Manipulatives in the classroom
There are different ways in which we as humans learn. There are three different learning styles, auditory, visual, and tactile learning. All of these styles involve process within the brain. Most students use all three in combination to full understand new concepts in the classroom. It is the instructors job to make sure all students fully understand and can compute all concepts required of them by the state. However, in most cases, public schools lack even enough funding for basic necessities in the classroom and as such the idea of having additional teaching tools is almost a dream. Manipulatives can almost be anything, however their purpose is to be used as a teaching …show more content…
From the Egyptians to the Mayans, they all had some form of math and counting tools as well. This has been in development for hundreds of years and still continues to evolve as technology evolves. The use of computers and iPads in this new digital age has spurned and new wave of new manipulatives to be used in the classroom. These new virtual manipulatives can be used in all sorts of ways. At one local elementary school (pine shadows elementary) all of the classrooms have a cabinet with laptops and iPads for students to access a website called dreambox. The teacher will introduce a new concept and will use traditional physical manipulatives to teach this new lesson to the student for the first time. However, the virtual manipulatives are used to help build, understand and review old concepts in a way that this new technology driven generation can understand. According to powerupwhatworks.org (n.d) virtual manipulatives "can be especially helpful for students with disabilities because they can improve their understanding of the abstract symbolic language of mathematics". Virtual manipulatives also not only help out students with disabilities but benefit all students as a whole. All websites for learning are different in the case of dreambox it is supposed to adept to the individual need of the child as no two children are the same. During this time some schools have a period of one on one with students whom are struggling more than their peers. In the case of pine shadows elementary the time was called intervention and the students would leave their home classroom and sit with a teacher for individual and small group activities. During this time the teacher may take more time with the students and has use of additional manipulatives or tools at their disposal to help these struggling students understand these new concepts while the average and gifted students have some form of help and can learn at their own
There are different ways in which we as humans learn. There are three different learning styles, auditory, visual, and tactile learning. All of these styles involve process within the brain. Most students use all three in combination to full understand new concepts in the classroom. It is the instructors job to make sure all students fully understand and can compute all concepts required of them by the state. However, in most cases, public schools lack even enough funding for basic necessities in the classroom and as such the idea of having additional teaching tools is almost a dream. Manipulatives can almost be anything, however their purpose is to be used as a teaching …show more content…
From the Egyptians to the Mayans, they all had some form of math and counting tools as well. This has been in development for hundreds of years and still continues to evolve as technology evolves. The use of computers and iPads in this new digital age has spurned and new wave of new manipulatives to be used in the classroom. These new virtual manipulatives can be used in all sorts of ways. At one local elementary school (pine shadows elementary) all of the classrooms have a cabinet with laptops and iPads for students to access a website called dreambox. The teacher will introduce a new concept and will use traditional physical manipulatives to teach this new lesson to the student for the first time. However, the virtual manipulatives are used to help build, understand and review old concepts in a way that this new technology driven generation can understand. According to powerupwhatworks.org (n.d) virtual manipulatives "can be especially helpful for students with disabilities because they can improve their understanding of the abstract symbolic language of mathematics". Virtual manipulatives also not only help out students with disabilities but benefit all students as a whole. All websites for learning are different in the case of dreambox it is supposed to adept to the individual need of the child as no two children are the same. During this time some schools have a period of one on one with students whom are struggling more than their peers. In the case of pine shadows elementary the time was called intervention and the students would leave their home classroom and sit with a teacher for individual and small group activities. During this time the teacher may take more time with the students and has use of additional manipulatives or tools at their disposal to help these struggling students understand these new concepts while the average and gifted students have some form of help and can learn at their own