New Insights and their Implications

We have just been talking about factions and talking about how to bridge the gap between modeling manipulatives and use of regular assessments through instruction. I have clearly been able to understand when using correct manipulatives can help students “bridge the gap” of understanding a concept and applying the concept to homework assignments. Students that are able to see how and why we do this certain math problem like having a common denominator, have a clear understanding of the concept and will be able to retain the knowledge more. The use of manipulatives should be used religiously in a classroom for children to see a concept and correlate why we do this math concept this way. I also see where math manipulatives can be a hindrance in the classroom, like just having a manipulative for a time waster and not really relaying important concepts to the students building foundations for math concepts. I also really like the use of the pattern blocks as fraction pieces. I think students could really retain the knowledge a lot better when they can see and touch the fraction of the whole of an object.