This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of using Blockaid material for the
teaching and learning of number concepts and of operations in middle primary school.
Blockaid is base 10 material designed to model number in multiple representations.
The different representations facilitate the modelling of procedures which follow the
same steps of the formal algorithms of addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division.
The hypothesis is that the external connections formed through the manipulation of
structured materials aids the construction of internal cognitive networks by the learner
in the building of conceptual knowledge. Knowledge formed in this way is rich in
relationships and leads to better understanding of number and operational concepts.
While the results of the study indicate that the procedures with Blockaid improved
performance only with subtraction, more than the traditional direct instruction
approach, the implications are that with improved modelling better procedures can be
devised using structured materials to improve teaching and learning of all operations.
Ongoing research is needed the evaluate the benefits of using of multi-representational
materials, rather than single unit structures, to represent the base 10 number system.
Further research should focus on establishing better procedures for modelling the
operations of multiplication and division. These operations seem to involve higher
levels of processing load than addition or subtraction.