Linear Abacus

The Linear Abacus™ is a new classroom tool used to help students learn and make meaning of mathematical concepts. It was designed to provide a consistent multiyear resource for teaching algebraic thinking as the basis for STEM subjects. For children, learning to manipulate materials to make meaning of mathematical concepts and to generate mathematical activity is a crucial step in their development. Meaning can be achieved as they learn to use and talk about the materials to build intuitive understanding of key mathematical ideas. The Linear Abacus™ allows children to learn through their actions and gestures, through their observations, by constructing models, by translating mathematical ideas, or by demonstrating how numbers interact with their world. For teachers, this tool provides a wholistic approach to the teaching of numeration and arithmetic, where language and number interact in framing concepts. The Linear Abacus™ embodies all the arithmetical relationships covered in the primary and early secondary stages of schooling and can be used to teach arithmetic for understanding. This means that the teaching of arithmetic with the Linear Abacus™ goes beyond rote learning procedures. At Linear Abacus we provide a wide range of activities, sequences, and professional learning suites which target areas in mathematics assessment, numeration, arithmetic-including whole numbers and fraction numbers, measurement- including length, area, volume and the metric units, and statistical representations. All materials are supported by current educational research and highlight key teaching strategies that promote active learning and sense making in the mathematics classroom. Our mathematics consultants can provide schools with new mathematical content knowledge, skills and resources required to teach mathematics with meaning.