Help activate "mental hooks" containing previous bits of knowledge about a certain concept. These mental hooks or schemata provide students with something concrete to attach new information. Because snow is unfamiliar to kids living in a tropical climate, the description of a white chalky substance might evoke the mental image of baby powder or chalk dust, since that represents the concrete knowledge associated with white powdery substances. Expand previous knowledge by providing the concrete object to replace the abstract idea.
Create sensory-filled experiences. Students must hear, see, taste or touch an abstract concept before it has any meaning. Convey the knowledge you expect them to understand through demonstration, examples and the opportunity to experience the "real thing." According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, pencil-and-paper activities decrease children's motivation to learn. Abstract concepts require concrete depictions for successful solid learning comprehension.
Elicit questions instead of dispensing information. Build higher conceptual thinking skills by answering questions with another question. This encourages deeper thinking on a higher level than literal thinking. For example; a student asks, "Why is a globe round instead of square?" Ask the student, "Why IS a globe round instead of square?" After a class discussion, use a globe to illustrate the reasons of its shape, rather than another. The abstract idea becomes concrete through questioning and observing.
Most math concepts are abstract until students develop a tangible understanding of what they are learning. As students' schemata grow and cognitive abilities develop, they can use mental operations. When students first develop an understanding of math at a concrete level, they use this to link to abstract learning. Mental operations help them think more abstractly as they associate patterns of objects or relationships without the presence of actual objects.