Levin, V. 2010. Math Manipulatives for Pre-K and K. [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/45458277464704859/.
Based on the Ontario Ministry of Education's Guide to Effective Mathematics Instruction (2006), students who are allowed to learn by creating their own mathematical models gain valuable understanding of concepts from concrete to abstract and are consequently better able to explain their thinking (p. 18). According to Dwyer's Learner's Theory (1996), students retain up to 80% of the information that they either do or experience. This means that by allowing students access to manipulatives (especially at an early age), students may retain up to 80% of the mathematical understanding they are experiencing when they participate in hands-on learning using manipulatives.
Manipulatives that should be provided to students in Kindergarten include both ready-made materials (such as unifix cubes, counters, magnet numbers, 2-D and 3-D shapes, pattern blocks, base ten blocks, dice, deck of cards, and so on) and teacher-made materials (five and ten frames, dot plates, popsicle sticks, and so on). By having a variety of manipulatives out for students, they will begin to understand that there exist many different ways in which to represent the same math idea using different models, which will then aid them in better understanding math relationships (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 18). In addition, by having a variety of manipulatives available for students, they will have the opportunity to explore different math concepts such as patterning with unifix cubes, number sense with counters, ten frames, an abacus, number line, measuring with a scale, containers, non-standards rulers (such as a bead ruler), probability with dice, data management with surveys, t-charts, tally charts, and geometry with different 2-D and 3-D shapes, blocks, and so on.
Lakeshore. 2017. Math Manipulatives. [Online Image]. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2s0njzB.
One way in which to use math manipulatives in the Kindergarten classroom is to set them out as provocations for students, along with a thought-provoking question in order for students to develop an understanding of how particular math manipulatives can be used or how a variety of different manipulatives could be used to represent the same math concept. For instance, teachers could lay out rulers, student-made bead rulers, and unifix cubes out on a table and ask students how they can use these tools to measure objects around the room, or what objects are smaller or larger than these tools. Based off of this provocation students develop an understanding of standard and non-standard units of measure and an understanding that there are many strategies that can be used to measure and compare the length of an object.
Math manipulatives are important for making math both meaningful and visible for students and can lead to discussions and sharing of ideas (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 19). Manipulatives are also essential for inquiry in math as students are able to use manipulatives to go through the steps of inquiry including asking a question, hypothesizing, testing out their strategies, revising them, and sharing their math inquiry findings with their peers (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 19).
Teachers should always select manipulatives that are appropriate for the students' developmental level and sometimes explicitly teach how to use them and refer to them by their appropriate name in order for students to develop math vocabulary (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 20). For example, when teaching students on how to use ten frames to count, the teacher should explicitly verbalize and show his or her thinking to students in order to model appropriate math problem-solving strategies and encourage math talk (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, p. 21).
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