Augmented reality‐based virtual manipulatives versus physical manipulatives for teaching geometric shapes to preschool children

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 3376-3390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynep Gecu‐Parmaksiz ◽  
Omer Delialioglu
Author(s):  
Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham ◽  
Arla Westenskow

In this paper, we revisit the research on virtual manipulatives by synthesizing the findings from 104 research reports, with 46 studies yielding 104 effect size scores reporting the effects of VMs on student achievement. The 104 reports also contributed to a conceptual synthesis analysis that produced categories of affordances that promote mathematical learning. The results of the effect size scores analysis yielded overall moderate effects for VMs compared with other instructional treatments, which was consistent with the first meta-analysis we conducted. There were large, moderate, and small effects when VMs were compared with physical manipulatives, textbooks, and examined by mathematical domains, grade levels, study duration, study quality, year of study publication, and study size. Revisiting the affordance categories confirmed our first analysis which produced five categories of features in the VMs that promoted students' mathematical learning (motivation, simultaneous linking, efficient precision, focused constraint, and creative variation).


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (8) ◽  
pp. 1088-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oai Ha ◽  
Ning Fang

An innovative educational technology called interactive virtual and physical manipulatives (VPM) is developed to improve students’ spatial skills. With VPM technology, not only can students touch and play with real-world physical manipulatives in their hands but also they can see how the corresponding virtual manipulatives (i.e., computer graphics) simultaneously change in real time. The assessment results show that VPM technology resulted in a 21.3% normalized learning gain in the posttest as compared with the pretest. Gender difference in spatial scores was reduced from 22.9% in the pretest to only 5.5% in the posttest. The t-test results revealed a statistically significant effect ( p = .032) of VPM technology on student learning, with Hedges’ g effect size of 0.54. The majority of the students surveyed (71.9%) preferred using both VPM, rather than virtual or physical manipulatives alone, because the two types of manipulatives provide two simultaneous channels for learning.


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