Is our fondness for Cuisenaire Rods just nostalgia?

>Something that Alan Kay posted to the list made me wonder if rods have
>gone out of fashion in some countries.
>
>I did some reading around and found other people saying the same thing.
>
>Then I started to wonder if the desire of some of us to see the next
>generation taught with these lovely tactile tools was merely the
>nostalgia of an older generation for our schooldays.   We can't have
>been that much more fluent in 'mathland' than the current generation,
>can we?
>
>This article reinforced my nostalgia hypothesis:
>
>http://web.archive.org/web/20070208071928/http://parents.sociality.tv/about/parents.pdf
>
>See the phrase "According to the company that sells them, their customers are
>people like myself, on whom they made a lasting impression, or
>grandparents whose children used them successfully in the 60s
>and 70s. "
>
>But this one made me wonder why my class 'grew out' of rods sometime
>in the second grade:
>
>http://web.archive.org/web/20070208071928/http://parents.sociality.tv/about/socialityohs.pdf
>
>How strong is the research that says that they work?
>
>I read that there is a plan to bring rods to Etoys, but I can't find
>that plan, and I saw that another firm has created rod software first.
>
>http://www.numicon.com/pages/interactivewhiteboard.aspx
>
>Should OLPC be distributing teacher instruction cards, or pupil
>activity guides based on rods, and encouraging local artisans to cut
>and paint real physical rods (and baseboards, frames and boxes)?   Or
>even simulated Etoys rod objects?
>
>If there is still an Etoys rods project, please point me towards it.
>
>David
>
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