ion for placing confidence in the fact that positive findings observed for elementary school students will generalize to middle school students.
Clearly, what is needed is an empirical study of the effectiveness of manipulatives on middle school students. The proposed research constitutes such a study. Specifically, the research problem proposed for investigation is that of determining the effectiveness of selected manipulatives of the basic performance of below average eighth grade students. The general purpose, therefore, is to determine whether manipulatives will ehnance the learning of mathematics for low achieving middle school students.
Given that the existing research on the effectiveness of manipulatives on underachieving eighth grade students is sparce, it seems reasonable to state that the existing body of research is not sufficiently comprehensive so as to offer a firm foundation for the formulation of a directional hypothesis. For this reason, the study's resarch hypothesis is stated as a null thesis.
Null Hypothesis. There will be no significant difference in achievement between below-average eigth grade students who are instructed with the manipulative apporoach to integer and fraction concepts and comparable students who instructed using a fractional aporoach to integer and fraction concepts.
The proposed research is needed as an expansion of the existing research. In this regard, Kim (1993) has noted that there has been a good deal of research conducted on the effectiveness of manipulatives indicating that the methodology enhances mathematics learning through facilitating the student's transition from concrete to abstract levels of thought.
However, much of the research conducted on manipulatives has utilized samples of elementary level students (Ohanian, 1992). Therefore, this study of the use of manipulatives with middle school children will contribute to the existing database by explorin...