New Insights and Their Implications

During this class we have worked with different types of manipulatives that I have not been in contact with before. I remember working with rods but not the many different types that we have encountered in class: Cuisenaire rods, pattern blocks, etc. I have learned that it is important to provide many different options for students to be able to learn fractions. I do not have fond memories of learning fractions when in elementary school myself but now I think that it would be easier if students were presented with the many different manipulatives and strategies to find the solution to fraction problems.
Reading the blue CGI book has also presented many different ideas to work with in the classroom. I never knew that the CGI program even existed before reading the book. I never realized that problems needed to be categorized even within the category of the type of problem, for example addition having the different types. From reading the book I now know that it is important to have a variety of different problem types and structures. Also, the foundations of a CGI program are things that I would like to be able to incorporate into a math class that I may have in the future. Through this method I believe students would learn best. It would definitely have been better than some of the math classes that I have had.