Judith L. Bellonio
When using manipulative and games to introduce and to teach math concepts it is also beneficial to reinforce the math concept. With the increase in computer use both in the home and at school it makes perfect sense to incorporate the computer via Internet and commercial software to reinforce math concepts. There are many exceptional Internet sites as well as commercial software packages. For example, the Internet site http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Lessons has numerous excellent links to such topics as ratios, fractions with pattern blocks and graphing. The Internet site http://best.com/~ejad/java has three links: pattern blocks, Cuisenaire rods, and base ten blocks. A teacher may have to spend some time preparing a computer lesson to be used at this site but all the on-line manipulatives are ready to be used. It is helpful for many students to be given a zip-lock bag of actual manipulatives (pattern blocks, Cuisenaire rods or base ten blocks) to go along with the lesson. Another excellent Internet site is http://www.enchantedmind.com, which has numerous links, one of which is to tangrams. This link enables students to use their mouse to arrange the tangram pieces into a variety of shapes and designs.
There are also countless excellent math related commercial software programs on the market that can be purchased at almost any computer software store, i.e., Circuit City or CompUSA. The Math Blaster series have great math depth and come in a wide range of grade levels and math subjects. The Edmark series includes the Mighty Math Calculating Crew and Mighty Math Numbers Heroes that cover math topics such as fractions, measurement, addition, multiplication, probability, and geometry. Another excellent software program is Kaplan's Math for the Real World, which gives students problem solving and math application experience via a rock and roll band that they can really relate to and benefit from.