ALL PLUSES AND NO MINUSES
"FLEXITABLES …aren't they, well, a bit low tech really?" So wondered the mother of one 5 year-old pupil at my learning success centre, where we use computers as the chief vehicle for promoting active/independent learning. Fortunately, although sceptical, that mother isn't a bit closed-minded. Her question was genuine; so I was able to explain. Like computers, Flexitable Maths Grids are a means of learning - a learning tool. Although you don't plug them in to anything, when it comes to learning about multiplication and division these 20cm square sheets of plastic, with a numbers grid on one side, win hands down every time. This is true right across the ability-board, from gifted and talented children to those with learning difficulties. How come? It's straightforward really.
Because Flexitables make mathematical processes concrete, they give me a means to model these processes and my pupils a means to externalise their thinking about them. This externalising isn't just visual either; it's tactile too. Children can physically manipulate Flexitables - a real boon, I've found, when teaching those with ADHD and Aspergers. So you can see how these tables help me promote active learning. By externalising mathematical thinking (mine as well as my pupils), they provide a focus for my dialogue and interaction with the children. A genuinely multimedia interaction too: these tables help me to exploit the triad of learning styles - visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. Of course Flexitables can only do all this because they also posses the necessary material or technical properties. As well being visually attractive and pleasant to handle, these moulded plastic sheets are pliable, portable and very durable - my set has been in constant use for over two years now. Equally important, they are inexpensive to buy. I regularly sell copies to parents - yes, including that sceptical mother I quoted at the beginning! After a brief introductory session, where the children explain how the tables work, parents actually enjoy helping them with maths at home. And because these tables fold easily into a pencil case or pocket, children happily take them into school as well. Like me, these parents would tell you the two things they value most about Flexitables. It's the mathematical insight they help us to build, both with young children starting out on maths and with those of any age struggling with the basics. And in the process it's the all-round confidence the tables help us to build as well. Insight and confidence are of course vital ingredients (and vital measures too) of independent learning. What else can I tell you? Just this perhaps. If you're wondering what's the downside to Flexitables, there is none. Well, none that I've found in two years anyway.
Elli Harrington
Centre Director
The Learnscape Learning Success Centre
Wombourne, South Staffs, England
© 2003 Elli Harrington & Flexitable Limited
Flexitable is a registered Trademark.