Virtual or physical: In-service and pre-service teacher's beliefs and preferences on manipulatives

Although the use of physical manipulatives, which have been emphasized to use in preschool education program and primary and secondary mathematics curriculum, in classroom environments is old, it is very new to use virtual manipulatives in classroom environments. The selection, preparation, and the integration to learning environments of both types of manipulatives are the most basic duties of teachers. However, the experiences, of using the physical and virtual manipulatives in course environments, of teachers and pre-service teachers are influenced by beliefs about the nature, teaching and learning of mathematics. The aim of this study is to determine and compare the beliefs of teachers and pre-service teachers in different branches for the use of virtual and physical manipulatives in mathematics education. For this purpose, 148 teachers, in the provinces of Trabzon, Kars and Gümüşhane, and 228 pre-service teachers, in the Education Faculties of Karadeniz Technical University and Kafkas University, have been applied two types of scales and interviews have been conducted with 40 teachers and pre-service teachers selected from that sample. Frequencies, percentages and arithmetic averages have been used to analyze the data. As a result, the majority of teachers and pre-service teachers have been identified to carry positive beliefs for the use of virtual and physical manipulatives in mathematics education and they have expressed that they desire to use both types of manipulatives more in the future.