Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Monday, April 28, 2008
Math: Put away the blocks and balls?
(A math manipulables kit that sells for $100)
Math is boring. Or at least that’s what the kids say.
That’s why teaching math using “hands-on” instruction is so popular. The idea is to put blocks and balls and M&Ms in the kids hands to help them conceptualize counting, adding and subtracting in a way that is useful and meaningful to them. Besides, figuring out the ratio of green M&Ms in a typical bag is just a lot more fun.
But what if the concepts don’t stick with the kids when they are taught that way, as opposed when they learn the same concepts written out in a formula on paper, the old fashioned way?
That’s what Ohio State University researchers found in an experiment on college students and after the The New York Times picked up on the story the implications for math instruction are the subject of a lot of buzz.
More study is needed before it can be determined if math teachers neeed to change their instruction. But such a change would send shockwaves through primary education, where districts have moved rapidly toward more “manipulables,” or hands-on teaching tools. Selling math kids of this type is big business, too.
Math teachers — what do you make of this study?
(Image credit: etacuisenaire.com)
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