Wait, isn't this the opposite of what a math teacher is supposed to do? Attention-grabbing headline aside, I wanted to explore a method for learning mathematics I never used in school. Ever. As any proficient, self-righteous high school math student does, my years in secondary were spent whizzing through lessons and homework. From a young age, the abstractness of algebra and graphs and functions all made sense in my brain. Even though things became more difficult in my university math classes, I was generally still able to perform at a high level. However, I recently attended a session on using manipulatives ( toys , for lack of a better term) to help with math concepts and I felt so, so lost. This understanding of mathematics is much more spatial and therefore something my algebraic mind was much less comfortable with. Here is a specific problem we were given in this session: The Problem of My Nightmares My Solution (sort of) In a "normal...