Author: jayne@dynamicrepresentations.com

Sort playing cards into suits as an introduction to collecting and simplifying like terms and seamlessly move to algebra tiles.

Base-10 blocks give students a geometric model of place value, making the multiplicative structure of our number system visible. The proportional relationships between “ones”, “tens”, and “hundreds” are not just stated—they are seen and handled. This supports conceptual place-value understanding, especially for learners who rely on concrete and visual representations… When we allow students to explore base 2–10 using consistent block structures,…

3D representations of algebra tiles allow students to see the difference between y2x and x2y