What happens when students no longer use the game pieces? How do they transfer their learning?

Lesson 7 of Hands-On Equations introduces students to a pictorial notation they can use to solve the equations. Hence, they are no longer dependent on the concrete materials to solve equations such as 4x + 3 = 3x + 9 or 2(2x + 4) = x + 14.  Many students can also transfer their learning to a mental solution as noted here.