Concrete Materials Concrete materials should be used at all times within the class, both to support the introduction of new concepts and to enhance pupils’ understanding of, and confidence in, numeracy. It is now widely recognised that the use of manipulatives, or concrete materials, is a vital tool in the teaching toolkit and that the concrete-pictorial-abstract cycle should underpin the learning and teaching of numeracy. However, various studies have highlighted that whilst teachers are aware of the need to use manipulatives they are confused about which manipulatives to use in specific contexts. Also, a certain manipulative may be used to teach a given concept and then disappear, never to be used again. This serves to make learners associate this manipulative with one specific numerical task, rather than seeing it as a vehicle with which they can solve a wide range of problems. As Mike Askew states: While there is general agreement about the importance of ‘models and images’ in helping children learn mathematics, there is less clarity about why they are important and how to work with them. It is not the models of images themselves that are important, but the way that these support children’s mathematical activity. Models and images have to be worked with, not simply presented to the children. “Transforming Primary Mathematics”: M. Askew, 2016 There should be planned, purposeful and appropriate use of concrete materials throughout numeracy and mathematics lessons. Remember to use manipulatives and concrete materials for multiple purposes. For example Cuisenaire rods can be used to support number development, measurement concepts and graphing models. In this way pupils won’t associate a concept with only one manipulative. Also, these manipulatives should be available to pupils at all times so that there is no stigma attached to the need to use these to understand a mathematical concept. The use of concrete materials allows practitioners to develop a wide variety of activities for their pupils to develop a particular concept and to repeat and revisit this numerous times so that they can become proficient and strategic with the concept being taught. For example activities can be created for pupils around creating different combinations of 6 with a wide variety of materials: Blank ten frames that can be filled with a variety of resources i.e. leaves, acorns, stones, shells, gems; Double-sided counters; Numicon shapes; Pegs; Cuisenaire rods; Lego; Rekenreks.
Concrete Materials Concrete materials should be used at all times within the class, both to support the introduction of new concepts and to enhance pupils’ understanding of, and confidence in, numeracy. It is now widely recognised that the use of manipulatives, or concrete materials, is a vital tool in the teaching toolkit and that the concrete-pictorial-abstract cycle should underpin the learning and teaching of numeracy. However, various studies have highlighted that whilst teachers are aware of the need to use manipulatives they are confused about which manipulatives to use in specific contexts. Also, a certain manipulative may be used to teach a given concept and then disappear, never to be used again. This serves to make learners associate this manipulative with one specific numerical task, rather than seeing it as a vehicle with which they can solve a wide range of problems. As Mike Askew states: While there is general agreement about the importance of ‘models and images’ in helping children learn mathematics, there is less clarity about why they are important and how to work with them. It is not the models of images themselves that are important, but the way that these support children’s mathematical activity. Models and images have to be worked with, not simply presented to the children. “Transforming Primary Mathematics”: M. Askew, 2016 There should be planned, purposeful and appropriate use of concrete materials throughout numeracy and mathematics lessons. Remember to use manipulatives and concrete materials for multiple purposes. For example Cuisenaire rods can be used to support number development, measurement concepts and graphing models. In this way pupils won’t associate a concept with only one manipulative. Also, these manipulatives should be available to pupils at all times so that there is no stigma attached to the need to use these to understand a mathematical concept. The use of concrete materials allows practitioners to develop a wide variety of activities for their pupils to develop a particular concept and to repeat and revisit this numerous times so that they can become proficient and strategic with the concept being taught. For example activities can be created for pupils around creating different combinations of 6 with a wide variety of materials: Blank ten frames that can be filled with a variety of resources i.e. leaves, acorns, stones, shells, gems; Double-sided counters; Numicon shapes; Pegs; Cuisenaire rods; Lego; Rekenreks.
Guidance-on-the-Early-Acquisition-of-Numeracy-in-Primary-1.docx