# Teaching Strategies

Canonical: https://manipulatives.org/topics/teaching-strategies/

Choose purposeful materials, ask useful questions, and connect models with mathematical explanations.

A manipulative provides something to move, inspect, and discuss. Its value in a lesson depends on the question being explored and on the meaning assigned to the pieces. Begin by deciding what you want learners to explain.

Give time to become familiar with a material, then pose one clear problem. Ask what a piece stands for, what a move changes, and how the model connects with a drawing or equation. Keep a learner's explanation visible long enough to compare it with another approach.

The articles below offer practical starting points for choosing materials, supporting discussion, and adapting a task for home. They are suggestions to try and adjust, rather than a prescribed lesson format or a promise of a particular learning outcome.

## Tools

- [Sketch Pad](https://manipulatives.org/manipulatives/sketch-pad/)

## Articles

- [A small space for a good math conversation](https://manipulatives.org/blog/adapting-an-activity-for-home/)

- [Choosing your first manipulatives](https://manipulatives.org/blog/choosing-first-manipulatives/)

- [Physical or digital? Choose the action you need](https://manipulatives.org/blog/physical-and-digital-manipulatives/)

- [Questions that make room for thinking](https://manipulatives.org/blog/questions-for-a-hands-on-lesson/)