Building Thinking Classrooms Conference 2026

How do we incorporate manipulatives into the Thinking Classroom? How can we build thinking tasks based on manipulatives? How can we build conceptual understanding through thin-sliced tasks which utilize manipulatives? Can manipulatives be used for “spicy” tasks? Participants will have the opportunity to consider ways to use manipulatives when designing thinking tasks and thin-sliced tasks. In my work with teachers using Building Thinking Classrooms, many of them have immediately adopted using VNPS and try to incorporate using them into every lesson. However, the elementary teachers I support have struggled to incorporate manipulative use particularly if their boards are not magnetic. They see the value of both using manipulatives to help build conceptual understanding but wonder if that fits within the BTC model. We also want to remove any stigma of using a tool or manipulatives in the classroom. By creating thinking tasks that focus on manipulative use we help students (and teachers) see that these tools and representations are not just for students “who need them” but a resource that helps all students think deeply about mathematics.A remediation to this type of thinking is focusing on task creation. Selecting appropriate thinking tasks is critical to a thinking classroom. So helping teachers create thin sliced problems and thinking tasks that incorporate manipulatives still meet the thinking component of BTC. Allowing students to use both manipulatives and VNPS allows students to show their thinking with physical tools or pictorial representations on VNPS.This session will focus on using manipulatives to create larger thinking tasks and thin sliced tasks in elementary classrooms. Teachers will be able to collaborate on creating these tasks using manipulatives and pictorial representations.