give them a good sense of the mechanics, and so might better support their being able to create, or at least recreate, their own. I resist this for obvious reasons, but I’m at whit’s end with students that clearly understand, but cannot actually do derivations.

• "I resist this for obvious reasons" - like what? This was an accepted practice when I was a student, and I think it worked well. Sep 6 at 18:33
• @rusty: I assume that I would have to go slower, which may be good, but will take away from the discussion that I believe leads to depth of understanding. But I may be wrong about the importance of that discussion v copying the mechanics. Sep 6 at 20:14
• Unless they use the methods in the derivation in a few contexts then they will surely forget the argument in a year or two. So ask them to work out the derivation in several actual examples to reinforce the method. For example, don’t ask them to regurgitate the derivation of the quadratic formula in the general case, but in a few special cases.
– KCd
Sep 6 at 22:17