Rods and Reasoning--How Different Education is in Guatemala

Last month I was able to attend a training with some of our teachers on using concrete and representational objects to teach mathematical concepts.  This was old news to me, but entirely new information for our teachers, and I went mostly to encourage and support them.  Math here is primarily taught in a rote manner, with the students writing/copying numbers from the board.

For example, when the students learn the concept of the number 2, they copy the numeral a multitude of times in their notebooks, perhaps having one or two pictures drawn to illustrate the quantity.  They seldom write 1, 2, 3, etc., nor do they practice discriminating numerals from each other.  Math facts are pure rote memory and copying, with little understanding of the processes involved.  This is slowly changing with our younger teachers (who are some of the best and brightest in the country), but this abstract presentation is pretty much the rule all over the country.

In this workshop, we learned to use colored rods (similar to Cuisenaire rods, for you old time educators who are reading this) to help students understand number concepts and relationships between numbers.  While I use a variety of manipulatives to help my students learn math, I have not used this technique, primarily because I didn't have the materials to do so.

As a perk of attending the workshop, we were able to purchase a set of these rods for a reduced price, and I couldn't resist. (If you know me, you know I'm a junkie for hands-on ways of teaching the kids.)

While I believed that the purchase was worth it, I had no idea just how valuable the rods would become in my classroom in such a short time.

We started off just exploring the rods, building with them, and seeing how they fit together to make equal parts.  The kids had a blast with them, and I don't think I have ever seen them so engaged in an activity.

Next we worked on sequencing the rods by size and making "trains" of rods that were equal.  

At this point I wasn't too sure exactly how I was going to present the concept that each rod had a different value.  Silly me!  I didn't need to.  The kids picked it up on their own!  

The ones who caught on faster began to "teach" the concept to the others, and I could sit back and watch learning taking place!  And the kids who are not working with me are asking when they can come to work with the "regletas."  

What I would like to do next is purchase a classroom size set of these rods that the teachers can check out to use in their classrooms.  The cost for this would be $150 US.  Since this is not in my budget for this year, if you would like to donate toward this purchase, please let me know.  I think it's an investment well worth making.