Cuisenaire Rods to Teach Mathematical Concepts

Seventy Fire years ago a Belgian teacher, Georges Cuisenaire invented a unique system to teach abstract math concepts using colored cardboard strips of varying length. This predecessor to the classic product known worldwide as Cuisenaire® Rods changed mathematics education. The main reason these rods are useful in the teaching of mathematical concepts is that they move the student from a concrete representation of mathematics that leads to a greater understanding of the abstract mathematical process. These rods can be used to teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, geometry, general measurement.

The rod that represents a unit of 1 is colored white; Red represents a unit of two; a light green represents the unit of three; light purple represents the unit of four; yellow represents a unit of 5; dark green represents six; black represents a unit of 7; brown represents a unit of 8; dark blue represents a unit of 9; orange represents a unit of 10. There are many websites with information about the use of these rods and have information about ordering the rods and different versions of the rods (some types can be connected).

When I was teaching a course on "Mathematics for the Elementary School Teacher" we used the rods during the class to give pre-teachers experience with using these rods. The graphic shows a first page of a power point presentation about the use of the rods that I used with my class. You may want to have a set of rods available for each student, but you may be able to use one set with small groups of students. Different sets contain different quantities of each color rod, with the smaller rods having a higher quantity. A typical set might contain 22 white, 12 red, 10 light green, 6 purple, 4 yellow, 4 dark green, 4 black, 4 brown, 4 blue, and 4 orange.

Teachers may want to mark each rod in a particular set with a small mark on one side, so that they can keep each set identified and together. You may want to keep a few sets unused to be used to replace lost or missing rod segments. The white segment and the red segment could be placed on the desk and can be then compared directly with the light green segment to show how one plus two equals three.

There are thousands of possible mathematics simulations that can be accomplished with these rods but teachers should practice and plan to use them properly during class. The use of these rods can become only "play" without discovery and without "mathematical" concepts. Students need to be careful not to put these rods into their mouth - they could easily be a "chocking" hazard. If the teacher makes models of these rods to use on an overhead projector, they must be printed on a clear acetate, in color that represents the different rods and values. If produced in a Power Point (TM) presentation then you may want to have navigation buttons or a menu driven presentation to take you to the proper lesson quickly.

Strips of paper can also be produced to simulate the actual rods, but the proportions and colors should be maintained. Practice with the rods should be carefully monitored. In a local private school each student was required to purchase their own set of rods to use in class. I have wanted to make a much larger set of the rods to be used in front of the classroom. It might be fun to have a a white unit for example that was about 6 x 6 x 6 inches in length with all the other units proportionally scaled upward. If these larger versions could have one side with a magnetic strip they might be able to be attached to some types of "blackboards" which are now the "Dry Erase" boards. Some of the new dry erase boards have a iron metallic backing that would hold a magnetic material.