Title: Examining 

Computational Skills in Prekindergarteners: The
Effects of Traditional and Digital Manipulatives in a Prekindergarten Classroom

Authors: Cassandra Mattoon, Alan Bates, Rena Shifflet, Nancy Latham, Sarah Ennis

Year of Publication: January, 2016

Introduction

Digital technology plays an inevitable role in our daily lives as well as in educational settings. According to
the Cultural Historial Activity Theory (CHAT), digital technology is a tool for both teaching and to be
taught. The use of technology in with lower age groups has had its share of arguments on both ends,
largely leaning towards it being inappropriate for this age group. However, computers have proven to be
effective in increasing children’s mathematical knowledge.

This study uses a performance-based assessment to compare the impact of digital manipulatives against
traditional manipulatives on children’s computational concepts and skills.

Manipulatives and Mathematics in Early Learning Environment

Manipulatives are any objects that help the student explore an idea in an active, hands-on approach.
Previously, only concrete, hand-held objects were used as manipulatives. Pedagogues like Fröbel and
Maria Montessori introduced manipulatives in their classrooms which provided necessary support for
learners whose thinking is fundamentally concrete.

The Inclusion of Digital Technology in the Early Learning Environment

Digital manipulatives are electronic manipulations of objects on touch devices. The introduction of digital
technology in early childhood classrooms has been largely debated. However, use of tablets with young
children has been proven to be associated with advanced fine motor skills. Introduction to digital devices
also helps in developing 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity and critical
thinking skills. Hence, it’s the duty of the teachers to ensure that they’re well-versed with the technology
being used, the activities and assessments remains aligned with the curriculum as well as remains age
appropriate.

Research questions

1) Are digital manipulatives effective tools for increasing prekindergarten children’s computational
skills?
2) Do traditional or digital manipulatives have a greater impact on improving children’s computation
skills?

Methods

The Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA-3) was used to gather quantitative data of students’
computational mathematical concepts and skills. Participants(students) of the study were divided into two
groups, one of which were provided with digital manipulatives and the other with traditional, concrete
manipulatives during math instruction.
24 students participated in this study which included students from different socio-economic and ethnic
backgrounds. The age group of these students were around 4 and 5 years old. The students in the school
were divided in morning and afternoon class groups. The morning class group for randomly selected as
the traditional manipulatives group whereas, the afternoon group was selected as the digital
manipulatives group.

The TEMA-3 which is used to test the formal and informal mathematical concepts and skills in children
from the age of 3 years to 8 years, 11 months old. The mathematical concepts included here in this test
are number comparison facility, numeral literacy, mastery of number facts, calculation skills, and
understanding of number concepts.

Procedures

The TEMA-3 test was given to children individually over a period of 2 weeks to identify areas to focus on
during the small group instruction. Lowest scores were received in five test items in number concepts and
calculation and hence, these were picked to ensure that the children benefit from the instruction and
practice. The identified computational skills included -

 concrete modeling of addition (e.g., using manipulatives to add two sets together)
 solving “missing addend” problems (e.g., I have some apples with me in a basket; my sister gives
me four more apples, now I have seven apples all together. How many apples were with me in
the basket?)
 mental addition (e.g., recalling basic facts or solving addition problems without manipulatives)
 equal division (e.g., sharing a group of objects equally among a given number of people)
 counting on strategies (e.g., being able to continue counting on from a number other than one
when adding sets together)

Children were randomly divided into groups of fours or fives and were given mathematics instruction two
days a week, for 15 minutes each addressing one subcategory per week. Both the traditional and digital
manipulatives class were given instructions in small groups, while ensuring that they cover the same
concepts everyday including the same vocabulary, instructions and examples with the only major
difference being the manipulatives used.

The traditional group followed the cycle of problem, solution and feedback for each question whereas the
students in the digital manipulatives group were able to move through the questions independently, at
their own pace. At the end of six weeks, all the children were tested using TEMA-3 to establish the growth
in computational skills.

Findings

The study aimed to sought if digital manipulatives are as effective as traditional manipulatives in aiding
children’s understanding of mathematical computation.

Are digital manipulatives effective tools for increasing prekindergarten children’s computation skills?

The pre-test and post test scores showed significant difference of M = 1.50, SD = 1.24 and M = 2.83, SD
= 1.19 suggesting that digital manipulatives in math instruction do help children in improvement of
computational skills. However, a significant difference was also observed in the pretest (M =1.50, SD =
1.24) and posttest (M = 2.83, SD = 1.19) scores of the traditional manipulatives group indicating that
these also help in improving computational skills.

Do traditional or digital manipulatives have a greater impact on improving computation skills?

Considering that was no significant difference of computational skills in the pretest, it was established that
the traditional and digital manipulatives group were not very different at the beginning of the study. While
comparing the computational scores of the traditional and digital manipulative groups in in the post-test,
no significant difference was observed suggesting that the two groups did not vary in the computational
skills acquired post instruction.

Conclusion

1. As indicated by the findings of this study, both concrete and digital manipulatives are effective
tools for enhancing children’s computational skills. Towards the end of six weeks, both the groups
 showed notable improvement in their ability to solve computational problems. This addresses the
major debate on technology only appropriate for ‘edutainment’ purposes as claimed by critics.
2. In this study, children were successfully able to manipulate objects in multiple ways, proving that
two dimensional objects also provide visual representation of symbolic assumptions, thus making
learning more concrete, like three dimensional objects.
3. Digital technology are tools used by most children in everyday lives. Also, technological games
have the potential to motivate children to learn in new and different ways. Technology can
introduce or reinforce skills in an existing curriculum. It is important that educators understand the
influence these new digital technologies have on how children learn and identify tools and
develop lesson plans to make utmost use of it. With constant evolution in technology, it becomes
imperative for educators to evaluate as well as explore new technologies.

Limitations

1. The sample size of the study being small restricts us from generalizing the findings.
2. The manipulatives can also not be isolated to state that they’re the main variable aiding
mathematical knowledge since children are exposed to mathematical concepts in various ways –
in other lessons, in play-based activities, through parents/guardians introducing mathematical
concepts to children at home. Hence, neither traditional nor digital manipulatives can be declared
as the only source of improved performance on TEMA-3.