Are Manipulatives Necessary for Assessing Early Operations?

Tangible manipulatives are commonly used to teach mathematics and assess the mathematics understanding of young learners. However, manipulatives have drawbacks during assessment. To evaluate the utility and necessity of manipulatives during assessment of mathematical operations, examiners administer...

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Publicado en:Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 630 - 647
Autores principales: Furjanic, David, Anthony, Jason L., Williams, Jeffrey M., Foster, Matthew E., Assel, Mike A., Carlson, Coleen D., Pham, Thanh, Erazo, Noé
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. Sep2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Sep2026
      vid: 44
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      place: Thousand Oaks, California
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        atl: Are Manipulatives Necessary for Assessing Early Operations?
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          Furjanic, David
          Anthony, Jason L.
          Williams, Jeffrey M.
          Foster, Matthew E.
          Assel, Mike A.
          Carlson, Coleen D.
          Pham, Thanh
          Erazo, Noé
        affil: Rightpath Research & Innovation Center, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Mathematics
          Educational Measurement
          Child Development
          Language Development
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Child, Preschool
          Child
          Comparative Studies
          Descriptive Statistics
          Validation Studies
          Problem Solving
          Psychometrics
          Educational Status
          Early Childhood Intervention
          Teaching Materials
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          Motor Skills
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Questionnaires
          Data Analysis Software
          Factor Analysis
          Chi Square Test
          Funding Source
          Child, Preschool: 2-5 years
          Child: 6-12 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Tangible manipulatives are commonly used to teach mathematics and assess the mathematics understanding of young learners. However, manipulatives have drawbacks during assessment. To evaluate the utility and necessity of manipulatives during assessment of mathematical operations, examiners administered addition and subtraction problems with concrete manipulatives or pictorial supports to 2,390 children aged 2.8 to 6.7 years. We compared the impacts of test format (presentation of concrete manipulatives versus pictorial supports) and operation (addition versus subtraction) on test items' abilities to capture young learners' early operations abilities and on items' difficulties. Preliminary findings indicate both test formats and both mathematical operations equally well captured children's latent operations abilities. Students found addition items with pictorial supports easier than addition items presented with manipulatives, and they responded more quickly to test items presented with pictorial supports. Implications for assessment in early mathematics and future research are discussed.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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