Taken together, the evidence for the effects of using manipulatives to support student mathematics achievement across the primary and secondary grades is generally mixed and merits further scrutiny. Although some reviews reported positive effects for manipulative use, effects differed based on population and program characteristics. In addition, no published meta-analytic reviews about the effects of virtual manipulatives exist, despite their increasing availability and use in mathematics classrooms. Since much of the literature about manipulative use is
unpublished, especially recent studies involving virtual manipulative use, a meta-analysis investigating both physical and virtual manipulatives may help communicate these findings to cholars, practitioners, and policy makers alike