Using Manipulatives in Teaching Math for High School Students with Learning Disabilities - Research Paper Example

? Using Manipulatives in Teaching Math for High School with Learning Disabilities Institiutional affilitaion Using Manipulatives in Teaching Math for High School Students with Learning Disabilities 2.1 Introduction Manipulatives are physical objects used in teaching Mathematics (Cass, Cates, Smith, & Jackson, (2009). There are different forms of manupilatives; they can be, dried beans, sticks, stones, bottle tops, small pieces of wooden blocks, cubes cuboids. The manupilatives are used to introduce practice, or remediate math concept. Manupilatives are used to bridge the gap between informal Math and formal Math. To achieve these objectives manupilatives used in classroom instruction must fit the development level of the students (Case et al, 2009). Young students have counters while older students use coloured wooden rods that represent difficult numbers. Maccini, & Hughes (2006) stated that according to the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. Manupilatives existed since time in memorial, and it is crucial for teaching students at all levels in order for them to aqcuire knowledge in Mathematics. High school students with learning disabilities require the use of manupilsatives to ease understanding Mathematics. Moyer-Packenham, Salkind, & Bolyard, (2008)) suggested that students with learning disabilities may develop more concept understanding of difficult concepts when using virtual manipulatives than those that do not have learning disabilities. This review attempts to review studies conducted on the use of manupilatives in teaching math for high school students with leaning disabilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance and benefits of math manipulatives among students with learning disabilities. 2.2 Literature review Several Mathematics topics can be taught using different manupilatives. These materials should foster students concepts of numerals, geometry, measurements, problems, solving and data analysis (Moyer et al, 2008). The teachers can use counters, blocks cubes and cuboids to teach ordinal numbers, place values, fractions and understanding algebra. Students with learning disabilities can use geoboards when learning geometric shapes, and geometrics solid models can be used when learning spatial reasoning. Rulers and measuring cups can be used to represent length and volume in measurement, and students can use spinners when learning probability. A case study conducted by Puchner, Taylor, O’Donnell, and Fick (2008) they analyzed the use of manupilatives in teaching Mathematics at the elementary level. He decided to use manupilatives rather than using learning outcomes of the learners. The study found that in some of the Mathematics lessons, studied the use of manupilatives is turned into an end in itself rather than an instructional tool. While others, the use of manupilatives failed to help students with learning disabilities. Puchner, et al (2008) in their study noted that this weakness occurred because the teachers concentrated in content teaching and the end product in itself. In other situation, the use of manupilatives was separated from the actual teaching, and in second grade, the students copied the teachers’ examples making it difficult to learn Mathematics content. This misuse of manupilatives provided the researcher with further areas of research. The researchers also found that teachers needed support in the selection of manupilative used in teaching Mathematics among students with learning disabilities. A study conducted by Munger (2007) where, in the experimental group, the teachers used manupilative models to teach Mathematics and the control group the teacher mainly used drawings and charts while teaching Mathematics. He conducted an analysis of covaerience, and it revealed that the experimental group using the manupilatives when teaching scored significantly higher than the control group that used drawings and charts. More research studies reveal that students who use manupilatives in learning Mathematics score high marks than those that do not use manupilatives. The manupiltaives can also be effectively used in teaching students with learning disabilities (Munger, 2007). Moyer et al (2008) in their research found that, students at the elementary find it difficult to understand manupilatives. It is important for teachers to ensure that they explain the manupilatives to used as they use them in teaching. This will assist students with learning disabilities understand concepts clearly without getting confused. A study by Berkas, & Pattison (2007) reveals that, virtual manupilatives can lead to effective learning of mathematic among all levels of students even those with learning disabilities. Butler, Miller, Crehan, Babbitt, & Pierce (2003) conducted a comparison of the effectiveness of teaching students with learning disabilities using Concrete-Representational-Abstract manupilative method with Representational-Abstract approach. Students with leaning disabilities were assigned the Concrete-Representational-Abstract manupilative method and those with no learning abilities assigned Representational-Abstract approach. Students with learning disabilities scored high marks than the ones that perform well. Witzel, Mercer, & Miller (2003) in their study t supported he effectiveness of Concrete-Representational-Abstract manupilative method in teaching students with learning disabilities. Their study had 34 participants, who had been diagnosed with learning disabilities. The teachers used Concrete-Representational-Abstract manupilative method in teaching this group of students. After four weeks, students with learning disabilities improved in their performance. Another research by Maccini & Hughes (2000) revealed that students with learning disabilities used tiles when learning algebra and seemed to understand the concept better than when they do not use tiles. They found that, the use of Cuisenaire rods to solve mathematical problems worked well with students with learning disabilities. A case study conducted by Cass, Cates, Smith, and Jackson (2003) revealed that learners with learning disabilities used geoboards to understand perimeter and area concepts and improved in solving geometric problems. Moyer et al (2001) in their study indicated that, teachers need to play an important role in the use of manupilatives while teaching Mathematics to students with learning disabilities. The study reveals that, teachers who cannot deliver the content concepts are more likely to use manupilative then teaching maths to students with learning disabilities unlike those that can deliver content without the use of manupilatives. Ritchie (2002) reveal that, very few munpilative studies have been published. In his research, he identified fourteen studies and the studies did not locate the use of manupilative in a classroom setting. For those that used manupilatives, the use of manupilatives had a positive effect on students with students with learning disabilities. He also found that students with language problems also improved when they used manupilatives. Lastly he found that manupilatives may be useful in elementary schools and middle level schools. According to Berkas (2007) the use of manupilatives in teaching students with learning disabilities has proved to be effective. Students learn effectively through experience rather than lecture and passive learning. Use of visual images leads to knowledge retention among the students, and manupilatives are objects that can be touched by students in learning Mathematics. He adds that the use of manupilatives is beneficial to students with learning disabilities. Butler et al (2003) in their study noted that, the visual representation is the use of manupilatives in teaching Mathematics. The visual representation can be beneficial in teaching Mathematics to students with learning disabilities. The use of these manupilatives can be used effectively by teachers to teach addition, subtractions or fractions. He noted that, the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) techniques is the most suitable approach to teach students with learning disabilities. In a study conducted by Klein (2005), he found that, introduction of new concepts to elementary students is done using manipulatives, but in higher levels it can be less effective. Moyer, & Jones (2004) found in their research that, students using manupilateves while learning Mathematics demonstrates gains in high achievements in Mathematics. Interviews responses from learners indicated that, manupilatives were helping them in learning fractions and other topics in Mathematics. The findings of these studies were not generalized because the research used only one class as a sample. The national Council of teaching Mathematics recommended the use of manupilatives in teaching Mathematics at the elementary level. This is because the use of manupilatives is supported by educational research and theory of learning. According to Maccini et al (2000), educational theory revolves around active learning process in the classroom and manupilatives can be used in this active learning process leading to effective learning. He states that manupilatives allows students to move from concrete experience to abstract experience. Lastly, he notes that, manupilatives can make students with learning disabilities improve in high level cognitive thinking. According to Munger (2007) he states that manupilatives acts as a motivation to students with learning disabilities making them be motivated to learn Mathematics. They are able to think and be creative in different, meaningful ways. Manupilsatives like tiles, blocks contribute to development of well grounded understandings of mathematical ideas, and this leads to the development of integrated ideas in Mathematics. The long term effects of student using manupilatives is effective and beneficial to students with learning disabilities (Munger 2007). These benefits are; verbalizing mathematical thinking, discussing mathematical ideas and concepts, working collaboratively, expressing problems and solutions using a variety of mathematical symbols, relating real-world situations to mathematical symbolism, taking ownership of their learning experiences and calculating Mathematics concepts without any difficulties. Reimer et al (2005) in his research found that, the use of manupilatives is effective in learning the following maths concepts, especially in high schools with students with learning disabilities. These students can use manupilatives to count numbers and understand place values in Mathematics. Similarly, Students learning computations skills tend to understand the concepts when using manupilatives. Using manupilatives has been found to help students improve in solving Mathematics problems. Students who use manupilatives while learning Mathematics outdo those that make use of text books when learning Mathematics. These students who do well in fractions by the use of manupilatives understand ratios effectively. Research indicate that, students with learning disabilities that use manupilatives in learning algebraic abilities tend to understand the concept than those that use text books alone. Manupiltatives have proved to be effective in learning the following Mathematics concepts (Klein, 2005); number relations, measurement, statistics, probability, number bases and decimals, and especially the foundation of students with learning disabilities. 2.3 Implications of munupilatives in the modern classroom setting As presented at the beginning of the paper, manupilatives are real objects that teachers or students bring to class and use during Mathematics learning process. The manupilates are to be attractive and appeal to the senses of students. They act as a motivating device that facilitates effective teaching of Mathematics (Klein, 2005). The students should be familiar with manupilatives used in the classroom, and they should be based on the level of the learners. For instance abacus are not known by the students but things like stones, beans, blocks, marbles, rubber bands, peanuts and sticks would be more appropriate to most of the students because they are familiar to them. It should be noted that, the use of manupilative is one of the best way to learn Mathematics or through physical contact with real objects (Reimer et al 2005). Normally, at the beginning, students start by exploring these manupilatives. This is crucial because they have to be familiar with the munupilatves before the actual learning process. It should be noted that teachers can model the use of these manupilatives but, it is crucial for students to work together in a group so as to understand the objects presented to them. Therefore, when students are given an opportunity to describe record, talk, question, explore, share, and investigate about their discoveries. Students assimilate and understand concepts much better (Berkas, 2007). Using of manupilatives in classroom situations will help the students relate classroom knowledge to the real world (Berkas, 2007). They will be in able to work in groups to solve mathematical problems, udestanding concepts without teacher direction, and solve mathematical problems. The use of manupilatives is very interesting, and it is easy to introduce and visualize new concepts among students. Text book problems are made easy by the use of manupiltives in that, the problem is brought to real life situation, motivation their use among students leading to understanding the concepts in the textbooks (Berkas, 2007). Piagets research indicated that, students develop in different stages. The use of manupilatives is very beneficial in the three stages development. Students need to be in contact with physical features, to assist in the three stage development process. Therefore, students between the age of twelve and fourteen need to be provided with the manupilatives for effective brain development especially when learning Mathematics concepts(Reimer et al 2005). Mathematics teachers should learn to direct their attention towards facilitating and understanding Mathematics concepts rather than, drilling student to perform well in Mathematics (Reimer et al 2005). The effective use of manupilatives in classroom, facilitates understanding of Mathematics concepts especially by students with learning disabilities. The use of manupilatives in the classroom also assist the teachers assess the students during Mathematics learning process. Manupilatives usually make the teaching learning process longer, but the student retain what they have learnt. Making the teacher have less review of the lessons during the next lesson. Elementary teachers use munpilatives to teach their students effectively. The use of these manupilatives has proved to be effective in Mathematics learning process, especially among students with learning disabilities. It should be noted that manupilatives are thinking tools and their use leads to effective thinking among students. More research then needs to be conducted to reveal how teachers use different manupilatives, depending on the learners individual difference. References Berkas, N. & Pattison, C. (2007). Manipulatives: more than a special education intervention. The National  Council of Teacher of Mathematics. Butler, M., Miller, S, Crehan, K., Babbitt, B., & Pierce, T. (2003). Teaching Fraction to students with learning disabilities Research & Practice. Mathematics Journals 16;34 Cass, M., Cates, D., Smith, M., & Jackson, C. (2009). Importance of manipulative instruction on the solving area and perimeter calculations . Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 18, 112–120. Klein, G. (2005, January). The Use of Manupilatives in Mathematics. Washington: Fordham Foundation.  Maccini, P., & Hughes, C. (2000). Introductory teaching algebra among elementary students with learning disabilities. Journal of Research & Practices, 15, 10–21. Moyer P., Salkind, G., & Bolyard, J. J. (2008). Manipulatives used in Mathematics Instruction, Journal of Mathematical Behavior 67-80 Moyer, P., & Jones, M. (2004). Teachers, students, and manipulatives application in Mathematics classrooms. School Science and Mathematics, 104 Moyer, P. S. (2001) How teachers use manipulatives to teach Mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 175–197. Munger, T. (2007). Use of Manupilatives in teaching Mathematics. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 17, 33–51. Puchner, Taylor, O’Donnell, and Fick (2008). Mathematical learning using manupilatives: A case study. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 362–385. Reimer, K., & Mary, S. (2005). Application of manupilatives in teaching fractions to third graders students. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 5-25. Ritchie, J., & Volkl, C. (2000). Effectiveness use of manupilatives as learning strategies in the science classroom. School Science and Mathematics, 83-89. Witzel, B., Mercer, C., & Miller,. D. (2003). Teaching algebra to students with learning Difficulties; . Learning Disabilities Research & Practices, 121–131. Read More