FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION

SEMESTER V (MAY 2013)

HBMT 2103 V2

TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS PART 1

MATRICULATION NUMBER IDENTITY CARD NUMBER STUDENT NAME PHONE NUMBER E-MAIL TUTORS NAME

: : : : : :

811109125907001 811109-12-5907 GODFREY CHU SIM TSIN 017-8279128 godfrey5907@gmail.com CHOOI YU WEN

LEARNING CENTRE

SANDAKAN Learning Center

CONTENTS No. 1.0 2.0 INTRODUCTION SIGNIFICANCE OF USING MANIPULATIVES IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS 3.0 CONTENT 1 (MANIPULATIVES AND TOPICS SELECTED) 3.1 4.0 MANIPULATIVES AND TOPICS SELECTED 7 7-10 11 - 15 CONTENTS PAGE 3 5-6

CONTENT 2 (ACTIVITIES PERTAINING THE MANIPULATIVES CHOSEN)

5.0

CONTENT 3 (SUGGESTIONS ON WAYS TO PROMOTE SUCCESSFUL LEARNING USING MANIPULATIVES)

16 - 17 17 18 19

6.0

CONCLUSION References

2|Page

1.0

INTRODUCTION Mathematics manipulatives can be defined as any or various objects or materials such as

blocks, flashcards and other types of concrete things that students can touch, feel and move around with in order to assist them in learning mathematics lesson and mathematical concepts in the classroom. Manipulatives provides young children the opportunity to use and practice their mathematical skills while playing, handling and using attractive hands-on items. These miniature versions of concrete objects usually come in a large variety of colours, shapes and textures that would attract childrens interests and provide a medium of activities for them to build both the reasoning and mathematical concepts. When these manipulative used alone in the teaching and learning process, young children can learn important mathematical concepts, indirectly develop verbal-reasoning skills and will be able grasp clearly the concepts of colour and size. In conjunction with simple mathematics worksheets or verbal problems that maybe faced by some children, manipulative are seen as the host to promote and activate kinesthetic learning among children (learning through the sense of touch). Teachers that teach young elementary children should bear in mind that every child learns in their own style and pace. Therefore, the usage of manipulative in teaching mathematics can be seen as a helpful way for teachers to enforce the concept that they wanted to teach to children. The manipulatives can be used in creative ways by teachers to assist them in the teaching and learning process. It is dependent on the creativity of the teachers in maximizing the effectiveness of the manipulatives provided. Manipulatives can be used by teachers to conduct: a) Exploration activities- Teacher chooses suitable manipulatives which provide young learners to create, come up and devise their own activities and games. This will encourage children to interact and build familiarity with the objects that are given to them. b) Sorting activities- These sorts of activities are require teachers to use manipulatives with common attributes (size, shape and colour). Teacher can utilize these types of manipulatives by first asking young learners to sort the manipulatives according to colours. Once children have sorted out according to the correct colours, then ask them to re-sort to another attribute such as size or shape. These kinds of activities will help build visual discrimination and reasoning skills among children.
3|Page

c) Creating Patterns Manipulatives can be used to teach students to create patterns. Teach chidren to sort and create patterns using manipulatives with various attributes. It is always advisable to begin with colour attribute. Encourage young learners to work together in small groups to build a long sequence of alternating colors. This will enhance students creativity and help foster better social skill with their peers. d) Quantity Manipulatives are great ways to teach students the quantity concept. Provide to each young learner a number card. Ask them to find the amount of manipulatives shown on the card. As the skills develop, teacher can make the activities more challenging by combining specific attributes such as find 5 big circles blocks or find 6 square blocks. e) Comparing Quantities A great way for teacher to use manipulatives is to explore the concepts of more or less by comparing groups of manipulatives. Ask young learners to create a group of three objects and a group of six objects. Then ask them to identify which group belongs to more and which one belongs to less. This activity can be carried out groups or individually. f) Counting The easiest usage of manipulatives is to help teach children to count objects. Many young learners, slow learners still face the difficulty to count correctly and having problems to understand what numbers represent. Counting objects (manipulatives) provides a hands-on activity and approach to teach them the concept of number correspondence. Those are only a few of the ways how teacher could use manipulatives to teach mathematics in class. There are surely a lot more ways and functions that a teacher could make use of manipulatives to teach students. It all depends on the creativity of the teacher and the level of the students. Teachers should not limit themselves to only think and use manipulatives which

4|Page

are ready made. Any simple object that can be best associated to students can be used to help teach the mathematical concept and help teachers present the lesson better.

Picture 1: Mathematics Manipulatives Source: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productImages 2.0 SIGNIFICANCE OF USING MANIPULATIVES IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS In elementary school, young learners tend to learn a lot of the basic mathematical concepts. Therefore, it is very crucial that teacher help students grasp the important basic mathematical concepts before they reach higher grades. Mathematics manipulatives is one way to help teachers build this into students. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), stated that manipulatives help young learners learn by allowing them to move from concrete experiences to abstract reasoning. When young learners start to use and manipulate concrete objects, it is where the process of understanding of mathematics processes and procedures starts. Further study from the council also proved that the usage of mathematics manipulatives in the classroom will also assist the teacher in the teaching and learning process, through holding the children's attention for a
5|Page

longer span. By interacting and manipulating concrete manipulatives, young learners will become more focused and they will be able to retain more information, rather than a teacher giving lecture on a certain topic. Various researches done in several countries had concluded that when manipulatives are put to good use, it will be able to increase the achievement of students in mathematics. This is supported by the facts that when children work with manipulatives, their long-term and shortterm retention towards mathematical concepts improved. Cain-Castons (1996) research indicates that using manipulatives helps improve the environment in mathematics classrooms. When students work with manipulatives and then are given a chance to reflect on their experiences, not only is mathematical learning enhanced, but mathematics anxiety is also greatly reduced. On the other hand, Kenneth Chang (2008) examined the work of research scientist Jennifer Kaminski and found that children better understand mathematics concepts when they use concrete examples. By using mathematics manipulatives effectively in the classroom, they will also indirectly improve the motor skills of the students because they are required to touch, feel and move the objects around. In addition, it will enable them to release extra energy from the young learners which may prevent them from focusing during class time. However, various concerns have been brought up regarding the usage of mathematics manipulatives tools in the classroom. Some teachers and parents feel that by using such tools will detract the teacher's ability to teach properly. Some voiced out that the young learners would get confused and mixed up in the concept and topics that they learn and some tools in some cases may pose hindrance to learning and encourages students to play instead of learning most of the time. That is why it is important for teachers to select suitable tools and manipulatives that would encourage learning and which are suitable for the students level.

6|Page

3.0

CONTENT 1 (MANIPULATIVES AND TOPICS SELECTED) For this assignment, I have selected two manipulatives that have impacted positively to

teach two topics chosen. The topics that I chose are ADDITION, which focus on addition without regrouping and addition with regrouping, and SUBTRACTION, which focus on subtraction as take away and subtraction with regrouping. 3.1 MANIPULATIVES AND TOPICS SELECTED

Manipulatives: Dried beans, Place value workmat, Popsicle sticks, Paper cups, Crackers, Deck of cards (with J,Q,K and Joker cards removed) and Spinning Wheel. Topics: Activity 1 - Addition (Addition without regrouping) Activity 2 Addition (Addition with regrouping) Activity 3 Subtraction (Subtraction as take away) Activity 4- Subtraction (Subtraction without regrouping) Justification for using the manipulatives selected: Dried Beans: Easy to find from supermarkets. Teacher can use it again and again. Comes with variety of colours. This is an easy to use manipulatives to teach the topics of ADDITION and SUBTRACTION.

Picture 2: Dried Beans Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090204131621.htm

7|Page

Place Value Work mat: A must if teacher want to teach both topics, especially when it comes to addition with regrouping and subtraction with regrouping. Easily prepared from coloured papers and also teacher only need to prepare it once nicely and can be reused for many other topics.

Picture 3: Place Value Workmat Source: http://msdurning.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Popsicle Sticks: Popsicle sticks are famous and yet easy to obtained. Teachers can ask students to bring them to school or simply buy from any convenience store. It is a cheap and easy manipulatives to come by and it promotes the habit of reusing of used objects. Teacher can tie in bunches of tens sticks to symbolize the place value for tens when teaching either addition or subtraction topics.

8|Page

Picture 4: Popsicle Sticks Source: http://thethriftycouple.com/2010/10/21/thrifty-kids-thursday-homemade-puzzleswith-popsicle-sticks/ Spinning Wheel: An easy to create object that will definitely bring a lot of fun to the learning environment. Teacher can easily make one from cardboard. The aim of this spinning wheel is to give students the chance to spin the wheel and create two numbers to be used as the problem or question when they are doing either addition or subtraction. This is a fun way where teacher does not have to create questions beforehand but let students randomly generate questions through the numbers they have.

Picture 5: Spinning Wheel Source: http://taylor-rental.com/catalog/product/24908/wheel-of-fortune-spinning-wheel Deck of cards: A deck of cards is easy to come by and readily available to the teacher. Teacher however must explain that it is not a gambling lesson to prevent students from
9|Page

getting the wrong idea. It is a fun way where students can draw numbers to represent or create a mathematical problem pertaining Addition and Subtraction. Teacher also must remove the J,Q,K and Joker cards from the deck.

Picture 6: Deck of Cards Source:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=ms&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=936&q=de ck+of+cards&oq=deck+of+cards&gs_l=img.3..0i19l10.599.2389.0.2565.13.9.0.4.4.0.99.726.9.9.0...0.0.0.. 1ac.1.17.img.AEwgbj5guSU#facrc=_&imgrc=hGpTitFsJDMjvM%3A%3BhnyxNsug3hIjM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmath.hws.edu%252Fjavanotes%252Fc13%252Fcards.png%3Bhttp%253A %252F%252Fmath.hws.edu%252Fjavanotes%252Fc13%252Fs1.html%3B1027%3B615

10 | P a g e

4.0

CONTENT 2 (ACTIVITIES PERTAINING THE MANIPULATIVES CHOSEN)

Activity 1 Topic: Addition (Addition without regrouping), two digits addition without regrouping. Manipulatives Needed: Popsicle Sticks, Dried Beans Place Value work mat, Deck of Cards Target Group: Intermediate to low level achievement students. Before the activity: Ensure students know the concept of tens and ones. Strategy: 1. Review place values with students making sure that they understand the concept of tens and ones using the place value work mat. 2. Teacher tells students that the manipulatives used are popsicle sticks which represent tens and dried beans represent ones. Explain to students that the ones column in the work mat must be added first before going to the tens columns. 3. Let student draws a card from the deck. Make sure higher numbers are removed from the deck to make sure numbers picked can be added without regrouping. Example student picked the number 4 and 5. Ask students to write down number 4 in the tens column and 5 in the ones column of their worksheet. Tell the students to put the manipulatives in the work mat (4 Popsicle sticks into Tens column and 5 dried beans in Ones column). 4. Student picked 2 numbers again from the deck for a second time. This time the number will be on the second row. Make sure the numbers picked can be added without regrouping. Lets say the student picked 3 and 4. Ask the student to write the numbers on the second row and put the manipulatives to the correct columns respectively.
45 +34 79

5. Ask the students to count the Ones column first by counting the number of beans, which is 9 and then counting the total Popsicle sticks, which is 7. Ask them to write the answers in the worksheet. Repeat steps for one or two more examples so that students understand the concept. After the activity: Give worksheets so that students can solve the problems on their own.
11 | P a g e

Activity 2 Topic: Addition (Addition with regrouping), two digit addition with regrouping. Manipulatives Needed: Dried beans, Place Value work mat, Paper cup and Spinning Wheel Target Group: Intermediate to low level achievement students. Before the activity: Revise place values with students to ensure they know and understand the concept of tens and ones and know the concept addition without regrouping. Strategy: 1. Divide the students into groups. Revise with them using the place value work mat on place values. Explain that the ones column must be added first and tens column must be added later. 2. Teacher puts 10 dried beans into a paper cup and each cup represent tens and must be put in the 10s column in the work mat. Shows students an example by spinning the wheel 2 times to get the first number for the math problem. Example it gets 3 and 2. 32 is the first number. Spin the wheel again two times for the second time to get the second number to be written below the first number. Lets say 1 and 9. 19 is the second number. Write the mathematical problem which in this example is 32+19.
32 +19 51

3. Teacher use 3 cups and 2 beans to represent the first number and 1 cup and 9 beans with the second number. Ask students to count 10 beans from the 1s column and put them into a cup. The cup goes into the 10s column. Now there are 5 cups and 1 bean, so the answer is 51. Show another example to make sure students understand the concept. 4. Let students try spinning the wheel and create their own mathematical problem pertaining addition with regrouping, asking them to write down each set of numbers on a piece of paper. Let several students try it to get a few questions. After the activity: After students understand the concept, give them a worksheet with questions and teach them a few examples so that they can solve the problems on their own.

12 | P a g e

Activity 3 Topic: Subtraction (Subtraction as take away). Manipulatives Needed: Crackers, paper plates and Popsicle sticks. Target Group: Intermediate to low level achievement students. Before the activity: Ensure that there are no allergic cases when using food as manipulatives and make sure that the snack items are halal for all students. Justification: Young learners, especially children love food items. It will instill fun and help students to learn in a meaningful way. Strategy: 1. Have students work in groups of 4. Explains to students that they will be learning a mathematical concept using food (crackers). Then, give to each student several crackers, for example 7 to each student. 2. Teacher draws a table on the whiteboard/blackboard and introduces the concept start with, takes away and has left to the students. The table is as below.
Start With Take Away Have Left

3. Teacher then asks students to manipulate their crackers and pretend that they will eat 3 of the crackers. Ask them how many they start with and if they take away 3, how many is left? Ask each student to give respond. Allow them to actually eat the crackers if their answers are correct. Teacher records the results in a chart.
Chart Name Ali Ahmad Siti Start With 7 7 7 Ate 3 3 3 Have Left 4 4 4

13 | P a g e

4. Teacher repeats the concept by giving each group 10 Popsicle sticks. Again teacher asks the students in the group to take away some Popsicle sticks from the 10 Popsicle sticks, lets say 5. Ask them to say the mathematical sentence, 10 take away 5, 5 is left. Repeat with several examples until students fully understand the concept. 5. This method implies that children are learning through story problems. Repeat the process as needed using the chart taught to them. Print out the chart as worksheets. Tell students to solve problems as teacher read outs to them and let them work with the manipulatives. Example: Starts with 8, take away 3, how many is left?
Start With Take Away Have Left

6. After learning the concept of taking away, teacher teaches the algorithm of subtraction. Teacher must show examples and make sure that the students fully understand the concept given.

14 | P a g e

Activity 4 Topic: Subtraction (Subtraction Algorithm- without regrouping). Manipulatives Needed: Dried Beans, Place Value work mat Target Group: Intermediate to low level achievement students. Before the activity: Ensure that students understand the basic concept of subtraction and make sure to review again on the place value concept. Strategy: 1. Before starting to teach students the algorithm for subtraction, teacher should have at least taught the students the concept of subtraction. Easiest example would be subtraction as take away as stated earlier in the activity above. 2. Have students work in groups. Show to them the place value work mat and make sure they already know which column to solve first. It must always be the Ones column first before the Tens column. 3. Write a mathematical problem, example 38 24 on the board. Introduce the subtraction algorithm that is writing the first number or the bigger number on the first row and the smaller number on the second row. Have students look at the place value work mat. Have students arrange according to the first row, 3 dried beans in the Tens column of the work mat and 8 dried beans on the Ones column. 4. Now have students look at the second number, which are 24. From the dried beans arranged on the work mat, have students remove 4 beans from the Ones column, and 3 beans from the Tens column respectively. Now ask them to count the number of beans left on the work mat. They should get the answer 14. 5. Repeat several times until students fully understand the concept. Remember to teach the student the correct algorithm when subtracting. Always remind them the bigger number should always be in the first row when it comes to subtraction without regrouping. 6. Gives worksheet and exercises as needed.

15 | P a g e

5.0

CONTENT 3 (SUGGESTIONS ON WAYS TO PROMOTE SUCCESSFUL

LEARNING USING MANIPULATIVES) Manipulatives as defined are concrete objects that students or young learners can touch, feel and move around with, that would help them better learn a concept or topic taught by the teacher. Manipulatives come in many forms and types and it all depends on the teacher to utilize which one is better to be used in the process of teaching and learning. To promote successful learning using manipulatives in the mathematics class, the first aspect to consider for the teacher is to use varieties of concrete objects with different shapes, sizes and colours. Teacher should not only stick to one or two manipulatives the whole year to teach in his or her class. The aim of using manipulatives is to increase students attention to the lesson or concept presented. Young children get bored fast, so varieties of manipulatives will definitely help them retain their attention and help them learn in a fun way. For example, I have chosen dried beans, Popsicle sticks, snacks, spinning wheel and deck of cards to teach both the addition and subtraction topics. The varieties used will definitely help students to learn in a meaningful way and they do not get bored to only one type of manipulatives used. Second aspect to consider is the type of manipulatives used. Teachers should introduced manipulatives that are easy to handle, familiar to students and easy to be prepared by teacher. If students have difficulty to handle the manipulatives, they will definitely have problems to understand and make connection to the concept taught. In addition, if the manipulatives used are hard to prepare, the teacher will also face difficulty in presenting the lesson well. For example, I have chosen Popsicle sticks and dried beans as the main manipulatives for my lesson. These 2 items are pretty easy to come by or bought in supermarkets. Students are familiar with them and they can bring the items to school as well. This will also instill in them the recycling value. Plus, the items selected have reuse value. It can be used not only in one topic, but many other topics given. Next, manipulatives should be used creatively and used as game to students. When students use manipulatives and had fun with it, they are learning in a meaningful way and easier for them to make connections to the concept presented by the teacher. In the example given, I have chosen to use spinning wheel and also deck of cards. This encourages students to take
16 | P a g e

active part. Each of them wanted to try to spin the wheel or pick the cards from the deck. This enables them to have fun and also learn meaningfully at the same time. However, teacher should bear in mind to control and make sure that the students are learning properly, not indulging in games alone. Often the biggest problem to promote successful usage of manipulatives in school is the amount of manipulatives itself. Some school may not have the budget to buy enough manipulatives to cater to the needs on the students in school. To promote this, the manipulatives can be prepared from used and simple objects. Objects such as Popsicle sticks, paper clips, dried beans and marbles are often overlooked as a useful tool that the teacher could utilize in class. These simple items may look simple but they are very useful to teach many concepts. Not only they are easy to come by, but it also can be easily reused to teach other concepts in the mathematics lesson. It all depends on the teachers creativity to come up with varieties of manipulatives from used and simple objects. This will help the school to save budget and instill the recycling culture in school. 6.0 CONCLUSION Although the Mathematics subject is considered an important subject in the ancient period up until today, still it does not seem to be of interest to many students. The reason behind the problem is identified to be the gap that existed between aspiration and achievement in the mathematics subjects among students. Mathematics is considered a highly abstract subject. It is often related with ideas rather than concrete manipulatives or concrete objects; related with symbols and signs rather than the manipulation of objects. It is a structure in which ideas are interrelated and interrelated with not only one concept but with other concepts as well. Its concepts are like building a house, with each concepts building upon each other. Unless students master the lower-level concepts, it is very difficult for them to understand the higher-level concepts. If they are able to discover the basic structures of mathematics, they often can make connection and contradict the way the concepts are related and are able to see how new techniques or solving problems can be derived from what they have learned.

Teaching of the mathematics subject does not only require the computational know how of the subject among the teachers. It is also widely connected and concerned with how the teacher
17 | P a g e

select the mathematical content and link it to its application. So teachers must always bear in mind to select the teaching methods, strategies and pedagogic resources (manipulatives) that would help in gaining students responses.

In a nutshell, the process of teaching and learning mathematics is a complex activity. Many factors determine the success of this activity. The types of manipulatives chosen and used, the presentation of concepts, the teachers pedagogical skills, the teaching and learning environment, the students motivations are all important factors that must be considered to ensure a meaningful teaching and learning of mathematics.

18 | P a g e

References

Bennett, A. B. Jr. and Nelson. L. T. (2004). Mathematics for elementary teachers: An activity approah. 6th ed. USA: McGraw-Hill. Bhatia, K. (1992) Identification and Remedy of Difficulties in Learning Fractions with Programmed Instructional Material. Indian Educational Review, 27(3). 102-106. Canny, M. E. (1984) The Relationship of Manipulative Materials to Achievement in Three Areas of Fourth-Grade Mathematics: Computation, Concept Development and Problem Solving. Dissertation-Abstracts International, 45 A. 775-776. Copeland, R. W. (1970) How Children Learn Mathematics: Teaching Implications of Piagets Research. Toronto: The Macmillan Company. Ducharme, R. E. & Ducharme, M. K. (1999) Using Teacher Reflective Practice to Evaluate Professional Development in Maths and Science. Journal of Teacher Education. 50 (1). 42. Dutta, A. (1990) Learning Disability in the Reasoning Power of the Students in Geometry. An Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Kalyani. In J. P. Sharma Kennedy, L.M., Tipps, S., and Johnson, A. (2004). Guiding childrens learning of mathematics. 10th ed. USA: Wadsworth. Matthew, B., Sallie H, & Anna W. (2009). Using Manipulatives to Teach Elementary Mathematics. Retrieved July 8, 2013 from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/10451.pdf Two Digit Subtraction With and Without Regrouping. Retrieved July 9, 2013 from http://www.nsa.gov/academia/_files/collected_learning/elementary/arithmetic/twodigit_subtraction.pdf

19 | P a g e