When working with manipulatives during class time, teaches need to be aware of students actions and behaviors. Teachers should be doing constant visual checks on students to make sure they are staying on task and completing necessary requirements. A good way of keeping students on task and putting them with a partner, especially one who isn't a buddy they could get in trouble with. This will keep students focused on the problem at hand rather than playing around with something else. Teachers can also give students a chart to document their progress/data with the manipulatives. They can also ask students what they have learned whether it be in a journal or vocally to the class. Lastly, teachers can give students checklists to make sure they stay on tasks with the requirements of the manipulatives.
2. Why do people say not "hands on" but "hands on minds on?"
Manipulatives should involve much more than just being hands on. They need to connect with the student so they can take the knowledge from the manipulative and apply it to something else. This is where minds on comes into play. Students should be cognitively engaged with the manipulative, learning and discovering new things. If an activity is just hands on, students can simply be "playing" and not focused on learning how to do the tasks in front of them. No matter how hands on a manipulative is, it needs to apply to the students learning.
3. How do the process standards fit in with the manipulative activities?
After discovering more about specific manipulatives today, I was able to apply them to the process standards with more understanding. The manipulatives can expand students communication through working in groups and talking with other students about the manipulatives at hand. Problem solving is expressed through students discovery of manipulatives and their ways of working through them. Students use their skills of applying prior knowledge to learn how to solve problems when using manipulatives. When students are left to guess and check using manipulatives, they are using reasoning and proof. This can be done using blocks and discovering their attributes. Some manipulatives cover more than one content area when used. This connects many disciplines and helps students connect all mathematics as a whole rather than specific sections of mathematics. Lastly, students will use representation when working with manipulatives as they organize and record information to solve problems. Representing students work is shown through filling out charts or understanding the relationship between mathematical problems.
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