Virtual manipulatives in the K-12 classroom
Patricia S. Moyer, Johnna J. Bolyard, Mark A. Spikell · 2001
Innovations in technology, along with the growing prevalence of the Internet and its increasing availability in classrooms and homes throughout the world, have created a new class of manipulatives, These virtual offer a new, enhanced approach for teaching and learning mathematics using manipulatives and computers, one that combines the useful properties of existing manipulative programs while overcoming many of their disadvantages. Yet very little is known or written about them. The purpose of this paper is to establish a working definition of manipulatives and discuss unique properties that make them particularly useful for the K-12 classroom. (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. VIRTUAL MANIPULATIVES IN THE K-12 CLASSROOM Patricia S. Moyer pmoyei-Agmu.edu, Johnna J. Bolyard ijbolyardPNahoo.com, Mark A. Spikell [email protected] George Mason University Abstract: Innovations in technology, along with the growing prevalence of the Internet and its increasing availability in classrooms and homes throughout the world, have created a new class of manipulatives, These virtual offer a new, enhanced approach for teaching and learning mathematics using manipulatives and computers, one that combines the useful properties of existing manipulative programs while overcoming many of their disadvantages. Yet very little is known or written about them. The purpose of this paper is to establish a working definition of manipulatives and discuss unique properties that make them particularly useful for the K-12 classroom. Innovations in technology, along with the growing prevalence of the Internet and its increasing availability in classrooms and homes throughout the world, have created a new class of manipulatives, These virtual offer a new, enhanced approach for teaching and learning mathematics using manipulatives and computers, one that combines the useful properties of existing manipulative programs while overcoming many of their disadvantages. Yet very little is known or written about them. The purpose of this paper is to establish a working definition of manipulatives and discuss unique properties that make them particularly useful for the K-12 classroom. What are Virtual Manipulatives? No accepted, standard meaning or definition for the phrase manipulative currently exists. There is, however, some circumscription in the use of the phrase According to Clements and McMillan (1996) computer are programs that allow the user to manipulate representations of concrete objects, such as base-ten blocks or geoboards, on a screen. In addition to computerized versions of concrete manipulatives, their examples of these computer ako include spreadsheets, databases, and Logoitems which have never functioned either traditionally or physically as manipulatives. Unified by the screen interface, both static and dynamic representations, traditional and untraditional, qualify as manipulatives. If one were to use this criteria, the only factor that distinguishes virtual from computer manipulatives' is their availability: computer are primarily programs that must be purchased; manipulatives are available to all Internet users. On the World Wide Web there are essentially two types of representations that are being called virtual manipulativesthose that are static visual representations of concrete manipulatives, graphs, or worksheets, and those that are dynamic visual representations of concrete Since one of these is far more powerful and has much greater utility and potential for teaching, it is important to distinguish between them. And it is equally important to establish a name and definition that uniquely describes these dynamic images so as to avoid confusion. Static, visual representations are essentially pictures. As such, they provide the sorts of visual images ordinarily associated with pictures in books or drawings on an overhead. Though some of these representations look like concrete manipulatives, they cannot be manipulated in the ways a concrete manipulative can be manipulated. They may be in the sense that they are available on the Internet, yet they are not manipulable (able to be moved, rotated, etc.). In addition, some are not objects at all, and more closely resemble a math worksheet or activity posted on the Web. These static, visual representations are not true On the other hand, dynamic, visual representations of concrete manipulatives are essentially objects. They also present a screen version of the sorts of visual images associated with pictures in books or drawings on an overhead. But, unlike their static counterparts, these dynamic visual representations can be manipulated, just as a concrete manipulative can. That is, just as a concrete manipulative may be manually slid, flipped, turned, and rotated, the dynamic visual representation may be manually slid, flipped, turned, and rotated (using a mouse), as though it were a three-dimensional object. This kind of visual representation is truly a virtual manipulative. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)