What are KIRFS?
KIRFs, or “Key Instant Recall Facts,” represent fundamental mathematical facts or skills that students are expected to recall rapidly and accurately. These serve as a foundational toolkit that students can access automatically, enabling them to efficiently tackle more advanced mathematical challenges.
When pupils have quick access to a bank of facts which incur little cost to working memory, they will have more capacity to think about more complex problems that draw on these facts. By mastering these basics to the point of automaticity, students free up their working memory, allowing them to dedicate more mental capacity to grappling with intricate problems that build upon these foundational facts.
Let’s look at an example
To solve this problem accurately and efficiently, students need to apply KIRFs related to unit conversion and subtraction. They must first convert 0.5 litre to millilitres and then subtract that amount from the total to determine the remaining quantity. Having a solid foundation in unit conversion and subtraction facts is crucial for effortlessly solving such problems.
However, pupils who cannot effortlessly convert 0.5 litre to millilitres and use up all their working memory in doing so will find it harder to answer this question. Furthermore, students who resort to a written strategy for subtracting 500ml from 568ml may end up wasting valuable exam time on inefficient strategies.
How to learn kirfs
In recent years, we’ve observed an increasing number of schools discussing KIRFs. Typically, KIRFs are structured across the school, outlining specific facts that children should grasp in particular terms and year groups. This layout provides clarity for children, families, and teachers. Below, we have outlined how you could use Arithmagicians to support with the teaching of KIRFs.
How to implement KIRFS in schools
When you search for KIRFs online, you will find numerous schools that have published their KIRF sets on their homepages. Typically, schools designate one KIRF for students to master each half-term per year group. Additionally, many schools provide an annual overview and a one-page summary of each KIRF, complete with examples and methods for learning it. Below is an example from Stoke Maths.
Here is a quick guide to implementing KIRFs in your school:
