Learning through Math Manipulatives

Math Manipulatives. What an interesting term. I wish I got to hear it when I was in school. 

Math has always been so painful for the majority of people. Many students hate their math class, mainly for two reasons, it is hard and boring. You sit at your desks, listen to the teacher talk - you probably don’t understand much - then you go home, do your homework and get assessed a couple days later. Then the cycle just repeats. I believe making math hands-on can solve both concerns of it being hard and boring. Math manipulatives will make it fun for everyone because instead of using a pencil and paper, you use different tools and “games”. This makes it seem less hard because it is interactive and you can visually see the progress you are making towards the solution to the problem. 

In class there were 3 math manipulatives that stood out to me. A lot of students can recognize different types of shapes but

a lot of them also would not be able to make a shape out of
other shapes. For example, using two trapezoids and 3
triangles to make a larger triangle. Having shapes to help
illustrate this concept helps with three possible things:

1) recognizing/identifying different types of shapes

2) making a larger shape out of multiple smaller ones

3) working with fractions visually

Small blocks help students build anything. This helps in so many different  such as integers, patterns, shapes, area, perimeter, etc. They are so easy to use but provide such a huge impact in student learning. This makes tasks more interactive and fun. Doing this in groups is also a good idea because then students can help each other if needed. These blocks also allow students to think outside the box and come up with creative ideas they may not have thought about if they did not have the blocks. Students will also look forward to coming to class and learning if they are aware they will get to do

hands-on activities directly related to their learning.  

Being able to use algebraic tiles is so essential. Polynomials is such a huge concept in high school as you use them throughout all your school years but it is also important in elementary school when understanding algebra. They are useful in terms of understanding how to build polynomials with different variables and collect like terms. But when it comes to high school, they are extremely helpful for factoring. The opposite of this is expanding which can also be done with these tiles. They allow students to physically break apart a polynomial. This also helps students understand integers which a lot of students struggle with. 




Teachers NEED to incorporate math manipulatives into everyday math classrooms to meet the needs of all students and fit their learning styles. This also makes math different and unique which is important so that students do not feel bored or feel it is too difficult. Something to think about. 

Highly Effective Yet Unfortunately Unknown Math Courses

Last class really got me thinking about what different high school classes there are out there. I didn’t even know there was a course called Mathematics: Workplace and Everyday Life which is interesting because this would seem to be the most useful and realistic but most students do not take it or know about it. I almost feel it should be a required course because it teaches you about exactly what it says - everyday things in the workplace. Students attending university will almost never take this course which is CRAZY because they all graduate but don’t have the skills to do everyday tasks like taxes for example. 

I also got a chance to think about which courses I would like to teach versus which ones I wouldn’t like to teach. This was interesting for me because I never thought about which one I wouldn’t want to teach but in reality that might be the one I have to teach some point in my career. So it was a big eye opener for me, to really understand what classes I will potentially be teaching. I would love to teach Everyday Life in the Workplace so I can learn the skills I missed out on. I feel it would be a very interesting course to be apart of.

The curriculums are very packed. I’m sort of worried if I’ll be able to teach my students all the concepts and have them understand it procedurally and conceptually. When I was in school I learned everything procedurally so it will be hard for me to explain things conceptually. That is something I will have to work on but let’s leave that for another day. Below is all the math courses you can enroll in, 3 of which I did not know existed. 

About Me

I love math. Why? Well, because I am at good at it. You tend to like things you are good at. Math has always been easy for me and I almost never had to spend long hours studying. My friends always hated the fact that they would study double or triple the amount I did but I would get better grades. This "easiness" has been the drive for me to continue an education in Mathematics. The thing is, math in my fourth year became extremely hard for me which led me to stop there. Why? Well, it is simple really, I was no longer good at it. The crazy part is, that was the best thing that ever happened to me, not being able to understand math. This is because I started tutoring and teaching students the math I did know and that I was good at and realized I LOVE teaching math.

The discussions I had in class today really did not surprise me at all. I know that for students to understand concepts you must teach them in many, many, many different ways. What seems obvious to you really is not obvious to them. I know that you should be figuring out how a student got a solution wrong rather than just telling them they are wrong like Deborah Ball said so wonderfully. What did shock me though was the amount of DIFFERENT solutions there are to a problem. As a teacher you are bound to come across a correct solution from a student that will make absolute no sense to you but is completely and entirely correct. This is so surprising for me because we think we know everything and every way to get the solution to a problem but we do not. I am excited to see what more I learn from this course, it is by far my favourite class. Why? Well, because I am good at it.