Final Paper
Magean Black
Liberty University

Teachers now days have so many tools available to use to help teach math. “The teaching of mathematics has changed dramatically in one particular are in the past ten years, the use of technology” (Ridener & Fritzer p. 96).Giving the students a new way of learning, instead of just hearing their teacher talk will help the student get involved in wanting to learn. Not all children learn by just listening to the teacher talk. Using concrete objects and technology is very helpful for teaching math and it also is good for the kinetic learners. Keeping up with technology and the latest trends will help teachers keep their students attention in learning. One tool that I like to use a lot and will use when I start teaching is the Cuisenaire rods. Cuisenaire rods are rods that come in ten different sizes and come in different colors including: white, red, green, purple, yellow, dark green, black, brown, blue, and orange. You can either provide them for all the students or you can have one set and let the children make their own, that way they can use them at home. Cuisenaire rods give the children a range of opportunity to learn in math in a hands -on approach, weather the subject be fractions, measurements, or multiplication.
One way that you can teach your students using the Cuisenaire rods are when teaching fractions. Fractions are always tough for most students to understand and having this tool will give them different ways of learning fractions. For example most sixth graders know about fractions, so the first part of the lesson could be a review to get the students attention and see how much they know. Then you would want to let the students get used to the rods, and figure out what each color equals.You also want them to understand part and whole and then you can get into comparing all the rods. The students have to remember that the part is in the numerator and that the whole is in the denominator. Having the students understand this concept will help them as they continue learning fractions. You can start out with two small white rods and ask how many of the white rods (1cm) will equal a red rod (2 cm). Sometimes it is good to have a worksheet that has problems on it that they students can use their rods to help them solve the problems on their worksheet. Another way is to have a problems solving worksheet that deals with fractions and let the Cuisenaire rods be the model (train). For example you can ask the students, if an orange rod equals a whole, then how many green rods will it take to equal a half of the train. You can also use them to practice with adding and subtraction fractions. Having the visual will help them see how to solve the equation. Using these rods for fractions is a great tool. Another way you can use the rods in teaching is when you talk about measurement.
Measurement can be a very fun topic. “Measurement is determination of the size if a thing counted in standard units, such as inches, pounds, or minutes, and it is one of the most practical applications of mathematics”(Ridener & Fritzer p.55). Using the Cuisenaire rods to teach measurement can be done is many ways. One way that you can do this is by pairing the students up in groups of two and providing them with a worksheet. On the worksheet it is an outline of a horse made on grid paper. The students are then told that that the rods cover the horse and you cannot go outside the outline. Have the students work on their own to solve the worksheet, then they can compare with their partner and see if they did it a different way. Another activity that can be done using the rods is having the children play a treasure hunt game. The children will have to go around the room using their rods to measure different objects and then they tell the teacher the right number and which rods they used to measure they will get a clue to the next item to measure. This will allow the students to learn about measurement and have fun doing it. Cuisenaire rods are great for measurement but will also help students with learning multiplication.
Multiplication can sometimes be hard for students and rather frustrating so this is another lesson where it can be taught hands on. One way that a teacher can teach this lesson is with a ruler and the Cuisenaire rods numbered with the smallest rod having number one and the largest rod with number ten. If you want your students to solve four times nine then they will use four of the number nine colors and nine number four colors to help them solve this problem. You can also still have the rods numbered and teach the students to solve without the ruler and allow them to work with a partner. For example you can have the problem 3 x 5 = 5 + 5 + 5 or 5 x 3 = 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3. They have to remember to use three of the number five rods. Another way to teach this or rather review this is by having a worksheet that has a ruler on it with twenty problems to solve.
In conclusion Cuisenaire rods are really great tools with teaching math. Using the rods to teach fractions will help students spark an interest in fractions and to help them not to get so frustrated with fractions and give up. Using the rods to teach measurement can be done with so many activities that the students may even forget that they are doing a class assignment because depending on the way you use the rods it becomes a game and it no longer feels like learning. Using the Cuisenaire rods to teach multiplication is a great may for them to understand how the process works. Cuisenaire rods are great for teaching any area of math and are a good tool to use to make math seem fun and interesting to the students. Teachers that use many different ways of teaching math are more likely to have their students succeed, than the teachers who feel like that rather stick to one or two ways of teaching math.

References:
Egan, D. L. (1990). The effects of using Cuisenaire rods on the math achievement of second grade students. (Order No. 1343463, Central Missouri State University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 49-49 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/303944033?accountid=12085. (303944033).
Nguyen, H. T., & Cortes, M. (2013). Teaching mathematics to ELLs: Practical research-based methods and strategies. Childhood Education, 89(6), 392-395. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1492201375?accountid=12085
Ridener, B. & Fritzer, P. (2004). Mathematics content: For elementary and middle school teachers. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Rosen, D., & Hoffman, J. (2009). Integrating concrete and virtual manipulatives in early childhood mathematics. YC Young Children, 64(3), 26-29, 31-33. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197632175?accountid=12085
Watanabe, T. (2002). Representations in teaching and learning fractions. Teaching Children Mathematics, 8(8), 457-463. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214134551?accountid=12085