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WGU D180 Task 2 |Passed on First Attempt
|Latest Update with Complete Solution
Writing an Annotated Bibliography
Angela Taylor
MSCIN Program, Western Governors University
D180: Educational Research
June 2, 2025
Research Purpose
The purpose of this research is to create a professional development program to
provide teachers with the knowledge and strategies to incorporate manipulatives into their
math classroom lessons and increase students conceptual understanding. This directly aligns
to my problem statement because many teachers are not properly trained or educated to use
manipulatives in their lessons. This causes them to rely on using instructional strategies that do
not teach conceptual understanding successfully.
Annotated Bibliography
Satsagi, R., & Raines, A. R. (2023). Examining Virtual Manipulatives for Teaching Computations
With Fractions to Children with Mathematics Difficulty. Journal of Learning Disabilities,
56 (4), 295-309. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194221097710
, 2
This is a journal article found in the Journal of Learning Disabilities. It is a peer reviewed
article. This article is relevant to my proposed capstone research because the study discusses
the use of virtual manipulatives, combined with direct instruction for elementary students who
are having some level of difficulty. The outcomes in this source show that all three students
were able to achieve and maintain proficiency of 100% after small break and without the use of
manipulatives. This shows that students were able to take the knowledge from using virtual
manipulatives to problem solve abstractly.
A strength of this source is its ability to show how effective using manipulatives can be
in elementary classroom settings. It shows that students used the manipulatives to assist in
building a stronger conceptual understanding to become proficient. A weakness is that the
study was limited to one type of manipulative. In this source, students were not exposed to
multiple types or offered options.
Furman, C. (2017). Making Sense With Manipulatives: Developing Mathematical Experiences
for Early Childhood Teachers. Journal of Education and Culture 33 (2), 67-86.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5703/educationculture.33.2.0067
This article is published in the Education and Culture Journal from 2017. It is applicable
to the proposed capstone research because the article discusses how early childhood math
instruction is important to help children make sense of mathematical concepts. The findings
go on to reveal that manipulatives are often brought into the early childhood classroom to
promote “hands-on” learning without facilitating making sense. Students need to make sense
of math and not simply go through the motions.
A strength of this article is to show that when children make sense of mathematics, they
WGU D180 Task 2 |Passed on First Attempt
|Latest Update with Complete Solution
Writing an Annotated Bibliography
Angela Taylor
MSCIN Program, Western Governors University
D180: Educational Research
June 2, 2025
Research Purpose
The purpose of this research is to create a professional development program to
provide teachers with the knowledge and strategies to incorporate manipulatives into their
math classroom lessons and increase students conceptual understanding. This directly aligns
to my problem statement because many teachers are not properly trained or educated to use
manipulatives in their lessons. This causes them to rely on using instructional strategies that do
not teach conceptual understanding successfully.
Annotated Bibliography
Satsagi, R., & Raines, A. R. (2023). Examining Virtual Manipulatives for Teaching Computations
With Fractions to Children with Mathematics Difficulty. Journal of Learning Disabilities,
56 (4), 295-309. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194221097710
, 2
This is a journal article found in the Journal of Learning Disabilities. It is a peer reviewed
article. This article is relevant to my proposed capstone research because the study discusses
the use of virtual manipulatives, combined with direct instruction for elementary students who
are having some level of difficulty. The outcomes in this source show that all three students
were able to achieve and maintain proficiency of 100% after small break and without the use of
manipulatives. This shows that students were able to take the knowledge from using virtual
manipulatives to problem solve abstractly.
A strength of this source is its ability to show how effective using manipulatives can be
in elementary classroom settings. It shows that students used the manipulatives to assist in
building a stronger conceptual understanding to become proficient. A weakness is that the
study was limited to one type of manipulative. In this source, students were not exposed to
multiple types or offered options.
Furman, C. (2017). Making Sense With Manipulatives: Developing Mathematical Experiences
for Early Childhood Teachers. Journal of Education and Culture 33 (2), 67-86.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5703/educationculture.33.2.0067
This article is published in the Education and Culture Journal from 2017. It is applicable
to the proposed capstone research because the article discusses how early childhood math
instruction is important to help children make sense of mathematical concepts. The findings
go on to reveal that manipulatives are often brought into the early childhood classroom to
promote “hands-on” learning without facilitating making sense. Students need to make sense
of math and not simply go through the motions.
A strength of this article is to show that when children make sense of mathematics, they
