Using concreteness in education: Real problems, potential solutions

A growing body of research suggests that the use of concrete materials is not a sure-fire strategy for helping children succeed in the classroom. Instead, concrete materials can help or hinder learning, depending on a number of different factors. Taken together, the articles in this issue highlight the complexities involved in using concrete materials in the classroom and warn educators and researchers that students' learning from concrete materials can be derailed in a number of ways, such as (a) choosing the wrong types of materials, (b) structuring the environment in ways that do not support learning from concrete materials, and (c) failing to connect concrete representations to abstract representations. Each of these problems is discussed and some potential solutions are offered.