In 1993, TERC in Cambridge, Massachusetts developed Tabletop with Broderbund. This was a software tool for collecting, visualizing, and analyzing data. My math colleague and I beta-tested Tabletop and Tabletop jr., and found that it could enable meaningful data analysis activities for students as young as kindergarten. Tabletop Jr. replicates on the computer screen the physical objects or manipulatives that students use in math class sorting activities. Teachers can set up lessons with the kits that connect with the real manipulatives that have been used off-computer.
Students can also create their own set of objects with attributes that they select .
The computer can sort the objects according to various methods. It will bunch and stack according to one attribute, sort along two axes with two attributes, and create Venn diagrams using up two or three loops. Linking and tiling capability offers further problem-solving activities. The handbook that comes with the program offers great practical lessons plans. Tabletop Sr. takes the graphical sorting activities a step further.