Hi there, fellow educators! In the last two years many teachers around the world have begun to embark on the journey of building thinking classrooms (BTC) in mathematics and other subjects—inspired by the research and work of Dr. Peter Liljedahl in his book Building Thinking
When we’re being honest about using math manipulatives, the number one concern I hear revolves around management – students simply don’t use them as intended. They urn these tools into something playful or even dangerous. You can learn what to do about that in my
Has this ever happened to you…you prepare a manipulatives-based lesson, explain the expectations to your students, pass out all the materials, and then they choose to play around with the manipulatives instead of using them to show their math thinking? Or is it just me???
After two years of interrupted education, we are all working to support students building deep conceptual understanding of mathematics. There’s consensus that using manipulatives to teach mathematics is an important component of success. There’s also consensus that it’s a challenge. Teachers often make comments like
Ensuring that every classroom has the tools needed for student success is a high priority for teachers and leaders alike. That said, how does one know which tools are the “right” tools and on what to spend precious resources? And how do you ensure the