With the advent of computers and classroom projectors, educators have a world of resources at their fingertips. However, when we let our fingers do the walking in the virtual world, we and our students miss the physical and creative aspects of learning. Numerous studies have shown that doing (as opposed to simply listening or reading) is the best way to learn.

Educators have always employed physical models to aid in instruction. During much of the nineteenth century and the twentieth up to the advent of classroom computers, makers of mathematical devices for the classroom abounded. See Multi-Sensory Aids in Teaching Mathematics (1966) of The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and reprinted by the American Mathematical Society for a look at the types and diversity of mathematical models and apparatus used in classrooms during the first half of the twentieth century.

Historically, scientists and mathematicians have constructed models to help them explore the physical world, be it in engineering, chemistry, physics, astronomy, or the realm of pure mathematics. In addition, the daily practice and use of mathematics was tied to the use of devices such as counting boards and the abacus, and in science with the use of astrolabes, quadrant finders, and the like. The physical items used both in the practice of mathematics and its teaching, are an important part of our mathematical heritage. I believe exploring these items adds a level of understanding that is not available with computer simulations.