Connect 10

The Maker of “Connect 10” tells us that she created a manipulative in order to help students gain “a better understanding visually of multiplication, [which in turn will] allow the user to gain a better understanding of multiplication facts.” By using “Connect 10”, the user will be given the opportunity to explore the concepts of multiplication in a way that will provide them with flexible thinking rather than reliance on the typical memorization of multiplication tables. The Maker explains its use: “The user will use the manipulative to build their way from a factor to a product by finding the missing factor. They will be able to visually see the starting factor and how they will be able to get to the end or product. The array that they will have to create will allow for them to know what this missing factor is. This will be done by having to create a [rectangular] figure.” It is important to point out that the maker of this tool wanted to create something familiar that would invite students to interact with it while they work towards finding solutions and building mathematical connections.