This is the best free site you'll find for keeping students engaged and learning math!

I couldn't find a "contact us" form for CommonSense.org - writing this review is my way of giving you a heads up about this dead tool for the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. While I know that the "updated" link on this learning resource listing is 2013, the phase-out of Chome/Java compatibility happened shortly thereafter (they stopped offering it in the Chrome store around 2014 or 2015). It would help if materials on the CommonSense database looked fresh; it may help to have staff review any Website that still requires Java. Sadly, in Dec. 2020, sites requiring Adobe Flash will begin to face the same problem. Screening for these major browser incompatibilities - not small ones, but these really really big ones - could eliminate a lot of frustration. Note - the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website tries to link to an "App" version that can be downloaded, and doesn't therefore require Java. However, that entire site - MattiMath.com - is no longer working, and I can find few references on the web after 2018.

My overall opinion of this product is that is a very useful teaching tool. I like that I can access this resource when I find a student is not understanding a certain concept and I can show them visually to help them understand. The only difficulty I found with this site is that it can be difficult to locate specific visuals.

This is one of my "GOTO" sites for my Pre Algebra and Algebra classes. Once I have done whole class instruction using the book. I them move onto in class manipulatives. There are still some students that can not grasp the concept. NLVM is my next step. The Algebra Balance Scales and Algebra Tiles seems to be able to help those last students that still need some additional instruction.