Making Sense of Integer Arithmetic: The Effect of Using Virtual Manipulatives on Students' Representational Fluency

摘要

This research study investigated the impact of using virtual manipula-tives to teach integer addition and subtraction on students' computation skills and use of representations. The four major findings of this study presented below will be discussed in detail in the sections that follow. Finding 1: Students demonstrated significant gains in computation achievement after using three different virtual manipulative applets during instruction of integer addition and integer subtraction concepts. Finding 2: There were no statistically significant differences in achievement among students using three different virtual manipulative applets designed for integer instruction. Finding 3: Students successfully translated between pictorial and written/metaphorical representational forms for integer addition and subtraction. Finding 4: Students demonstrated less facility in creating an accurate symbolic representation and connecting this with other representations (i.e., pictorial and written/metaphorical), particularly for subtraction.