Multiplication and Division Part A

Strand: Number
Outcomes: 4, 5

Step 3: Plan for Instruction

Guiding Questions

What learning opportunities and experiences should I provide to promote learning of the outcomes and permit students to demonstrate their learning?
What teaching strategies and resources should I use?
How will I meet the diverse learning needs of my students?

A. Assessing Prior Knowledge and Skills

Before introducing new material, consider ways to assess and build on the students' knowledge and skills related to multiplying and dividing.

Ways to Assess and Build on Prior Knowledge

B. Choosing Instructional Strategies

Consider the following guidelines for teaching mental mathematics strategies to determine basic multiplication facts to 9 × 9 and related division facts:

access the prior knowledge needed in learning number facts and encourage the development of a variety of mental strategies to suit the developmental level of each student
use story problems that will help the students develop mental strategies as they solve the problems. For example:
- use word problems to show the commutative property for multiplication by creating one problem in which 3 is the number of groups and another word problem in which 3 is the size of each group
- use word problems to develop the more difficult number facts, such as putting 8 apples into each of 7 bags
- use word problems to provide clues for a specific strategy, such as doubling by putting 6 pencils in each of 4 boxes and then putting 6 pencils in each of 8 boxes
  (4 × 6 = 24, 8 × 6 = 2 × (4 × 6) = 2 × 24 = 48)
use story problems that will help the students develop the connection between multiplication and division
provide the students with concrete and visual materials, including arrays, as thinking tools in developing mental strategies
develop a strong foundation of number relationships and operations (multiplication and division) by connecting the concrete to the symbolic representation
have the students create, compare and critique various mental strategies and decide which strategy is best to use with which number facts
expect that the students understand strategies presented by other students but do not require them to adopt these strategies unless they choose to do so
develop efficient strategies for knowing the number facts, recognizing that different strategies work for different students and provide practice in using and selecting mental strategies
practise only those number facts for which the students have learned efficient strategies.
(Van de Walle 2001).

C. Choosing Learning Activities

Learning Activities are examples of activities that could be used to develop student understanding of the concepts identified in Step 1.

Sample Learning Activities
Teaching Mental Strategies to Determine Multiplication Facts to 9 × 9 and Related Division Facts	Download Activities