This week in class I learned some important lessons in the power of using manipulatives to help understand math concepts. As our class worked through the "Border Task" we each saw the problem a little differently. As we tried to explain our thinking, the words became muddled-- they could not clearly describe the process our brain was going through to arrive at our particular solution to the problem. When we had the tiles, however, we each found it much easier to communicate, and the audience was able to understand much more quickly. I believe that this is because math concepts are fairly abstract, and we each have different ways of thinking about abstract concepts. It is almost as if we each speak our own "math language". When we use a manipulative, it is like having a picture to go with the words, and it provides more instant understanding to those who don't understand our "language". Just like in a foreign country, when we look for the pictures under the meaningless words on signs in order to understand what it is saying.
My big question is how can we incorporate more math manipulative use into these intermediate grades? In particular, this week I was working with some 5th grade students who were struggling with understanding the concept of rounding numbers. I believe that using manipulatives would have helped these kids, but there were none to be found in this classroom. I think it will be up to me, as a new teacher, to incorporate this powerful teaching tool into the prescribed math curriculum.
OOH...I like the idea that we each speak our own "math language"!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught, I would use manipulatives when introducing a concept and then during classwork time or homework time, the students were free to use them, they stayed out on the desk. Many of them were homemade BTW