Lesson footage
Teaching problem-solving strategies (opens in a new tab)
Research Schools Network · UK
Worked solutions used as a framework for teaching specific problem-solving skills.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Maths
Representations and problem solving
How concrete materials, pictures and bar models build understanding, and how to teach students to solve problems. I've gathered videos and webinars on manipulatives, bar models and the concrete, pictorial, abstract approach, and on teaching problem solving explicitly.
Practices in this area:Concrete, pictorial, abstractManipulativesBar modelsWorked solutionsProblem-solving strategies
Watch 5
Lesson footage
The power of presenting the problem and solution together (opens in a new tab)
Research Schools Network · UK
Worked examples in mathematical problem solving, with problem and solution shown together.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Lesson footage
NCETM National Curriculum videos: Multiplicative reasoning (bar model) (opens in a new tab)
NCETM · Upper primary · UK
Lesson videos using the bar model and double number line to support reasoning and problem solving.
FreeOpens at ncetm.org.uk
Lesson with commentary
Manipulatives: Which, why, how (opens in a new tab)
Research Schools Network · UK
Which manipulatives to use, why, and how they deepen understanding in maths.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Lesson footage
Using images for retrieval in the primary classroom (opens in a new tab)
Research Schools Network · Primary · UK
Visual representations used to help pupils retrieve concepts in primary maths.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Learn 3
Webinar
An Introduction to Bar Modelling (opens in a new tab)
Think Forward Educators, with Jess Easton · About 1 hour · 2025 · Australia
Jess Easton shows how bar models bridge concrete materials and abstract calculation, and how to pair them with written methods so students see the structure of a problem.
FreeOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
Webinar
Explicit Teaching and Problem Solving, Using the Instructional Hierarchy (opens in a new tab)
Think Forward Educators, with Sean Alston · About 50 minutes · 2025 · Australia
Sean Alston explains the four stages of the Instructional Hierarchy and uses primary maths examples to show when to teach explicitly and when problem solving fits.
FreeOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
Webinar
Teaching Fractions Using an Explicit CRA Approach (opens in a new tab)
Think Forward Educators, with Esther White, Maths Australia · 30 to 60 minutes · 2024 · Australia
Esther White shows how to teach fractions, decimals and percentages through an explicit concrete, representational, abstract sequence with consistent language and a single hands-on tool.
Free account neededOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
Listen 2
Alex Quigley and Grace Coker explore problem solving in maths and why it is a priority, with guests including Camilla Gilmore and Helen Drury.
FreeOpens at evidenceintoaction.podbean.com
Concrete and pictorial representations
Why manipulatives matter in the maths classroom (opens in a new tab)
Evidence into Action
Sue Gifford discusses the research evidence on manipulatives in maths, then primary and secondary practitioners describe how they use them in classrooms.
FreeOpens at evidenceintoaction.podbean.com
Read 1
Building Thinking Classrooms is still nonsense (opens in a new tab)
Greg Ashman (Filling the Pail) · Substack · 2024 · Australia
Ashman critiques Building Thinking Classrooms, arguing that it defines explained and modelled instruction as not thinking and that its claims are not supported by cognitive science.
FreeOpens at fillingthepail.substack.com