Effectively Using Manipulatives in the Middle School Setting

Take a moment to think about your previous experiences using manipulatives in the classroom. Take a minute to share your experiences with your table or group.

What are manipulatives? Manipulatives are any tangible object, tool, model or mechanism designed to be moved or arranged by hand as a means of developing and demonstrating a depth of understanding, while problem solving, about a specific topic or topics. Manipulatives tap into the multiple intelligences most often demonstrated by adolescents: spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal.

Manipulatives can be concrete, such as a magnifying glass, string, measuring tape, coins, dice, algebra tiles, unit blocks, and word, sentence and paragraph sorts for affixes, roots, sentence structure and paragraph sequencing to name just a few. Manipulatives also can be virtual, such as computer software or an internet website that allows students to virtually manipulate objects and tools.

Manipulatives are Effective Tools Students who have experienced repeated failure with other approaches often succeed with manipulatives. Manipulatives seem like games, so they engage older students. Knowledge is gained when the learner takes in information and then manipulates it to make it uniquely his or her own. Manipulatives help students transfer understanding from the concrete to the abstract. Manipulatives encourage cooperation and strengthen social skills necessary for the workplace.

The human mind seeks out patterns and is capable of learning them and manipulating them. Educational manipulatives often highlight patterns. Instructional manipulatives can be used to discover patterns and relationships within existing knowledge and extend them to things yet to be learned. Using manipulatives may make the instruction period longer initially, but students retain the knowledge better and will require less review time later.

In Teaching Reading… Utilizing manipulatives and games to introduce and practice word structure concepts within more traditional phonemic awareness and phonics instruction effectively supports decoding and encoding ability. Teaching phonics within scaffolded applications (actually building and manipulating words) encourages students to formulate, test, and reaffirm their own phonetic “rules.”

Paragraph Sequencing

Suffixes Match-Up

In Teaching Math… Using manipulatives in teaching mathematics will help students: learn to relate real world situations to mathematics symbolism, work together cooperatively in solving problems, discuss mathematical ideas and concepts, verbalize their mathematics thinking, solve problems without teacher direction, and learn that there are many different ways to solve problems.

Algebra Tiles

Student Work

Unit Rods

Fraction Bars

Virtual Manipulative Websites / / grade=3 grade=3

How to Use Manipulatives Effectively Group Activity

Small Group Activity: the Essentials of Effectively Using Manipulatives What do you think is one important consideration when using manipulatives in your classroom? Think and discuss with your group. (5 minutes) In your small group, read and discuss the cards. (5 minutes) Sort and order the cards while considering the implementation of manipulatives. (10 minutes) There is not one correct order, but some should come before others! Tape and post your cards on poster paper. Whole group discussion and review of the results of each small group

Determine the standards and critical concepts that you are going to teach. Gather manipulatives that will illustrate your lesson. Write a lesson plan that includes an introduction to the concept, instructions for using manipulatives and an evaluation and assessment of learning at the end of the lesson. Include a review at the end of the lesson. Establish a set of criteria of expected outcomes, usually a rubric-style assessment tool. Practice using and demonstrating the manipulatives for the lesson. Post clear behavior expectations for using manipulatives with rules for specific activities. Students need clearly established criteria for effectively handling and using them.

Set up a system for storing materials. Make them accessible to students. For example, you may designate and label a space on a bookshelf or you may have them set up on tables before students enter the room. You may consider zip-lock bags with portioned materials for pairs or groups. Make sure manipulative sets are plentiful and complete. Allow students to explore manipulatives and discuss what they noticed. Students need an opportunity to become familiar with the manipulatives in order to discover their properties and limitations. This encourages cooperation, language development and risk-taking.

Discuss with students why manipulatives will help them learn. Discussion is essential for first-time users and helpful for students with experience. If students feel that manipulatives are only used by those who are so-called less able, they will develop a negative attitude toward them. Students quickly pick up on a teacher’s verbal and body language. Discuss behavior expectations for using manipulatives. Refer to them as tools and re-affirm their use consistently as needed during the lesson. Students need clearly established criteria for effectively handling and using them. Discuss the similarities and differences between manipulatives and toys. With toys, children can make their own rules, but with manipulatives, children are given specific problems and activities. Do make clear, however, that they are free to make discoveries and explore new ideas.

Model clearly, often and directly in order to help students see their relevance and usefulness in problem solving and communicating. Show students how to use the same manipulative in a variety of ways. For example, pattern blocks initially may be used to help students learn shapes and patterns, but later they may help them understand fractions. Encourage cooperation and discussion. Model and support discussion, risk-taking and creativity. Use continuously as part of a work station, work time, or class routine.

Thanks for your time! -Nancy Kells McNamara

References Jitendra, A. (2002). Teaching students math problem-solving through graphic representations. Teaching Exceptional Children, 34, Kamina, Penina and Iyer, Nithya N. (2009). From concrete to abstract: Teaching for transfer of learning when using manipulatives. NERA Conference Proceedings Paper 6. Kelly, C. (2006). Using manipulatives in mathematical problem solving: A performance-based analysis. The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, ISSN , Vol. 3, no. 2, Maccini, P. & Gagnon, J.C. (2000). Best practices for teaching mathematics to secondary students with special needs. Focis on Exceptional Children, McNiel, N. & Jarvin, L. (2007). When theories don’t add up: Disentangling the manipulatives debate. Theory Into Practice, 46, Spiegal, D. (1990). Decoding and comprehension games and manipulatives (Instructional Resources). Reading Teacher, 44, Woodward, J. & Montague, M. (2002). Meeting the challenge of mathematics reform for students with LD. Journal of Special Education, 36,