Has this ever happen to you?
My stomach hurts! Can I go to the nurse? I don’t feel good! Can I use the bathroom? These complaints are usually stated to me around 11:15, or, in a more relevant time description, at math time. To paint a better picture, I once had a student stay in the bathroom for quite some time before he came back to the classroom. After this occurred, I took him aside to make sure everything was okay and received an explanation I was not expecting. He told me he uses the bathroom at math time because he doesn’t like math and spending time in the bathroom was easier than doing math work. This got me thinking… why do students have such anxiety over math or feel they cannot do it? I always enjoyed math and found it easy. Numbers made sense to me. After this day, I was on a mission to understand my students better.
I asked my class the next day their feelings on math. Some students responded that it was hard and numbers weren’t their thing. Others said that math didn’t make sense to them. We talked about math and how it can be challenging, but you have to give it a fair chance and your best effort. From this day on I understood my students and, better yet, understood the approach I needed to take to teach them effectively and to decrease their anxiety. I figured out that it’s all about the way you approach math.
One of many great strategies to help all math learners is the use of manipulatives in the classroom. Manipulatives are proving to be effective tools for teaching certain math concepts to all students and frequently used during math instruction in classrooms all over (Berkas & Pattison, 2007). Since 1940 to the present day, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has encouraged all grade levels to use manipulatives in daily math instruction. Many students are hands-on learners and need to manipulate objects in order to understand something. By using their hands they really get to see and work with the concepts being taught (Kautzman, 2011). Math is full of concrete and abstract levels and the use of manipulatives help students move from a concrete level to abstract levels of learning. They are also beneficial for students who have been diagnosed with a learning disability. Manipulatives provide additional reinforcement of basic math skills and enables students to complete math problems independently and with less anxiety (Schreiner, 2010).
There are many types of manipulatives, some that cost hardly anything and can be found at your local craft or grocery store. These include attribute blocks, geometric shapes of different colors and sizes that may be used in classification or patterning tasks; plastic counting cubes for solving simple addition and subtraction equations; base ten blocks for representing and performing operations on multidigit numbers, such as 321 + 104; and fraction pieces, which can be used to represent different fractional concepts and relationships (Spear-Swerling, 2006). Other simple manipulatives are counting beans, popsicle sticks and buttons. These are simple items that make math much easier for students and most authorites would agree that manipulatives play a helpful role in teaching math, especially in the teaching of concepts.
Manipulatives can be made from anything and everything. They can be store bought and homemade. The pictures above show you a few types of manipulatives that are commonly used in the classroom.
Helpful Links:
Ideas for Making Math Manipulatives
7 Musts for Using Manipulatives
I agree with the research showing the effectiveness of manipulatives in the classroom during math. I have noticed in the past few years I have spent in education that a majority of students learn best from hands-on experiences. The use of manipulatives allows students to learn effectively and helps them to become more independent with math as well. I believe with every strategy and method there are negatives. Manipulatives are used to make children’s learning of math concepts easier, however, if children are not shown the correct way to use the manipulatives or confused with what the manipulative is representing, then there will be issues greater than not understanding a concept. I believe it is important to use manipulatives, but it is vital to teach children the meaning and how to use them as well.
Do I use manipulatives in my classroom? Absolutely! As mentioned above, I have a lot of students who struggle in math. None of my students are identified with learning disabilities, but still have anxiety when it comes to math and understanding concrete and abstract concepts. In fourth grade we learn everything from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division to graphing and fractions. I learned quickly that my students learn more effectively with hands-on experiences. Lecturing them or having them watch me demonstrate is not effective for them, however, giving them hands-on tools seemed to stop the trips to the nurse and bathroom as well as improve their math abilities!
This little boy is working with different types of manipulatives to construct patterns.
This little girl is using Cuisenaire Rods, also referred to as math bars, which are colored number rods used to teach mathematical concepts in an interactive, hands-on manner. Each colored bar represents a number.
It is important to remember that you are not going to be able to “fix the problem” for any given child. What you can do is educate yourself in ways to draw on that child’s strengths to help him or her compensate for their weaknesses.
References
Berkas, N. & Pattison, C. (2007). Manipulatives: more than a special education intervention. National Council of Teacher of Mathematics.
Kautzman, K. (March 10, 2011). Math intervention strategies: Suggestions for struggling learners. Bright Hub Education, Retrieved from
Schreiner, E. (2010). How to use manipulatives to teach math to LD students. Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com/print/how_5991197_use-teach-math-ld-student.html
Spear-Swerling, L. (March, 2006). The use of manipulatives in mathematics instruction. LD Online, Retrieved from
http://www.ldonline.org/spearswerling/The_Use_of_Manipulatives_in_Mathematics_Instruction
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