The effectiveness of two forms of manipulative activity on the understanding of selected science and technology concepts among fourth grade students

Abstract

The use of manipulatives and real objects in education has been espoused since man first started recording history. Rabelais, Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Dewey, and Piaget are a few of the leaders found in the literature who contend that the use of manipulatives is an essential part of education. Manipulatives may be made of many varied materials ranging from the real object itself to an abstract construction from miscellaneous materials. The question was raised: Which type of manipulative will be best suited for the learning of science and technology subject matter? The purpose of this study was to ascertain, from a choice of two, which manipulative is best for educational purposes-- Commercially made, or Homemade. An experiment was conducted in six fourth grade classes in one elementary school. Each of the classes received a lesson consisting of a short lecture utilizing transparencies, and real objects for demonstration. Two classes completed an activity with very realistic commercially made manipulatives. Two classes completed an activity with somewhat abstract homemade manipulatives. Two classes received no manipulative. The topic selected for this experiment was the science and technology subject of simple machines. A pretest was administered one day prior to the experiment to establish a knowledge base. A posttest was administered one day after the experiment to determine knowledge gain. A retention test was administered three weeks after the experiment to determine the amount of knowledge retained. The results of the experiment reveled that, in general, students using commercial manipulatives scored higher than students using homemade manipulatives, on tests of knowledge gain and retention. When the treatment was coupled with gender there were some differences but they were not consistent. There was no evidence that using manipulatives was detrimental to learning and retention. Therefore, recommendations were made to continue the use of both types of manipulatives in classrooms. Recommendations were also made for further research on the topic of manipulatives in the classroom using a larger population and a sample which could be randomly assigned. Another recommendation was to test more types of manipulatives.