Effective Teaching with Virtual Materials: Years Six and Seven Case Studies

This paper describes an approach to mathematics teaching and learning using teacher-constructed 'virtual' materials. In this approach, virtual copies of real materials are manipulated with mouse movements to replicate the traditional physical manipulation of real materials. The paper reports on three case studies where the approach was used to teach different mathematics topics (e.g., equivalent fractions and decimal fraction scales) to a Year 6-7 and a Year 7 class. It describes and analyses the virtual materials in relation to how they relate to prior teaching with physical and pictorial materials. It speculates on the strengths and weaknesses of the approach, and the effect differences between physical and mouse manipulations have on learning.