Manipulative (mathematics education)

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Cuisenaire rods in a staircase arrangement Cuisenaire staircase.JPG
Cuisenaire rods in a staircase arrangement
Interlocking "multilink" linking cubes Multilink cubes.JPG
Interlocking "multilink" linking cubes
A Polydron icosahedron Polydron 09489.jpg
A Polydron icosahedron

In mathematics education, a manipulative is an object which is designed so that a learner can perceive some mathematical concept by manipulating it, hence its name. The use of manipulatives provides a way for children to learn concepts through developmentally appropriate hands-on experience.

Contents

The use of manipulatives in mathematics classrooms throughout the world grew considerably in popularity throughout the second half of the 20th century. Mathematical manipulatives are frequently used in the first step of teaching mathematical concepts, that of concrete representation. The second and third steps are representational and abstract, respectively.

Mathematical manipulatives can be purchased or constructed by the teacher. Examples of common manipulatives include number lines, Cuisenaire rods; fraction strips, [1] [ better source needed ] blocks, or stacks; base ten blocks (also known as Dienes or multibase blocks); interlocking linking cubes (such as Unifix); construction sets (such as Polydron and Zometool); colored tiles or tangrams; pattern blocks; colored counting chips; [2] numicon tiles; chainable links; abaci such as "rekenreks", and geoboards. Improvised teacher-made manipulatives used in teaching place value include beans and bean sticks, or single popsicle sticks and bundles of ten popsicle sticks.

Virtual manipulatives for mathematics are computer models of these objects. Notable collections of virtual manipulatives include The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives and the Ubersketch.

Multiple experiences with manipulatives provide children with the conceptual foundation to understand mathematics at a conceptual level and are recommended by the NCTM.[ citation needed ]

Some of the manipulatives are now used in other subjects in addition to mathematics. For example, Cuisenaire rods are now used in language arts and grammar,[ citation needed ] and pattern blocks are used in fine arts.[ citation needed ]

In teaching and learning

Mathematical manipulatives play a key role in young children's mathematics understanding and development. These concrete objects facilitate children's understanding of important math concepts, then later help them link these ideas to representations and abstract ideas. For example, there are manipulatives specifically designed to help students learn fractions, geometry and algebra. [3] Here we will look at pattern blocks, interlocking cubes, and tiles and the various concepts taught through using them. This is by no means an exhaustive list (there are so many possibilities!), rather, these descriptions will provide just a few ideas for how these manipulatives can be used.

Base ten blocks

Base Ten Blocks are a great way for students to learn about place value in a spatial way. The units represent ones, rods represent tens, flats represent hundreds, and the cube represents thousands. Their relationship in size makes them a valuable part of the exploration in number concepts. Students are able to physically represent place value in the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Pattern blocks

One of the ways of making a dodecagon with pattern blocks Wooden pattern blocks dodecagon.JPG
One of the ways of making a dodecagon with pattern blocks

Pattern blocks consist of various wooden shapes (green triangles, red trapezoids, yellow hexagons, orange squares, tan (long) rhombi, and blue (wide) rhombi) that are sized in such a way that students will be able to see relationships among shapes. For example, three green triangles make a red trapezoid; two red trapezoids make up a yellow hexagon; a blue rhombus is made up of two green triangles; three blue rhombi make a yellow hexagon, etc. Playing with the shapes in these ways help children develop a spatial understanding of how shapes are composed and decomposed, an essential understanding in early geometry.

Pattern blocks are also used by teachers as a means for students to identify, extend, and create patterns. A teacher may ask students to identify the following pattern (by either color or shape): hexagon, triangle, triangle, hexagon, triangle, triangle, hexagon. Students can then discuss “what comes next” and continue the pattern by physically moving pattern blocks to extend it. It is important for young children to create patterns using concrete materials like the pattern blocks.

Pattern blocks can also serve to provide students with an understanding of fractions; because pattern blocks are sized to fit to each other (for instance, six triangles make up a hexagon), they provide a concrete experiences with halves, thirds, and sixths.

Adults tend to use pattern blocks to create geometric works of art such as mosaics. There are over 100 different pictures that can be made from pattern blocks. These include cars, trains, boats, rockets, flowers, animals, insects, birds, people, household objects, etc. The advantage of pattern block art is that it can be changed around, added, or turned into something else. All six of the shapes (green triangles, blue (thick) rhombi, red trapezoids, yellow hexagons, orange squares, and tan (thin) rhombi) are applied to make mosaics.

Linking cubes

Interlocking centimeter linking cubes Linking cm cubes 2.JPG
Interlocking centimeter linking cubes

Like pattern blocks, interlocking cubes can also be used for teaching patterns. Students may use the cubes to make long trains of patterns. Like the pattern blocks, the interlocking cubes provide a concrete experience for students to identify, extend, and create patterns. The difference is that a student can also physically decompose a pattern by the unit. For example, if a student made a pattern train that followed this sequence:

Red, blue, blue, blue, red, blue, blue, blue, red, blue, blue, blue, red, blue, blue, ...

the child could then be asked to identify the unit that is repeating (red, blue, blue, blue) and take apart the pattern by each unit.

Also, one can learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, guesstimation, measuring, and graphing, perimeter, area, and volume. [4]

Tiles

Tiles are one inch-by-one inch colored squares (red, green, yellow, blue).

Tiles can be used much the same way as interlocking cubes. The difference is that tiles cannot be locked together. They remain as separate pieces, which in many teaching scenarios, may be more ideal.

These three types of mathematical manipulatives can be used to teach the same concepts. It is critical that students learn math concepts using a variety of tools. For example, as students learn to make patterns, they should be able to create patterns using all three of these tools. Seeing the same concept represented in multiple ways as well as using a variety of concrete models will expand students’ understandings.

Number lines

To teach integer addition and subtraction, a number line is often used. A typical positive/negative number line spans from −20 to 20. For a problem such as “−15 + 17”, students are told to “find −15 and count 17 spaces to the right”.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexagon</span> Shape with six sides

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tessellation</span> Tiling of a plane in mathematics

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dodecagon</span> Polygon with 12 edges

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhombic triacontahedron</span> Catalan solid with 30 faces

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexagonal tiling</span> Regular tiling of a two-dimensional space

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triangular tiling</span> Regular tiling of the plane

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truncated hexagonal tiling</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhombitrihexagonal tiling</span> Semiregular tiling of the Euclidean plane

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhombille tiling</span> Tiling of the plane with 60° rhombi

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trapezo-rhombic dodecahedron</span> Polyhedron with 6 rhombic and 6 trapezoidal faces

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pattern Blocks</span> Mathematical manipulatives

Pattern Blocks are a set of mathematical manipulatives developed in the 1960s. The six shapes are both a play resource and a tool for learning in mathematics, which serve to develop spatial reasoning skills that are fundamental to the learning of mathematics. Among other things, they allow children to see how shapes can be composed and decomposed into other shapes, and introduce children to ideas of tilings. Pattern blocks sets are multiple copies of just six shapes:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octadecagon</span> Polygon with 18 edges

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montessori sensorial materials</span> Educational aid

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Base ten blocks</span>

Base ten blocks, also known as Dienes blocks after popularizer Zoltán Dienes, are a mathematical manipulative used by students to practice counting and elementary arithmetic and develop number sense in the context of the decimal place-value system as a more concrete and direct representation than written Hindu–Arabic numerals. The three-dimensional blocks are made of a solid material such as plastic or wood and generally come in four sizes, each representing a power of ten used as a place in the decimal system: units, longs, flats and blocks. There are also computer programs available that simulate base ten blocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rep-tile</span> Shape subdivided into copies of itself

In the geometry of tessellations, a rep-tile or reptile is a shape that can be dissected into smaller copies of the same shape. The term was coined as a pun on animal reptiles by recreational mathematician Solomon W. Golomb and popularized by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in the May 1963 issue of Scientific American. In 2012 a generalization of rep-tiles called self-tiling tile sets was introduced by Lee Sallows in Mathematics Magazine.

Modern elementary mathematics is the theory and practice of teaching elementary mathematics according to contemporary research and thinking about learning. This can include pedagogical ideas, mathematics education research frameworks, and curricular material.

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)[ bare URL ]
  2. "Number and Operations Session 4, Part C: Colored-Chip Models". www.learner.org. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18.
  3. "Best Math Manipulatives for Middle Schoolers".
  4. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on 28 July 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)[ bare URL PDF ]

Sources

  • Allsopp, D.H. (2006). "Concrete – Representational – Abstract" . Retrieved 1 September 2006.
  • Krech, B. (2000). "Model with manipulatives". Instructor. 109 (7): 6–7.
  • Van de Walle, J.; Lovin, L.H. (2005). Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Grades K-3. Allyn & Bacon.