Are Virtual Math Manipulatives As Good As Actual Manipulatives?

In this article in Teaching Children Mathematics, Justin Burris (a Texas math coach and University of Houston visiting professor) reports on a study of third graders’ mathematical thinking about place value in the Investigations curriculum. Some students used virtual base-ten blocks (part of an enVision software program) while other students used real base-ten blocks. Researchers wanted to see how successful each group of students was at writing numbers, understanding quantity, and saying numbers out loud.

With both virtual and actual base-ten blocks, students were successful in building a number – for example, 873 – by selecting and counting out eight hundreds blocks, seven tens blocks, and three units blocks, arranging them in order from left to right, writing the number in expanded form (800 + 70 + 3), and saying the correct number. “The virtual models offered the same support and interaction as the concrete base-ten blocks,” says Burris. 

When it came to subtracting with regrouping (for example, 62 – 27), students working with the virtual base-ten blocks had an advantage: using the “hammer” and “glue” tools and counter to break tens into unit blocks, create nonstandard numbers, visualize new groupings of numbers, and keep track of total value, students did slightly better than students using real base-ten blocks.

“When thinking about using virtual manipulatives in your classroom,” concludes Burris, “do not ask whether virtual models are ‘concrete’ but rather how students will interact with the models and how they will think mathematically when using them.”

“Virtual Place Value” by Justin Burris in Teaching Children Mathematics, November 2013 (Vol. 20, #4, p. 228-236), www.nctm.org; Burris can be reached at justin.burris@gmail.com

From the Marshall Memo #510