National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

This is the site I introduced to the group of teachers who attended the MCS session on January 24 at Edgewood.

http://nlvm.usu.edu

This site is truly amazing! You can literally spend hours just exploring the different tools that are available to use.

I highlighted the virtual geoboard manipulative during our session.  Students can use this tool to solve perimeter and area problems.

Here are some sample explorations and problems:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_YrpITfs0DhYWQ4NzNmMDctOTRhYy00MzIxLWFhNTUtZDllY2EyNmQwM2Y5&hl=en&authkey=COCgxsQK

The best thing about this virtual manipulative (at least to me!) is that students who aren't using the laptops can use the 'real thing' to follow along as well.  

You can also use the virtual geoboards to perform rotations.  Here are some sample explorations and problems:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_YrpITfs0DhY2NlOGI2MzYtMTgzZS00ZDAxLWExNGYtYmRiM2JmNjE0OWI1&hl=en&authkey=CNirxJ8F

Students should be given time to explore how to use this and any other virtual manipulative before using them to solve problems.  You can encourage students to visit the site from home as well!

If you try these problems with your class, let us know how it goes!