This professional development set consists of materials for six workshops with a videotape and discussion guide for each. These workshops are intended to assist teachers of grades K-6 in improving classroom mathematics instruction through the use of manipulatives.

The purpose of these materials is to provide "support for teachers to help them understand why manipulative materials are valuable and to teach them how to use the materials with their classes" (all discussion guides, p. 5). The audience is intended to be elementary pre-service and in-service teachers and professional development providers; the author also suggests that the videotapes are appropriate to be shown to parents to inform them of the importance of the use of manipulative materials in the mathematical learning of their children.

Mathematics with Manipulatives effectively conveys the use of manipulatives in meaningful ways. The six videotapes, each approximately twenty minutes in length, are narrated by Marilyn Burns as she demonstrates how to incorporate different types of manipulatives in mathematics lessons. Five of the videotapes cover concepts and activities using a single manipulative per videotape (base ten blocks, color tiles, Cuisenaire rods, geoboards, and pattern blocks), and one addresses the use of six different models (unifix cubes, multilink cubes, color cubes, attribute blocks, tangrams, and two-color counters). The narration includes discussion of the importance of the concepts, suggestions for instruction at a variety of grade levels, and hints on how to manage problem-centered classrooms. The six Teacher Discussion Guides provide a detailed, sequential way to use the videotapes in a professional development program. Each guide presents the goals of the materials; options for their use with various audiences; detailed timetables for each unit; support information for in-service leaders; complete lesson information including discussion guidelines; and blackline masters for all activities.

The modeling of good teaching is apparent on all the videotapes. The discussions with the demonstration teachers and the voiceovers contributed by the author clarify the procedures used in the lessons and the student learning that results. There is a wide range of activities and mathematical concepts on the videotapes that illustrates the flexibility of the materials in developing mathematical ideas, and the organization of both the videotapes and the guides is clear and concise. The sequence of teachers exploring materials, viewing the videotapes, discussing the lessons and use of materials, and reflecting on all the activities encourages viewers to examine their own thinking about the teaching of mathematics.

The focus of these materials is to elicit students' thinking as they use the manipulatives in making sense of mathematics. Individual work, as well as small and large group work, is demonstrated and discussed. All these strategies demonstrate a concern for equitable teaching practice; student understanding of ideas and concepts is the goal, and individual differences in reaching such understanding are honored with the use of these materials.

These materials are valuable for both in-service and pre-service teacher professional development. Each videotape and corresponding guide is intended to be used in sequence with each step of the session described in detail. Each set may be used in one whole-day session or broken up over several after-school sessions.

One reviewer noted that, although this series was published before the release of the original NCTM Standards, the program is well aligned with standards-based concepts.