At Perceptions Math, we have looked and listened to what prominent researchers have shown works in math instruction.
Our products align with the latest research and are designed, based on that research, to change the way you look at math. Perceptions Math is grounded in the use of the concrete representational abstract (CRA) instructional sequence. The use of CRA to teach struggling math learners has a strong research base (e.g. Butler, Miller, Crehan, Babbit, & Pierce, 2003; Maccini & Hughes, 2000; Maccini & Ruhl, 2000; Witzel, 2005).
The program also includes the use of multiple strategy instructions, video anchored instruction, and reciprocal teaching, which are effective research-based practices (Gersten et al., 2009). Having observed different math curricula that used physical representations we were not satisfied that the manipulatives used, nor the methodologies taught, were as effective as they could be in helping students develop computational, conceptual, and application understanding.
Seeing the power of manipulatives like base-ten blocks and other similar rod style manipulatives we also observed what we considered to be weaknesses in the manipulatives abilities to move students forward in their math progression. Such as continuing to require students to count when moving into addition concepts, or taking large amounts of time assembling units or groups when time is a precious commodity not to be wasted.
Thus, the MasterPieces mastery math manipulatives were born!
The manipulatives are unique and are capable of being used by kindergarten students as well as high school students to move from counting to algebraic concepts using the same manipulatives throughout their math journey.
The MasterPieces transcend grade level instruction and provide years of concrete and representational examples for all arithmetic concepts taught in elementary and middle school math.
To accompany the MasterPieces, we also created the MasterFractions fraction manipulatives to move students from whole numbers to understanding fractions, while maintaining consistency with the conceptual basis of the MasterPieces.
