Working with 'Concrete' Materials on the way to Understanding the Abstract in Maths.

We have been using a lot of concrete materials in Maths in recent weeks. Here we can be seen to be using counters to show the factors of numbers. Kids developed creative ways of demonstrating their understanding, grouping them in interesting ways and using these models to explain their thinking.

Having experiences of the 'concrete' in Maths helps students to access abstract concepts.

Representing ideas visually is an important midway step between the concrete and the abstract. The Array City represents simple multiplication visually. We count the windows of each building, multiplying the width by the height. Kids designed their own buildings and then calculated how many windows in total were in our Array City. This week we are exploring Volume and Capacity which also lends itself to using both concrete and visual aides. Multilink cubes, playdough, cube nets and investigations which involve measuring and weighing water are all hands on learning experiences which help consolidate understanding in Maths.