3D printed Math Manipulatives

[Christopher Cprek]

Recently at LCCC, an instructor told me how valuable math
manipulatives. I've found some online resources for printable
manipulatives. But there are not many math manipulative models
available for 3D printers and laser cutters. Hopefully I can replicate
sets that can easily be recreated with those tools.

http://jimmiescollage.com/2011/04/ultimate-list-of-printable-math-manipulatives-games/

I'm interested in others experiences with math manipulatives.

Chris

[Joseph Clagg]

A little off topic, but a co-worker and I were talking about making activities that teach the evolutionary and ecology sides of biology more fun. There aren't very many of these compared to other parts of biology, but there are little games that demonstrate niches, carrying capacity, competition, phylogenetic trees, etc. and they're usually done with beads or beans or something. We thought creating fictional organisms with different morphological traits and printing them to use as game pieces would make it way more attractive and less abstract. 

Joseph

[Danielle Blank]

 

I once saw an old "Mummy Math" card game.  It required students to work with the symbol-based mathematics system of Ancient Egypt.

 

The system is explained on this website, which also contains materials for classroom use:  http://www.eyelid.co.uk/numbers.htm

 

The symbols are not elaborate, and could be designed and printed easily.  One might even print them as objects, stamps, or stencils, depending on the activity needs. 

I'm interested to hear from math teachers how applicable this might be in a classroom setting.   

 

Danielle

On Monday, February 11, 2013 11:53:19 AM UTC-5, Christopher Cprek wrote:

[jfaith01]

My classroom is a special education classroom for students with emotional disabilities.  I'm fortunate that my students tend to be very good at math so we have them mentor the students who have learning disabilities.  I have noticed that when they are trying to teach basic math skills they often resort to some sort of "found" manipulative, like coins, paperclips, ect.  I think it would be interesting to see what they would come up with if given the chance to design something.  Since they so naturally gravitate towards something physical I wonder about manipulatives for higher level math ideas 

Just a thought. 

On Monday, February 11, 2013 11:53:19 AM UTC-5, Christopher Cprek wrote:

[Catherine Harper]

As a former at risk high school math teacher I have used many math manipulatives. I find myself using these same manipulatives with my 7th grade daughter to help her visualize math.

First. Algebra tiles. Every teacher needs to have them and they are perfect for 3d printer.

Second. 3d geometrical shapes and their laser cut foldable sisters. Very hard for these kids to view these 3d shapes , rotate them about planes, and find volumes when they can't get a grasp of 3d shape. I am constantly photocopying, folding, and building shapes to help my girl visualize this 3d space.

I'm thinking of more... Metric Mini cubes used to build space by tens... I tend to use sugar cubes, but if easy enough to print, then I'll ditch the sugar and the ants.

Catherine