Evelyn Agyei^1,, Dennis Cornelius Agamah¹, Gideon Entsie²

One of the many strategies by which students can bring meaning to abstract mathematical ideas is through the use of manipulatives. Manipulatives have the ability to help students learn new concepts and relate new concepts to what they have already learned. However, students’ ability to use them depends on their availability in schools. This study therefore examine the availability of manipulatives in Colleges of Education in Northern Ghana. By doing so 291 pre-service teachers who were randomly selected were presented with checklist to complete, while 8 college staff were interviewed of which 2 were the Heads of the mathematics and ICT department. The results revealed that concrete non-geometry manipulatives were available to pre-service teachers than the concrete geometry manipulatives. Geogebra emerged as the common virtual manipulatives readily available to pre-service teachers. The results further indicated that even though some concrete manipulatives were available, they were inadequate to enhance pre-service teachers’ learning of mathematics. In concluding, the paper suggests that pre-service teachers’ knowledge in mathematics can be enhanced if efforts are made by school authorities and other stakeholders to acquire concrete manipulatives while students are encouraged to purchase virtual manipulatives on their own.

concrete manipulatives, virtual manipulatives, geometry, Teaching and Learning