Claire Van de Velde

Enhancing Mathematical Skills Through Interventions with Virtual Manipulatives

In this chapter, we report the findings from a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of using virtual manipulatives to improve preschool students’ early mathematics skills. One hundred thirty-two preschool children were randomly assigned to nine sessions of adaptive computerized counting or comparison with virtual manipulatives, or to a typical instruction control group. Children in both experimental intervention groups, including children with poor calculation skills at the start of the intervention, performed better than controls not using virtual manipulatives on early mathematics tasks at the posttest. In addition, the effects of the training held six months later with the counting intervention improving number knowledge and mental arithmetic performance, and the comparison intervention only enhancing the number knowledge proficiency in Grade 1. The effect of virtual manipulatives was present in empathic children, thinkers, persisters, dreamers, rebels and promoters according to the Kahler Process Communication Model. In addition children in both experimental groups became more adventurous after the training. We discuss the value of these short interventions with virtual manipulatives in preschool as a forward-looking approach to enhance arithmetic proficiency.