Reflections on Week 2 Readings

I thought that the software described in Moyer, Niezgoda and Stanley's Young Children's Use of Virtual Manipulatives and Other Forms of Mathematical Representations seemed like really powerful tools for teaching mathematics. The software looked like it was easy to interact with, and as these students are technology natives there is no barrier for them to overcome before learning math concepts. The Virtual base-ten blocks software looked like it helped the students learn addition in a more concrete manner. It was interesting to read that when the students were asked to do similar addition problems on paper, they drew out blocks and drew arrows to move them around. The software had definitely influenced the way they approach addition problems. Hopefully the mental models the students have developed with this software will be carried forward to help them understand more difficult math topics.