The use of golden beads in Montessori education is specifically designed to teach the concept of addition in a tactile and visual manner. This material allows children to physically manipulate the beads to represent numbers, which aids in developing a deeper understanding of quantity and value. When children combine groups of golden beads to find sums, they are actively engaging with the mathematical concepts at hand, making the learning process both concrete and meaningful.
In Montessori classrooms, the golden beads represent units, tens, hundreds, and thousands, which helps children to grasp the concept of place value as they build up numbers and perform addition. This hands-on experience is vital in the Montessori approach, as it encourages self-discovery and fosters a love for learning mathematics in an engaging way.
Other materials mentioned serve different functions. For instance, multiplication boards are geared towards teaching multiplication concepts, subtraction strip boards focus on subtraction, and dynamic operations with colors generally involve teaching various operations through color-coded materials but are not solely focused on addition specifically.