Reply To: Lesson 3-3: Discussion Prompt

[Julie Gonzales]

I think concrete manipulatives are a must. It makes me wonder if I would have learned math more deeply when I was growing up if I would have been able to use them when I was struggling to understand something. Instead I became a robot who memorized everything a teacher did and thought that I was “learning”. It wasn’t until I took a class called Math & the Mind’s Eye in the early 90’s did I finally understand how the manipulatives made my understanding concrete! All that memorization finally made sense to me and I started seeing connections I never knew existed.

[Julie Gonzales]

I think concrete manipulatives are a must. It makes me wonder if I would have learned math more deeply when I was growing up if I would have been able to use them when I was struggling to understand something. Instead I became a robot who memorized everything a teacher did and thought that I was “learning”. It wasn’t until I took a class called Math & the Mind’s Eye in the early 90’s did I finally understand how the manipulatives made my understanding concrete! All that memorization finally made sense to me and I started seeing connections I never knew existed.