MONOGRAPH No. l
Manipulative materials for teaching and learning mathematics
Publication of the Mathematics Council of The Alberta Teachers’ Association
5 – 14
Considerations for teachers using manipulative materials
ROBERT E. REYS
Classroom teachers of mathematics are witnessing an unprecedented period of proliferation in manipulative materials. Commercial catalogs list a great variety of available materials; professional journals carry many advertisements claiming that this device or that aid will provide a panacea for learning a certain mathematics topic; and professional meetings are frequently inundated with exhibits displaying new manipulative materials.