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HS Students Can Benefit from Using Manipulatives Also
Effects of Spatial Training on Mathematics Performance: A Meta-Analysis
As reported in Edutopia
Manipulatives like pattern blocks are often used in early elementary math to help kids explore shapes, but the practice is less common as students get older. Yet a new analysis finds that spatial training exercises—hands-on tasks designed to improve kids’ ability to “generate, manipulate, and reason about spatial relations between and within objects”—can improve students’ math abilities, and the effect is greater as students age.
Using data from 29 studies, researchers found that “as the age of participants increased from 3 to 20 years, the effects of spatial training also increased,” especially in “studies that used concrete materials (e.g., blocks, puzzle pieces, paper folding).”
We neglect spatial thinking in the upper grades. Origami has clear connections to geometry, and the research suggests that middle and high school teachers can look for similar ways to get students manipulating physical objects to improve both spatial and mathematical skills.
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