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<FONT FACE="Verdana">Kathie and All,<BR>
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I am delighted that we are having a discussion about using manipulatives in the adult education classroom. I taught elementary school for 18 years and have taught adults for 30. I cannot imagine teaching math to <I>anyone</I> without manipulatives. So many adults in basic education classes, GED classes, and even content classes such as Algebra can benefit from beginning with the concrete and making the expected progress to the symbolic and then to the abstract where we can see real mathematical thinking.<BR>
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Years ago when I taught my first ABE classes, I immediately ordered scissors, crayons, and rulers. Only the stock clerk seemed surprised and teased me a little for that order. The students readily used the materials when I distributed the crayons to color patterns, make bar graphs, and shade shapes to find their areas. They were proud to put the finished graphs on the wall or to make generalizations about the patterns. <BR>
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My advice about manipulatives is that the success comes with the tone that is set by the instructor. If the teacher simply expects that using manipulatives will deepen mathematical understanding and is not shy about explaining why they are helpful, the students will respect that position and dive in. They will color, paste, stretch rubber bands on geoboards, find mass using balance scales and anything else that is in the lesson design.<BR>
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Margaret Rogers<BR>
President Elect<BR>
Adult Numeracy Network<BR>
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On 9/17/07 1:27 PM, "Myrna Manly" <mmanly@earthlink.net> wrote:<BR>
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</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">Kathy, <BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">Because you are interested in introducing manipulatives into the adult classroom, I’m guessing that you know how powerful they can be in helping students to recognize patterns and to see more than one way to solve problems. They help to make the transition from the concrete to the symbolic reasoning that is so important in math. But I also sense that you are hesitant to use them with adults who may dismiss them as being for children.<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">Perhaps this a good question to throw back to the list subscribers. What has your experience been when you introduced manipulatives to your adult classes?<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial">Myrna<BR>
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<FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Tahoma"><B>From:</B> specialtopics-bounces@nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces@nifl.gov] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Kathie Daviau<BR>
<B>Sent:</B> Sunday, September 16, 2007 2:49 PM<BR>
<B>To:</B> specialtopics@nifl.gov<BR>
<B>Subject:</B> [SpecialTopics 652] Re: Components of Numeracy<BR>
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</FONT><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">I am interested in the use of manipulatives in the adult ed math classroom. How are manipulatives used? How do you introduce manipulatives to adults? Do you use manipulatives in an individualized setting? What are your favorite manipulatives? <BR>
Thanks,<BR>
Kathie<BR>
Billings, Montana<BR>
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