Manipulative Reflection

I really liked the activity in class seeing all the main manipulatives classrooms have. Some I have never worked with and others I have worked a lot with. It's cool to think about the ways you can use one manipulative to cover all or most of the domains. When people see unit blocks they might just think for counting or measuring but it was cool to hear what other people thought of. We even tried to come up with a way to use it and money. A concept that might be confusing but do-able. It was really eye opening and made me appreciate all the manipulatives, the simple ones and complex because we might end up in a school that can't afford every type but seeing what other groups did and my own showed me how we can find ways to make it work.

Students understanding deepens with manipulatives because they make the concept real. Students who have a hard time visualizing can manipulate objects will really grasp the concept. That being said even for students who can visualize, having manipulatives right away helps students see the concept. I could not imagine teaching addition, or even counting without manipulatives. Students can take concepts learned from manipulatives and use them later once the concept is grasped. Students should not always need the manipulatives and one day will be able to do the work without them. Teachers can assess students' understanding and growth by observation of the students and scaffolding. In the beginning the teacher will have to model and guide the students on using the manipulatives appropriately as the students begin to understand the concept they won't need to be guided or follow the teacher. When a student can use the manipulatives independently that shows he or she is understanding the concept. Students will work in groups a lot and the idea or lesson can very easily not be understood by each student and in groups its easy to have one or two students doing the talking, maybe one or two who kind of get it and one who is just sitting there following but not really grasping the concept. As teachers we will need to make sure we are watching all students, and asking questions to specific students. We will know who are leader students are, the ones always trying to ask questions, but we will want to make sure we check in with each student. This can be done through quick conversations and observation.  Teachers can also use this to assess the student's depth of understanding. I think group work is awesome, students can talk, work ideas off of each other but it is important to have individual work on the concepts as well. Students can improve their problem solving skills with manipulatives using inquiry. Teachers can present a new lesson, give manipulatives the students are comfortable with or a variety of manipulatives and ask the students to solve the problem using those manipulatives.