THE IMPACT OF MANIPULATIVE-BASED INSTRUCTION ON CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF ARITHMETIC IN EARLY PRIMARY GRADES

Abstract

A persistent challenge in early primary mathematics education is bridging the gap between procedural fluency and deep conceptual understanding. While concrete manipulatives are widely recommended, their implementation is often sporadic, and their long-term impact on transferable knowledge remains underexplored.
This longitudinal, quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a systematic, manipulative-based instructional program versus traditional abstract-symbolic instruction on second-grade students' conceptual understanding of arithmetic, procedural fluency, and ability to transfer knowledge to novel problems.
A sustained, structured manipulative-based program significantly enhances deep conceptual understanding and problem-solving transfer in early arithmetic. The findings advocate for moving beyond occasional use of manipulatives to a deliberate, scaffolded pedagogical framework that explicitly connects physical action to mathematical abstraction. Professional development must equip teachers with strategies for this sequenced integration.