Lesson 13: Use of Manipulatives

Challenge

Developing a game that has instructional value is challenging so there may be instances when instead of creating a new one, you would adapt an existing game but modify it a bit to meet your learning goal. The following activity will challenge your creativity as you think of ways to modify the game presented in Experience.

1. Modify the game presented in Experience. How will you change the mechanics to target subtraction of fractions?

2. A game like the one presented in Experience requires materials. If resources are limited, how would you modify the game to make it a group activity so that fewer materials need to be prepared?

Develop a mathematical game that has instructional value. This activity will b part of the learning portfolio which you will compile at the end of this module.

Topic:____

Materials:

Mechanics:

Summary

Game-based learning is a strategy that takes advantage of children's love fc games. Applying this strategy is good in reducing math anxiety.

Objective

Develop a manipulative to aid mathematical instruction

Intro duction

Mathematics is an abstract subject which is the reason why many students find it difficult. One way to concretize mathematics for young learners is through the use of manipulatives.

T h i n k

Manipulatives are concrete objects like blocks, tiles, and geometric figures, that students can interact with (touch and move) in order to develop conceptual understanding of mathematics concepts. Use of manipulatives is not at all new; manipulatives have helped people learn mathematics since ancient times. Forexample, the early Chinese had the abacus and the Incas used knotted strings called quipo to aid in counting. In modern times, educators Friedrich Froebel and Maria Montessori were the ones who advanced the use of manipulatives in classroom instruction. At present in the Philippines, the DepEd mathematics curriculum calls for manipulatives to be used in teaching a variety of competencies.

Aside from helping the students acquire a deeper understanding of mathematics, the use of manipulatives also gives you, the teacher, the chance to genuinely assess their students' mathematical thinking. You can move around, observe, and take note of students' discussions and ways of manipulating. Moving around will let you give immediate feedback and taking notes of observations will help you improve your future lesson.

One drawback in using manipulatives is that it may cause confusion, especially to struggling students, if they are not presented with proper guidance and instruction from the teacher. Moreover, careless use of manipulatives might result in students believing that there are two different worlds of mathematics—the manipulative and the symbolic. It is, therefore, importantthattheteachercarefully plans howto integrate

manipulatives in classroom discussion in such a way that there is a smooth transition from concrete to abstract. Following are some guidelines in using manipulatives in the classroom.

1. Orient the students on how to use the manipulative. Give some time for the students to play with the manipulative. Allow them to explore the object and what they can do with it.

2. Give clear and specific instructions. State the goal of the activity and how the manipulative can help them achieve the goal.

3. While the students are at work, pay attention to their mathematical talk. Use their ideas to enhance the discussion that follows after the activity.

4. If some students are struggling, ask them "why" and "how" questions to scaffold their way through the activity.

Many manipulatives are commercially available; the common ones are base 10 blocks (for learning value, place value, decimals, etc.), geoboards (for learning properties of plane figures), play money, and paper clock. However, you may also create manipulatives using readily available materials like popsicle sticks, buttons, boards, fasteners, etc. Making your own manipulatives is much cheaper and it gives you the benefit of customizing them according to your need.

Base 10 blocks G eoboards

E X P E R I E N C E

Below is an example of a do-it-yourself manipulative. It is a protractor customized for young children and useful for measuring angles of inclined surfaces. Using this manipulative will help primary students develop a sense of angle measure without the intricacies of using an actual protractor which is more suitable for older children.

1. Print out the following on a heavy-duty paper or a piece of cardboard.

2. Use a circular fastener to attach the arrow to the protractor. Make sure that the arrow is loose; it must be always facing downwards however the orientation of the protractor. .

How to use:

1. Align the straight part of the protractor to the inclined surface. 2. Allow the arrow to fall.

3. The measure to which the arrow points to is the measure of the angle of inclination.

In the example above, the angle of inclination is 609. Now the students will have an idea of how wide the opening of a 60-degree angle is.

A sse ss

Answer the following questions to verbalize your understanding of the use of manipulatives in mathematical instruction.

UNIT ill • INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES FOR MATHEMATICS IN THE PRIMARY GRADES | 87