Magic of Manipulatives

Our Fingers on Hand Helped Us Learn Numbers First!

We can vividly remember how our fingers on hand (sometimes the ones on their foot as well) were used to learn numbers! Whether using traditional activities, such as counting with pebbles or coins, or more sophisticated manipulatives (e.g., geo-boards and pattern blocks), hands-on learning helps students to understand concepts much better and faster and boosts their self-confidence.

Manipulatives And Their Neurological Effect

Learning becomes interactive and engaging as students become comfortable with their unique learning styles through these active learning experiences. Utilizing a multi-sensory approach targets the strongest learning channels of students’ minds. The value of pizza fractions, inchworms, geometric shapes, tiles, Cuisenaire rods, dice, and other manipulative materials in helping students visualize concepts, construct meaning, and integrate a more tangible understanding of abstract facts.

Ample Evidence to Validate Hands-on Learning

A new large-scale study confirms what most principals and teachers have long believed. Active learning experiences using manipulatives appear to function as learning anchors that organize and integrate classroom learning, helping make aspects of what students need to learn more visible than abstract, conceptual instruction.
  • A substantial majority (90 per cent) said that hands-on projects help students understand basic ideas, and 82 percent said that handcrafted projects help their students apply information in new situations.
  • 85 percent of the teachers also agreed that long-term hands-on projects give students a greater depth of understanding than more conventional instructional methods.
  • While 46 percent of teachers viewed hands-on projects as an effective learning technique for all students, 54 percent said that this approach is particularly well-suited for students who learn more effectively in non-traditional approaches, particularly visual or kinesthetic learners, slow readers, and students with limited English-language skills.
  • The teachers noted significant differences in learning behaviors when students are involved in hands-on projects. They reported increases in student motivation, willingness to ask questions and volunteer information, enthusiasm, and attention to assigned tasks.
  • Hands-on educational experiences move students beyond the traditional and passive practices of teaching and learning by incorporating creation, expression, and the presentation of ideas. Spectacular results can be achieved when learning is taken off the chalkboard and literally put into the hands of the learners themselves