We have been working hard this month on our addition math study unit…we have used many different manipulatives such as marbles and unifix cubes to learned the fundamentals of addition. According to learning theory based on psychologist Jean Piaget’s research, children are active learners who master math concepts by progressing through three levels of knowledge–concrete, pictorial, and abstract. When children use manipulatives it allows them to explore addition at the concrete level. When students manipulate objects to solve addition problems, they are taking the first steps toward building understanding and internalizing math processes and procedures. They will then use the base knowledge to develop more sophisticated problem-solving strategies in the future.
