White Papers & Research 

How Using Manipulatives to Teach Math Concepts Aligns with Research

...New brain research reveals the importance of visual thinking to all levels of math... Visual mathematics problems help students and raise achievement. (page 6)

Research Supports Hands-On Learning with Manipulatives to Enhance Literacy Instruction

...children who used the physical manipulatives often performed one to two standard deviations better than children who read the same text but did not use the manipulatives. (page 5)

Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RTI) for Elementary and Middle Schools

...research shows that the systematic use of visual representations and manipulatives may lead to statistically significant or substantively important positives gain in math achievement. (pages 30-31)

Adding it up: Helping children learn mathematics

The evidence indicates, in short, that manipulative s can provide valuable support for student learning when teachers interact over time with the students to help them build links between the object, the symbol, and the mathematical idea both represent. (Page 354)

How teaching matters: Bringing the classroom back into discussions of teacher quality

...when students are exposed to hands-on learning on a weekly rather than a monthly basis, they prove to be 72% of a grade level ahead in mathematics.

Build College and Career Readiness with Early, Integrated STEM

High quality STEM experiences in early education help children maintain interest in STEM and better prepare them for college and careers in STEM fields. Effective STEM curriculum resources are easy to implement, build teacher confidence, and engage teachers and children. Early studies show that research-based Hands-On Standards STEM in Action is effective.

Why Teach Mathematics with Manipulatives?

An hand2mind research summary.

Background for Hands-On Mathematics

The hands-on approach to mathematics instruction is grounded in a long and extensive research history. This information sheet provides a brief annotated bibliography of key research reports and documents that provide the foundation for hand2mind work.

Algeblocks® Promote Algebraic Understanding

See how one California math professor used hand2mind Algeblocks 3-D manipulatives to support student learning in his Algebra 1 classroom. From the concrete to the representational, and finally, to the abstract phase, Algeblocks contributed to an overall mean performance success rate of 97%, significantly higher than the state mean of 46%. And the best part is, the students had fun while learning!

Academic Accolades

Interactive Literacy

The Interactive Literacy approach to teaching is grounded in research that shows the use of hands-on instructional tools, like Reading Rods® , is highly effective in the classroom. Find out why in this informative research paper.

Reading Rods® Supports Best Practices

Here is one expert’s take on how Reading Rods® support best-practices for teaching alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, and word structure.

Reading Rods® Improving Test Scores

Find out all the details of this exclusive research project showing the positive effects of the use of Reading Rods® on literacy standardized test scores for Grades 1 and 2.

Reading Rods® Phonics Alignment

The Alignment of K–3 Reading Rods® Phonics Program with the Report of the National Reading Panel and Put Reading First outlines how one approach to reading instruction works better than others.

Literacy Model

This exclusive literacy model, developed by Patricia Cunningham and Dorothy Hall, details how incorporating different approaches to reading instruction will engage all types and levels of readers in your classroom.

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