Examining Virtual Manipulatives for Teaching Computations With Fractions to Children With Mathematics Difficulty

As digital technology use increases in K–12 education, greater numbers of strategies become available to support students in mathematics. One technology that provides students diverse representations of mathematical concepts is virtual manipulatives. Although instruction featuring representations wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of learning disabilities 2023-07, Vol.56 (4), p.295-309
Main Authors: Satsangi, Rajiv, Raines, Alexandra R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Children
Computation
Direct Instruction
Educational Technology
Elementary School Mathematics
Elementary School Students
Fractions
Grade 5
Instructional Effectiveness
Learning Disabilities
Manipulative Materials
Mathematics education
Special education
Students
Students with Disabilities
Teaching
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Summary:As digital technology use increases in K–12 education, greater numbers of strategies become available to support students in mathematics. One technology that provides students diverse representations of mathematical concepts is virtual manipulatives. Although instruction featuring representations with physical manipulatives possesses a large body of research, the virtual form lacks comparable study, particularly with young children experiencing mathematics difficulty or identified with a mathematics learning disability. These students often demonstrate challenges learning integral skills such as fractions that subsequently affect their academic success in future years. This study examined the use of virtual manipulatives paired with explicit instruction and a system of least prompts for teaching computations with fractions to three elementary students with mathematics difficulty. A functional relation was found using a single-subject multiple probe design between the treatment condition and students’ accuracy performance solving problems. These results and their implications for the field at-large are discussed.
ISSN:0022-2194
1538-4780
DOI:10.1177/00222194221097710