Virtual Manipulatives: Inquiry Learning

This is the fourth in a series of seven posts sharing reasons virtual manipulatives should be the cornerstone of interactive content in the classroom including specific practical examples.  (The previous posts can be viewed here:  Part 1-Visualizing, Part 2-Explore Difficult Concepts, Part 3-Access Materials/Added Value)

Virtual manipulatives help students learn through inquiry by providing teachers with easily adjustable visual tools.  Students can test their ideas, explore the effects of changing variables and formulate theories based on results.

Below are three manipulatives that help students learn through inquiry.

 Area and Perimeter Relationship

Students investigate and form theories about the relationship between area and perimeter by changing one variable and observing the resulting change in the other.

http://staff.argyll.epsb.ca/jreed/math9/strand3/area_rectangles.htm

Kids and Cookies

Students explore the concept of fractions by sharing cookies equally between different numbers of students.  Both “fraction of a group” and “fraction of a whole” concepts can be explored.

http://www.teacherlink.org/content/math/interactive/flash/kidsandcookies/kidcookie.php

The Pumpkin Patch

Students group and sort pumpkins into their own self-created categories.

http://www.meddybemps.com/halloween/pumpkin03.html

Virtual Manipulatives: Access Materials/Added Value

This is the third in a series of seven posts sharing reasons virtual manipulatives should be the cornerstone of interactive content in the classroom including specific practical examples.  (The previous posts can be viewed here:  Part 1-Visualizing, Part 2-Explore DifficultConcepts)

Unlike hands-on math manipulatives, virtual manipulatives are found online.  While this means students are unable to touch the manipulatives, online versions of common manipulatives can be beneficial in other ways.  Classroom budgets don’t always allow us to purchase all the tool and resources we need.  Online manipulatives are an inexpensive (and usually free) way to supplement your manipulative supplies.  So, if you can’t afford a classroom set of fraction tiles or if a fellow teacher is using the school’s set when you need them, an online version can be used in its place.

Online manipulatives, when paired with an interactive whiteboard or projector, help all students in the classroom have an equal opportunity to see the manipulative without huddling around a table.

Online manipulatives also provide added value.  They often have features that can be turned on and off and have added learning opportunities that are not possible with traditional hands-on manipulatives.  The virtual clocks shared below include the ability show both digital and analog time as well as sunrise and sunset to assist in a discussion of AM and PM.

Below are four manipulatives that help students by adding value or providing access to materials.

Telling Time:  Virtual Clock

Advance the hands on the analog clock to watch the sun and moon rise and set.  Reveal and hide the digital time.

http://www.time-for-time.com/swf/myclox.swf

Advance the hands on the analog clock.  Reveal and hide the time in word form and the digital time.

http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/Math_Games/Jude_e-Clock/clock.htm

Place Value Cards

Create three digit numbers, separate them into values, and display their representative base ten blocks.

http://www.mathsnet.net/cruncher/placevalue.html

Platonic Solids

Rotate and count the faces, edges, and vertices of the five Platonic Solids.  Watch each solid fold and unfold from its net

http://www.learner.org/interactives/geometry/platonic.html

Virtual Manipulatives: Explore Difficult Concepts

This is the second in a series of seven posts sharing reasons virtual manipulatives should be the cornerstone of interactive content in the classroom including specific practical examples.  (The previous post can be viewed here:  Part 1-Visualizing)

Virtual manipulatives help students to explore difficult concepts in depth.  They help to make abstract concepts concepts more easily understandable with visual tools.  A classic example is using base ten blocks to illustrate “regrouping” in a multi-digit addition or subtraction algorithm.  

Below are three manipulatives that help students explore difficult concepts.

Hopping Number Line

Explore basic addition, subtraction or skip counting by hopping an animal along a number line.

http://www.eduplace.com/cgi-bin/schtemplate.cgi?template=/kids/mw/manip/mn_popup.thtml&filename=nmbl_prim&title=Number%20Line&grade=K

 

Bounded Fraction Pointer

Practice comparing and ordering fractions, simplifying fractions, or finding equivalent fractions on a number line that adjusts instantly.  Create fractions visually and then watch them plotted on the number line.

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/BoundFractionPointer

Multiplication Arrays

Explore multiplication by viewing arrays paired with the traditional algorithm and with the lattice method.

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_192_g_2_t_1.html

See You in Philadelphia!

Like many of my fellow educators, I will be traveling to ISTE in Philadelphia next week.  Here is my schedule of events so we can connect if you are in the area and would like to talk about digital content in your classroom.

At these live demonstrations, I will be sharing StarrMatica's interactive content and giving away school memberships!

Monday the 27th, Numonics Booth #3037, 3 pm

Tuesday the 28th, Numonics Booth #3037,
10 am and 3 pm

eInstruction Booth, #803, 1:30 pm

Wednesday the 29th, Numonics Booth #3037,
10 am
 

Hope to meet you in person!  Travel safely!

The Interactive Content Cornerstone: Virtual Manipulatives

Every time I use the term virtual manipulatives outside the education community, my gaze is met with blank stares and funny looks. Being a teacher, “education speech” comes naturally to me, and I often forget that not everyone is a member of the club. Virtual manipulatives is a term that I always stop to explain to whomever I am speaking because virtual manipulatives are an integral part of using interactive content in the classroom effectively. I refer to manipulatives as online objects that can be moved and explored to help students understand concepts. A few examples would be base ten blocks, fraction bars and multiplication arrays.

As teachers begin to use interactive content in the classroom, I encourage them to use content that has already been created as a starting point for designing interactive lessons rather than starting from scratch to create their own content. I suggest this for three reasons:

1. It helps both tech-savvy and non-tech savvy-teachers begin to use interactive technologies right out of the box without having to spend time learning to use new content-creation software.

2. It increases teacher planning time by allowing them to focus on designing an effective lesson around the content rather than spending time with design elements of the content. ie: Teachers should be figuring out what questions to ask their students to guide their exploration of a manipulative rather than worrying about text size and finding appropriate graphics.

3. Teachers cannot create manipulatives with the same graphics and interactivity programmers can.  They simply don't have the same tools and skill set.  And, manipulatives with those elements are an essential part of using interactive technologies effectively. (These points will be well evidenced throughout this series of posts.)

This is the first in a series of seven posts sharing specific practical examples of reasons virtual manipulatives should be the cornerstone of interactive content in the classroom.
Virtual Manipulatives Help Students Visualize Concepts

Virtual manipulatives help students visualize abstract concepts. Using manipulatives for this purpose allows students to learn through inquiry and to explore a concept in a way that is not possible without the manipulative.

An obvious math example is base-ten blocks. These virtual manipulatives allow students to visualize the “sizes” of numbers indicated by their places in our number system. Below are three additional manipulatives that help students visualize concepts.

Mega Penny Project

Students explore images in this manipulative to help them visualize the size of large numbers using groups of pennies in relation to other objects.

Visualizing Percentages 

Students visualize the size of percentages by viewing different objects.

Alphabet Symmetry

Students explore line symmetry by folding letters and symbols vertically and horizontally.