This article discussed the use of virtual manipulatives in mathematics classrooms. I have never heard with or used such virtual manipulatives before in either my schooling or my teacher preparation classes. I think the idea of virtual manipulatives is great and I think the majority of students would really enjoy working with such things. Today's students are going to enjoy working with virtual manipulatives because they enjoy working with computers and tend to always be using some form of computer based visual. If given a choice of using a computer or using a sheet of paper to perform the same task, I feel most students will choose to use the computer.
The virtual Cuisinaire rods applet used methods that showed students the movement of ten ones blocks to one tens blocks through animation. This animation might be instrumental in helping students to visualize what is happening when grouping. Many students need this type of visual stimulation when trying to learn a new concept. Many students have difficulty learning when all they are given is a verbal description. However, the physical manipulatives also provide this visualization. I wonder if students who need to learn by hands-on experiences would benefit more from the actual Cuisinaire rods than from the virtual manipulative.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Literature Review of Science and Mathematics Integration
The article “A Literature Review of Science and Mathematics Integration” focused on the possible benefits of integrating science and mathematics content areas. Even though integration has not been shown to be more effective than traditional teaching methods the article provides numerous examples of how using integration can be beneficial to student learning.
The article states an advantage to using integration in the classroom is that integration allows students to interact with each other. Integration encourages “discussion, investigation, product development, drama, and telecommunication.” I feel all students would enjoy learning more if they were able to frequently use one or more of these interactions frequently in the classroom. As a student, I would have enjoyed high school math more if I had been allowed to talk with other students about my ideas or questions concerning math concepts. Instead of working on mindless drill problems, I feel I would have learned concepts, such as perimeter and area, better had I been given the opportunity to work on a complex problem. I also understand how some students might not benefit from so many interactions with other students. However, it might help them if they were given a complex problem, such as the “Bouncing Ball”, to work on by his or herself.
This article also mentions that integration should only be used in order to better enhance the concepts of two subjects. It was mentioned that many teachers tend to integrate subjects for the sake of integrating. For example, in a local school district the administration mandated that mathematics teachers integrate an English/writing assignment into their curriculum. Some teachers embraced the idea, by having the students compile a document describing their thought process in a math problem. However, other teachers chose to have students write a paper on a mathematician. The second idea did not correspond to the curriculum that they were already using. Instead it added math history to their classroom. Even though math history is important, many of the students probably did not learn anything new about mathematics. In contrast, having students write about their thought process probably helped some students to better understand the concept on which they were working. I feel that having students reflect about what they are doing in math class and write it down is a much better use of integration than assigning a math biography paper.
The article states an advantage to using integration in the classroom is that integration allows students to interact with each other. Integration encourages “discussion, investigation, product development, drama, and telecommunication.” I feel all students would enjoy learning more if they were able to frequently use one or more of these interactions frequently in the classroom. As a student, I would have enjoyed high school math more if I had been allowed to talk with other students about my ideas or questions concerning math concepts. Instead of working on mindless drill problems, I feel I would have learned concepts, such as perimeter and area, better had I been given the opportunity to work on a complex problem. I also understand how some students might not benefit from so many interactions with other students. However, it might help them if they were given a complex problem, such as the “Bouncing Ball”, to work on by his or herself.
This article also mentions that integration should only be used in order to better enhance the concepts of two subjects. It was mentioned that many teachers tend to integrate subjects for the sake of integrating. For example, in a local school district the administration mandated that mathematics teachers integrate an English/writing assignment into their curriculum. Some teachers embraced the idea, by having the students compile a document describing their thought process in a math problem. However, other teachers chose to have students write a paper on a mathematician. The second idea did not correspond to the curriculum that they were already using. Instead it added math history to their classroom. Even though math history is important, many of the students probably did not learn anything new about mathematics. In contrast, having students write about their thought process probably helped some students to better understand the concept on which they were working. I feel that having students reflect about what they are doing in math class and write it down is a much better use of integration than assigning a math biography paper.
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