Math Manipulatives

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Math manipulatives are an essential tool to teaching mathematics. The two main purposes of using math manipulatives is to help students’ form concrete understanding of abstract concepts and meeting the needs of students who learn better by using a variety of different learning styles. It is important to note that math manipulatives can be used when introducing, practicing, or reteaching concepts.
The first purpose of math manipulatives is to allow students’ to “construct their own cognitive models for abstract mathematical ideas and processes” and “provide a common language with which to communicate these models to teachers and other students” (handtomind.com, 2017, para. 1). In essence, math manipulatives “bridge the gap between the world in which students’ live in and the abstract world of mathematics” (handtomind.com, 2017, para. 3). An example of this is when students’ are learning about fractions. When a student can see that 1/3 + 1/3+ 1/3 = 1 whole using manipulatives it is …show more content…

This active learning allows students to bring abstract concepts more real-world to the students’ and allows a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. Some great ways to utilize instructional technology in the classroom includes: creating own tutorials, creating video problems, taking real-world video to solving mathematical problems, playing games to learn and practice a variety of concepts, using virtual manipulatives and interactive diagrams to understand concepts, mathematical art, etc. (The Reflective Educator, n.d.). Some additional uses of instructional technology includes: tracking students work and answers, enhancing lessons with virtual manipulatives, providing online activities and online assessments based on math standards, and creating differentiate lessons based on students’ tracked answers (Moss,

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