Cuisenaire Rods in a Mathematics Classroom
Cuisenaire Rods
"Georges Cuisenaire 1891-1976 showed in the early fifties that students who had been taught traditionally, and who were rated as "weak," took huge strides when they shifted to using the material. They became "very good" at traditional arithmetic when they were allowed to manipulate rods.
It was then demonstrated - in a number of countries in the late fifties - that children's progress came from the fact that the rods act as an algebraic model - for the algebra of arithmetic - making it possible to start with algebra instead of counting. It made sense to the students. They paid attention to perceptible attributes and had very little to memorize. Therefore they could re-invent, easily and on every occasion, what was needed to solve a problem, and did not worry that they might forget facts only held in their memory."
Caleb Gattegno - The Science of Education Part 2B: The Awareness of Mathematization, pp 7-8
Geoboard Geometry