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Multiplying and Dividing Whole Numbers

Strand: Number
Outcomes: 5, 6

Step 4: Assess Student Learning

Guiding Questions

• Look back at what you determined as acceptable evidence in Step 2.
• What are the most appropriate methods and activities for assessing student learning?
• How will I align my assessment strategies with my teaching strategies?

Sample Assessment Tasks

In addition to ongoing assessment throughout the lessons, consider the following sample activities to evaluate students' learning at key milestones. Suggestions are given for assessing all students as a class or in groups, individual students in need of further evaluation and individual or groups of students in a variety of contexts.

A. Whole Class/Group Assessment

Examples of Whole Class/Group Assessment  

B. One-on-One Assessment

1. Ask the student to explain the connection between multiplication and division by using counters or base ten materials. If necessary, coach the student to make an array and show how the array shows both multiplication and division. Start with smaller numbers and then gradually move to using larger numbers required at the grade level.
2. Present the following problem to the student and have him or her read it orally. Have base ten materials available to use as needed.
   
   A bottle contains 182 mL of medicine. Jerry takes 8 mL of medicine every 4 hour. How many hours before all the medicine is gone?
   
   Use the following prompts to guide thinking, if necessary:
   • State the problem in your own words.
   • What do each of the numbers in the problem represent—the whole, the number of groups or the quantity in each group?
   • What is the unknown in the problem—the whole, the number of groups or the quantity in each group?
   • What number sentence could you write to show the meaning of the problem?
   • Does the problem use multiplication or division or both?  Explain.
   • About how hours before the medicine is all gone? Explain your thinking. Hint: Remind the student that the medicine is taken every 4 hours.
   • Use a strategy that makes sense to you to find the answer to the problem. Explain your thinking as you write the numbers.
   • Will any medicine be left over? Explain.
   • Explain how you know your answer makes sense and is reasonable.
   • Would you solve the problem another way? Explain your thinking.
3. Use a similar procedure as outlined in question 2 with the following problem:
   You read for 45 minutes every day. How many minutes do you read in 3 weeks?
4. Create a problem that can be shown by the number sentence 245 ÷ 6 = .
   Solve the problem you created by using a strategy that makes sense to you.

C. Applied Learning

Provide opportunities for students to use multiplication and division in a practical situation and notice whether or not the strategies transfer. For example, ask the students to estimate and then calculate the number of baseball teams of 9 players that can be made from 175 people. Does the student:

• use an estimate that is reasonably close to the calculated answer?
• interpret the remainder correctly by ignoring it because the remaining four people will not make up a complete team?
• use a personal strategy that makes sense in calculating the answer?

Related Resources

• Assessment in the Mathematics