Homemade geostrips, "angle-fixers" (cardboard circular sectors) and brass fasteners can be used by students to explore properties of angles, triangles and other polygons. Several games and other activities are suggested. (SD)

Wooden cubes can be used with task cards and teacher-made materials to develop and reinforce learning of linear measurement, area and multiplication, volume and surface area. Students can use cubes to cover area and fill boxes; later they learn to make boxes to fit specified numbers of cubes. (SD)

The reality of classroom practices raises a question worth investigation: Are there programs that do not rely on the use of manipulatives that might provide successful mathematics instruction? This paper investigated achievement differences between students in three mathematics programs ranging from a strict manipulative focus to an abstract,…

Activities and materials are suggested for giving practice in developing the concepts of grouping and place value. Grouping by tens leads into activities involving "money." Using the metric system, these ideas can be extended to measurement. (LS)

Reports the results of a study designed to test the importance of manipulative experiences with science materials in the attainment of science process skills for kindergarten and third grade students. (JR)

Ways to select and display table toys and guide children's use of them in child care centers. (BRT)

After a discussion on planning instruction, a series of activities designed to develop pre-number and number concepts are presented. Activities are arranged by difficulty within sections devoted to classifying, comparing, ordering, measuring, organizing data, distinguishing shape and size, recognizing patterns, number awareness, and counting. (SD)

The development of number concepts from conservation through order and place value notation is discussed in the context of applications to classroom instruction. Activities designed to motivate, build, and reinforce these concepts are described, and a list of objectives is presented in the form of a suggested progress record. (SD)

Directions are presented for the construction and use of line-segment strips. Examples demonstrate activities, integrate elementary geometry and arithmetic instruction. (JP)

Acquisition of the basic concepts of mathematics such as matching, number and counting, sets and classifying, comparing, measuring, shape, space, and parts and wholes, may be followed by two types of activities. First, the child may subsequently be presented activities that allow for practice and generalization of those acquired concepts.…

To ascertain if children's use of manipulatives and/or the teacher's presentation of the problem in parts (chunking) affect children's ability to model and/or solve addition and/or subtraction problems, 146 first-grade subjects were administered the Houston Addition and Subtraction Problem-Solving Test which provided accuracy and modeling scores…

This document contains 15 case studies developed by the group teachers during a teaching experiment. Background information on each second grader, behavior and achievement characteristics, and analyses of the evaluation interviews are presented. (MS)

This resource review provides information on a wide range of mathematical aids currently available to teachers in Queensland (Australia) primary schools, and is arranged in the form of a report about each aid. The aids are classified as general aids, specific aids, or games. Each report contains details regarding suppliers and costs, a photograph…

The purpose of this study was to compare instruction in multiplication and division by means of manipulative materials and pupil discovery to instruction using abstract and semi-concrete materials combined with teacher explanation and exposition. The effect of the two methods on pupils' attitude and achievement also was compared. Ten classrooms…