Virtual manipulatives are, basically, interactive, web or computer based applications that allow for exploration of mathematical concepts. Virtual manipulatives were originally created to model "concrete" math manipulatives such as base ten blocks, algebra tiles, blocks and so on.
As the use progressed, these virtual manipulatives got more detailed and have since expanded beyond their initial repertoire. Now, they are not just used instead of concrete manipulatives but offer ability to allow students to explore spatial aspects, and multiple representations of concepts in a way that is more difficult for concrete manipulatives.
There's a pretty big collection of virtual manipulatives on the internet, ranging in content from basic mathematics (fractions, counting, etc) to algebra, geometry and calculus. Many of them are aimed at students in elementary and middle schools, although there are some for high school and college level students.
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For me, I'm hoping to use a virtual manipulative to get my students, who are learning pre-algebra concepts, to engage in an activity that will help them to think about math differently. Many of them dis like math and find it boring. I'm hoping that by using the virtual manipulative they can explore the concepts they're learning in lecture, in a fun manner. Many of the manipulatives use game or game features to demonstrate ideas and enhance understanding. I think the manipulatives are also useful because they don't require just one specific piece of knowledge. A student or learner has to use and incorporate various types of knowledge when working. There's the spatial aspect, logic, reasoning, problem solving, and of course the specific topic they're working on.
Ok, so I've described my tool and how I'm going to use it. There's only one problem:
Which one??
Virtual manipulatives encompass a broad spectrum of different specific tools. They all use the same basic ideas and methods, but differ in how they present the idea and how they ask the student to explore and demonstrate knowledge. There are some that are very much geared to younger children, some that are more sophisticated.
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| As simple as fraction circles |
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| or as complicated as probability and chaos analysis |
I've spent quite a bit of time combing many sites and educational search engines, finding, looking at, examining and playing with different ones.
As I've said before, they run the gamut from basic counting to calculus. There isn't just one, but _many_.
Seriously, it was kind of exhausting. I would find something that had a good idea, or a good delivery system… but was too childlike for my students.
I'm a fan of using games to teach, so I admit I was often tempted or drawn towards the more game like activities. However, many of those were also geared towards younger students.
Part of the challenge, for me at least, was to find something that age appropriate, but content appropriate.
See, my students are older, college aged. But they're also largely artists and musicians and "Creative" types. Many of them have had negative experiences with math in school before and have a made a point to avoid it at all costs. So, many of them have weak skills in some of the "core" content and foundation materials. Fractions, percentages, decimals, ratios… are areas that a lot of my students struggle with.
SO I want to find material that would help them in these areas, that i thought they needed the most help in. But, again, much of the material is grouped by content in terms of primary school groupings. So because fractions, and decimal work is taught in earlier years, most of the manipulatives I found were geared towards younger students.
BUT! I persevered… and eventually, my late night searching led to me three sites that i thought would help me the most:
First, the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.
This was the very first site I encountered when doing searches for and researching virtual manipulatives. It's been on my list and radar ever since. In narrowing down my choices, it was an obvious contender. It has content spanning from "basic" number and operations to data analysis and probability, while also spanning the age range from Pre K to high school. There are a lot of good looking tools and ideas here. I've already explored the site extensively, but I've chose a few specific manipulative examples that I want to play with further.
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| I like the way it shows functions as input and output |
Second: Interactivate website
The site contains many activities but there was a few in particular that I thought might be useful. The equivalent fractions activities seem like something that might help my students to better understand the relationship between fractions, in a visual/spatial manner.
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| Equivalent fractions finder |
I'm looking at the equivalent fractions finder and some of the other fraction functions.
Finally, I've also been looking at the Illuminations site. The manipulatives on this one are similar to the Interactivate manipulatives, although there seem to more that are suited for older learners.
I've looked at several, but keep coming back to this one with ratios:
I show cased this on in my OMM post, and so I have a bit more experience with it. It involves a good amount of problem solving and analysis, but it's also fun and challenging. (or at least I think so)
So which one will I use for my project?
Stay tuned to find out!
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