There are two reasons for the
use of technology in the elementary classroom today. One, students require more
flash during lessons to keep attention and two, technology has made it easier
to manipulate objects or situations.
I have
transitioned from a classroom teacher to interventionist to district trainer
and back to the classroom I have noted the changing landscape of student
engagement. It takes more effort on the part of a teacher to keep a student’s
attention. Technology today transforms skills practice from 2D to 3D providing
that flash of engagement. That is to say it has become animated and therefore
more engaging to students. Students now experience a math situation as it is
happening versus solving and answering a problem that has already happened.
Western (2003) provide links and ideas for countless sites that provide the
interactive situations. She has links for addition practice, subtraction
practice, counting practice, and numerous more. Students are more engaged in
their learning with sights and sounds and animated characters. They want to
mimic the cartoons or movies they watch. The links provided by Western does
just that.
Besides
skills practice, one of the big niches for digital math is the use of virtual
manipulatives. Technology today allows educators to let students manipulate
objects such as cubes, rectangular prisms, and other virtual shapes. Western
(2003) provides links for a variety of websites that let students manipulate
them. Students all have different learning styles. Those students who are
visual learners greatly benefit from such technological resources. A case and
point is when teachers talk to students of large quantities such as tons,
hundreds of thousands of dollars, and other large units. A student cannot
imagine or have difficulty imagining such quantities. With these virtual
manipulatives students connect to the quantity and the significance of the
quantity. Research has said schema is predictor or comprehension. A student who
is allowed to manipulate and see what they are solving or more likely to grasp
tough or even simple math concepts.
While
there is a large amount of sites that cater to math teachers access of standard
math manipulatives, sometimes a teacher needs more choices. Boehman (2012) in
her blog shows teachers how to create their own shapes that may not come with
ActivInspire. This way a teacher can conceivably imitate real world objects in
the classroom and allow the students to manipulate them for geometry,
measurement or other math inquiries. I have noted success in students who were
able to manipulate objects. Using Boehman’s ideas on creating my own shapes I
can do just that, allow students to manipulate objects.
In another
search through Google I came across a session that was presented at a
conference. Polly (2009) talked about technology allowing the students to
create and manipulate their problem solving situation. With the increasing
rigor of tests I can have students walk through problems on a promethean board.
They can break apart the components of the problem almost like a story. On her
forum she presents rationales and links for teachers to use in their classroom.
She lists all of the aforementioned technology as well. Learners learn
differently and like all the tools in a teacher’s belt, technology is another
tool. If used right it can increase and deepen a learner’s understanding.
References
Boehman, A. (2012, March, 12). Dynamic Paper: Create your
own digital math manipulatives [creating math manipulatives for active boards].
Retrieved from http://sites.fcps.org/trt/content/dynamic-paper-create-your-own-digital-math-manipulatives
Western, M., (2003). Using Technology in the Elementary Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/elemath.html
Polly, D. (2009). Presentation on Integrating Technology in Elementary Math Classrooms
[resources for math]. Retrieved from http://elemath.pbworks.com/w/page/10579886/EleMath
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| Fill and Pour from National Library of Virtual Manipulatives |
Additional information on virtual manipulatives:
http://www.ct4me.net/math_manipulatives.htm
Watch this interesting video
A PowerPoint giving a brief introduction of virtual manipulatives.
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