This article tells the story of an elementary school principal, a former high school mathematics teacher, who uses the geoboard in her work with a group of fifth-grade students. As the investigation of polygons progresses from symmetry to area to perimeter, hands-on applications of advanced mathematics topics such as the Pythagorean theorem and…

Results indicated that handling, in addition to seeing an object, facilitates memory only because it maintains visual attention. (MH)

Describes the use of manipulatives to introduce elementary students to concepts of geometry. (Contains 11 references.) (PKP)

When teaching and learning about alveolar ventilation with our class of 300 first-year medical students, we use four simple, inexpensive "models." The models, which encourage research-oriented learning and help our students to understand complex ideas, are distributed to the students before class. The students anticipate something new every day,…

Electronic Blocks are a new programming environment designed specifically for children aged between 3 and 8 years. These physical, stackable blocks include sensor blocks, action blocks, and logic blocks. By connecting these blocks, children can program a wide variety of structures that interact with one another and the environment. Electronic…

We describe new materials available at the Arecibo Observatory for visitors with visual impairments. These materials include a guide in Braille that describes the telescope, explains some basic terms used in radio astronomy, and lists frequently asked questions. We have also designed a tactile model of the telescope. Our interest is in enabling…

The premise underlying this article is that identifying and using the "five practices model" can make discussions of cognitively challenging tasks more manageable for teachers. By giving teachers a roadmap that they can follow before and during whole-class discussions, these practices have the potential for helping teachers more effectively…

This study examined the effects on math performance of the use of the rekenrek, a manipulative developed by Adrian Treffers. The rekenrek looks like an abacus, but differs in that it is based on a five-structure and not a ten-structure system. It is comprised of two rows of 10 beads, each broken into two sets of 5 by color (i.e., in each row the…

Science educators advocate hands on experiences and the use of manipulatives as important for children's conceptual development. Consequently, the utilisation of "Lego" robotic technologies in teaching and learning has become more prevalent in school science classrooms. It is important to investigate their value as educational tools, particularly…

Measurement is a mathematics skill students encounter often in their daily lives. The act of measuring involves the use of concrete, hands-on materials that students find engaging and appealing. According to Martinie (2004), the best way to teach measurement "is to find or create situations in which students need to measure and let them…

A study of the hypothesis that the type of evidence a speaker considers important might be related to how dogmatic he is. In this study, evidence was used as the dependent variable; dogmatism as the independent variable. (Author/JB)

A prop box is composed of specialized items (ordinary housewares) combined to foster a specific type of play. (Author/AJ)

Suggests attaching magnets to posterboard cutouts for use on a metal demonstration board. (MKR)

Discusses how well children (N=6) who have had instruction in rational-number concepts based on a continuous manipulative aid are able to transfer their knowledge to accomplish tasks based on a manipulative aid which can be interpreted as discrete. Suggests several implications for teaching fraction concepts to children using continuous and…

A simple way to represent hemihedral faces and to illustrate the relationship between the resulting left-handed and right-handed hemihedra is presented. The illustrations highlight that the chirality corresponds to the absence of reflective symmetry but not necessarily to the absence of a C2 axis of symmetry.