Other Virtual Collections

Overview:

This page contains a number of other websites that list multiple virtual tools teachers might use. Not all of the manipulatives on these websites have been organized on this website and these collections might be useful to find additional virtual tools to use in the classroom.

Description: The PBS website contains a number of interactive math activities that students can try. Many of these activities give prompts to help students through them. They can be sorted by grade to help teachers hone into to which activities might be suitable for their students.

Features: There are a little over 350 interactive activities for students to try. It appears that all of the activities are built to run in modern web browsers.

Cons: Many of the activities have only three or four sample questions built into them.

Description: Dreambox contains a number of interactive applets that are designed to be used by the teacher when teaching mathematics. There are lesson plans that go along with the interactive applets.

Features: There are a number of applets sorted by grade and concept. All apps appear to be useable across multiple devices.

Cons: Apps tend to be step by step and are less flexible to multiple concepts.

Description: NRich provides a number of interactive activities on their website for students and teachers of primary to seconday mathematics.

Features: There are hundreds of activities for students from Grade 1 to 12. There is an age group given for each activity to help identify where they should be used. Teachers can also browse by mathematical topic.

Cons: Some of the activities are still flash or java based. It is difficult to tell which activities have virtual interactivity as a lot are required to be printed to do.

Description: Mathbots contains a number of virtual manipulatives and tools for teachers to use. All activities are low bandwidth usage and work across any device. While many of the manipulatives have been listed on this website, a number of them

Features: There are a little over 28 manipulatives listed on the website. The manipulatives have a number of options that can be controlled by the teacher to create the desired manipulative environment. There are also a number of other tools and printable sheets available. All manipulatives respond well on touch devices.

Cons: The activity quality differs between manipulatives.

Description: This website contains a number of applets that have been created and shared by teachers around the world. The applets run in every browser and contain both activities and books. Activities being things students can do, books being lessons. Use the search bar to find lessons based on keywords you pick.

Features: There are multiple applets for the same mathematical concept, allowing a teacher to decide which on they want to use or to use multiple to highlight the same concept. Thousands of lessons and applets.

Cons: The applets are not organized by quality, grade, or strand. Therefore it might take opening several to find the one you want to use.

Description: This website contains a number of virtual tools as set out by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It contains games, lesson plans, and virtual manipulatives.

Features: Search by grade level or mathematics strand. Most features can be used in any web browser or on any tablet. NCTM is a current and active organization, meaning you can expect apps to be updated or more to be added.

Cons: While the apps are "touch-friendly" they do not typically work well on touch devices. Some apps still use Flash and will not be usable as of January 1st, 2021. Even with the search function, there are a lot of apps. The sheer number makes it hard to find ones that you might want to use.

Description: This website contains a number of virtual tools that can be sorted by various mathematical teachings more fine grained than other website. For example, one can find tools specifically for fractions or patterns.

Features: Has an iOS version of their software. Sorted into many categories of mathematics. Also sorted into grade groupings. Apps are tagged with the conceptual mathematics to be learned or used. Contains many different small virtual tools that students from K to 12 can use to learn mathematical lessons. Some applets have the ability to input questions into them, or set the initial conditions.

Cons: Not many of the activities can be used outside of select lessons or are easily extensible.

Website Link: http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Description: ***NOTE: Likely defunct and no longer being updated***

This website contains a number of virtual tools set out in a grid by grade and mathematical strand. The website is older, having been founded in 1999, and most of its apps and virtual tools are powered by Java. This means they may run on desktop computers (Macs and Windows), but will not likely run on tablets (Android or iOS).

Features: Easy to sort by grade and mathematical strand. Contains parent information to help parents use the applets. Contains instructions on how to use all the applets.

Cons: VERY hard to get working properly. May require a lot of technical support from your schools IT department to get it working. Website is becoming dated and many external links are broken. Most virtual manipulatives do not work with modern browsers.