This may be more of a problem in grade 7 and 8, but depending on the class you can see it everywhere. I always have those students who really need the manipulative objects and we all agree they can be great tools and research says they will be effective, but the thing I have always struggled with is how to keep them only being used for math.
Things I have tried...
- Only handing them out enough of the objects for what we are doing
- Collecting them as soon as they are no longer needed
These things helped, but I just thought that some of you might have some fantastic problem solving ideas because I am really stuck...
I understand what you mean. I had a struggle with this during one of my placments. We were isng linking cubes to learn about area and volume and the students kept on play with them while I was taking up questions. One great thing I learned was that (with Younger kids) is that you can tell them to put their hand on their head or under their legs. My associate teachers it was a great idea to ensure they dont touch them. For older students you can ask them to do something similar or even ask them to put the manipulatives on one side of their desk.
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