Summarizes research into how children perceive three-dimensional objects. Focuses on the difficulty that students have in appreciating how the orientation of the semicircular canals affects balance and space perception. (DDR)

Examines the effects of different learning experiences on children's thinking about two- and three-dimensional shapes. (ASK)

Presents suggestions for creating play-learning environments designed to promote children's early literacy. Suggests that stimulating and inviting environments, abundant in print-rich materials, realistic props, and manipulatives meaningful to children are most valuable. Themes include hospital, pizza restaurant, hardware store, flower shop, candy…

Describes a physical system for demonstrating operators, eigenvalues, and superposition of states for a set of unusual wave functions. Uses candy to provide students with a visual and concrete picture of a superposition of states rather than an abstract plot of several overlaid mathematical states. (WRM)

Three third graders with a history of low achievement in math were first given verbal (abstract) instruction in solving word problems. Students were then introduced to manipulatives instruction using Cuisenaire rods to set up word problems. Students exhibited immediate and sustained improvement on subsequent probes administered without…

This article considers mathematics textbooks, materials, and manipulatives, which are commonly a part of mathematics instruction. Strengths and weaknesses of these instructional tools when teaching students with learning disabilities in mathematics are reviewed. Evaluation scales are presented for selection of textbooks, materials, and…

Presents hands-on activities that give students a head start in learning the vocabulary and basic theory involved in understanding atomic structure. Uses beads to represent protons, neutrons, and electrons and string to represent orbitals. (DDR)

Compared the impact of robotics (computer-powered manipulative) to a battery-powered manipulative (novelty control) and traditionally taught science class on science achievement and problem solving of fourth through sixth graders. Found that the robotics group had higher scores on programming logic-problem solving than did the novelty control…

Describes how the use of an area model manipulative can help students learn fractions and related concepts. Uses several illustrated examples. (MM)

This article describes using helium balloons to introduce students to integers and integer arithmetic. (Contains 9 figures.)

This article describes how three algebra problems involving systems of equations can be modeled and solved with manipulative materials or pictorial representation, then the solutions are compared with standard solutions using algebraic symbols. As students begin to use manipulatives and represent their pictures with number sentences, they are…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1989) proposes using everyday objects, such as paper, to enable students to explore geometric relationships and vocabulary. Paper-folding and other types of hands-on activities have been found to increase students' ability to communicate mathematically and foster their understanding of mathematical…

This study examined the proportion of cooperative play in 4-year-old children across centers (housekeeping, block, manipulative, and computer) and gender in a natural classroom setting. Eighty-four white, middle-income children (41 boys and 43 girls, mean age = 55 months) were videotaped during free-play for 30 minutes per day for four weeks in…

Cross-cultural studies on mathematical cognition and education have suggested that curriculum and teaching have contributed to U.S. versus Asian differences in student performance; however, previous discussions of curriculum and teaching practices have been very general and have not focused on a detailed analysis of how mathematics concepts are…

Alan Block's (2004) major criticism of the authors' study revolves around the notion that they have attempted to quantify their students' sense of calling in an existentially inauthentic, spiritually delimiting way. For, as he puts it, "identifications of presence are impossible." The authors cannot accept this pronouncement if only for the simple…