ABSTRACT
Abstract reasoning can be a challenge for students, especially younger ones. This is because they think very much in concrete terms; this or that, black or white, wrong or right. Not all students naturally think abstractly. But how do we get them to do so using technology and math? One way to do this is through the use of manipulatives. The readers can also use technology to create manipulatives. There are several digital manipulatives available for students, such as ST Math, which often requires students to manipulate objects in order to arrive at the correct answer, or visual manipulatives like tangrams, which represent physical objects. Helping students to think abstractly, or develop outside-the-box thinking, will lead to more creativity and innovation. This chapter presents a project, where students will create their own code for others to try to solve, complete with a clue to breaking the code and an answer key.
