Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Liping Ma - knowing and teaching mathematics

Yes, exactly. I found them for base 10 quite easily. Did you just use these to make cubes, etc? They seem very nifty.

are these blocks supposed to make math easier? We never did anything like that. Just plain simple numbers written / printed down on a piece of paper. To me all these blocks just complicate things?

It's all about understanding place value. This paper has some of the history:http://www.ianthompson.pi.dsl.pipex.com/index_files/teaching%20place%20value%20in%20the%20uk%20-%20time%20for%20a%20reappraisal.pdf

And concludes that the multibase stuff I remember stopped being used because it was too hard and in fact place value is too hard for children until year 4 (age 8)! Sad, particularly if true. The multibase stuff seems to have gone completely.

My kids loved Cuisenaire rods. I used them to help them see the concepts behind addition and subtraction. For subtraction, we'd remove a rod of ten and replace it with ten little ones.

ColinsMum, I meant to ask, "did you just use the shorter rods to make flats and cubes in other bases?"

it's still not making any sense to me. I need my numbers on a paper! I guess it's good I never had issues with place value. Can't imagine having to explain these rods to my kids in the future! lol

It's not that I don't grasp the concept. I just feel like it's adding too many extra steps to what's as simple as math? ... probably the same reason why I (and DS5) have serious issues with Kindergarten homework. It's too much hands on and not much math that would move us forward.

Sorry, I'm having trouble being clear! Friday night... There was a completely different set of equipment for each base; only the units were in common. Just as a rod looks like (say) 7 unit cubes stuck together but is actually solid, a flat looked like 7 longs stuck together but was actually solid. But you can see that in the picture, so maybe I'm still not understanding the question? Sorry!

By kindergarten, I agree it could well be too hands-on. But, I find it perfect for DS22mo now. He's loved those sorts of manipulables for doing simple addition and subtraction--especially math cubes--for quite a while now. But, obviously, don't fix what isn't broken!

Can your DS5 do arithmetic in arbitrary base? For example if you tell him that on Planet Zog the inhabitants have three digits* on each hand rather than five, so they do arithmetic with six playing the role ten plays for us, and then you show him a couple of two-digit example sums, can he immediately do multidigit addition and subtraction as reliably in base 6 as in base 10? For my DS there was a stage when he was quite reliable in base 10 but would get completely confused in any other base.

But I never bought manipulatives for him unless you count the linking elephants or the jar of counters, both bought when he was a baby and used occasionally for maths. For child-me, the Dienes stuff was tactically appealing (it used to be natural wood in those days!) and the multi-base stuff was a fascinating start for enrichment (I remember being asked to design a machine that would do sums taking input using blocks - remember this was before even calculators were familiar objects, never mind computers!). My teachers never, that I remember, made me use the blocks if I didn't want to. So I remember them with affection.

*if he's anything like mine this is necessary to let you opt out of a finger/thumb discussion

I was not taught any other base but 10, I'm not sure I even encountered the concept before adulthood! DH was. But I suspect that was in NZ.