AuSable Primary Math Resources

• Understand Numbers
• Understand Operations
• Compute Fluently

The primary goal of this activity is for students to explore numbers with base 10 blocks.  Students learn to associate the 10s with 10 and the 1s with 1 by placing blocks on the mat and then looking at the number it makes.  The number is represented in number of 10s and 1s, the digital number, and the written number.

What mathematical content is being learned (or intended to be learned)?

• Whole numbers
• Place value
• Fractions
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Multiplication
• Division

The blocks are clearly associated with the whole numbers, and students understanding of place value can improve by practice with these blocks.

Is the focus on instrumental or relational understanding?

• instrumental understanding (carrying out procedures)
• relational understanding (understanding the meaning of mathematical words and symbols; connections among ideas)

This activity is helpful to students because it takes an exploratory stance to learning the values of base 10 blocks.  Students can practice counting themselves, but can also look at the 3 representations of the number to verify their thinking.

What role does technology play?

 

The technology allows students to manipulate and explore with the blocks, but the affordance here is that is actually verifies the value for students to confirm or disconfirm their counting.

What instructional function(s) does the resource serve?

• practice (i.e., practicing skills or knowledge already learned)
• direct instruction/explanation (i.e., explaining or presenting content to students)
• learning through exploration (i.e., provides context in which students can see new relationships; come to new understandings)

This activity is exploration to help students understand how the represented numbers change when you add more base 10 blocks (or take them away).

What kinds of representations of the mathematics are used?

• symbolic (i.e., numerals, symbols)
• graphical (i.e., standard graphical notation such as Cartesian (X-Y) coordinate system, bar graph, pie chart)
• visual/spatial (e.g., circles or squares with lines to show fractions)
• concrete or real-world objects (e.g., images of base-10 blocks, puppies, or jars)
• dynamic (mathematical ideas represented through motion or sound)

The symbols used are numbers that match the base 10 blocks.  The real world objects are the base 10 blocks that students use for manipulation during the activity.