Ed Tech 101
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In ancient times, manipulatives have been used mostly for Mathematical purposes. Records show that the oldest surviving counting board is the Salamis Tablet, used by the Babylonians around 300BC.
During Greek and Roman times, the Roman hand-abacus was created out of stone and metal. The Abacus that we know today first appeared in 1200 AD in China. They call it the suan-pan. There were also variations made by the Japanese and the Russians.
With the advent of personal computers and virtual learning, researches also developed manipulatives further by creating programs and animated images that can be manipulated by the user. Because of this, manipulatives are now being used by a lot of different fields of study, and have been really helpful especially in the field of Science.
In ancient times, manipulatives have been used mostly for Mathematical purposes. Records show that the oldest surviving counting board is the Salamis Tablet, used by the Babylonians around 300BC.
History of Manipulatives
The very first manipulatives were used for mathematical purposes. It was only in the 1800s that the education system started using hands-on learning in schools, and in the 1900s that it was formally introduced in the basic education classes. Later on, manipulatives for older students were also developed as well as digital manipulatives.