Using Virtual Manipulatives Based on Misconception to Assist After-School Remedial Instruction: A Case Study

The learning of subtraction is essential for elementary students. However, common subtraction misconceptions hinder mathematics underachievers from learning subtraction. These underachievers usually need repeated explanation in many times and in different ways to understand some concept. Actually, teachers have to consider the progresses of all students in the class and thus cannot spend a lot of time in explaining some concept for underachievers. After-school volunteer tutoring emerges as one kind of possibility to solve this problem. Although nonprofessional tutors have time to explain concepts for underachievers, they do not know how to teach. As more and more undergraduate students act as voluntary tutors for rural pupils after school, these nonprofessional tutors need a supporting environment to facilitate the tutoring process. In this study, a simple tutoring method based on misconception diagnosis is proposed, and manipulatives are prepared for voluntary tutors to use. First, the tutor identifies the tutee´s misconception by conducting a diagnostic test. Then, the tutor applies several kinds of manipulatives to make the tutee understand the concept. Further, a case study is conducted to explore the effects and limitations of the proposed approach. Evaluation results indicate that despite the need for further improvement, the two-phased tutoring is effective for correcting subtraction misconceptions. Finally, recommendations for future research are proposed.