Effects of Instructional Guidance and Sequencing of Manipulatives and Written Symbols on Second Graders’ Numeration Knowledge
Department of Education, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. Ouest, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham
Educ. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7020052
Received: 22 December 2016
/
Revised: 20 April 2017
/
Accepted: 21 April 2017
/
Published: 3 May 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Mathematics Education)
Concrete objects used to illustrate mathematical ideas are commonly known as manipulatives. Manipulatives are ubiquitous in North American elementary classrooms in the early years, and although they can be beneficial, they do not guarantee learning. In the present study, the authors examined two factors hypothesized to impact second-graders’ learning of place value and regrouping with manipulatives: (a) the sequencing of concrete (base-ten blocks) and abstract (written symbols) representations of the standard addition algorithm; and (b) the level of instructional guidance on the structural relations between the representations. Results from a classroom experiment with second-grade students (N = 87) indicated that place value knowledge increased from pre-test to post-test when the base-ten blocks were presented before the symbols, but only when no instructional guidance was offered. When guidance was given, only students in the symbols-first condition improved their place value knowledge. Students who received instruction increased their understanding of regrouping, irrespective of representational sequence. No effects were found for iterative sequencing of concrete and abstract representations. Practical implications for teaching mathematics with manipulatives are considered.
View Full-Text
▼
Show Figures
Figure 2
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Osana, H.P.; Adrien, E.; Duponsel, N. Effects of Instructional Guidance and Sequencing of Manipulatives and Written Symbols on Second Graders’ Numeration Knowledge. Educ. Sci. 2017, 7, 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7020052
AMA Style
Osana HP, Adrien E, Duponsel N. Effects of Instructional Guidance and Sequencing of Manipulatives and Written Symbols on Second Graders’ Numeration Knowledge. Education Sciences. 2017; 7(2):52. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7020052
Chicago/Turabian StyleOsana, Helena P., Emmanuelle Adrien, and Nathalie Duponsel. 2017. "Effects of Instructional Guidance and Sequencing of Manipulatives and Written Symbols on Second Graders’ Numeration Knowledge" Education Sciences 7, no. 2: 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci7020052
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
