Methods for Multiplication Mastery and Division Domination
This week in Education Support4Parents we have been focusing on multiplication and division. A third of the GCSE is non-calculator so it’s important that your child can do these without a calculator. There are many different methods for multiplication and division, when we were at school, we only learnt one. If I had a penny for every parent who has said to me ‘they do it differently now’ or ‘I don’t understand these new methods’ I’d be rich! When I was training to be a teacher and I was taught these methods, it helped me make sense of the maths around it.
If you’ve got maths anxiety then learning new methods can help you, as calculations you struggled with become easier. I really recommend that parents learn them for themselves (and in a few weeks time I’ll be telling you how I can help you with that!)
I’m often asked which method is best. I don’t have a preference, as I prefer to use what works best for the individual, and work with their learning styles.
If you don’t know your child’s learning style get my free guide here.
Multiplication
Firstly your child needs to know their multiplication facts (times tables), a great resource for this is TTrockstars. Lots of schools use it, you can also get a family account for only £7.20 a year. It’s good fun, and I love that it links both multiplication and division.
Then you need to think about which method is best for your child. The grid method is better for visual learners, the column method is more logical. If your child struggles with accuracy in the grid method, then the chinese method is a good alternative.
I’m not going to outline every method here but I will tell you about one that has changed the way a lot of people do multiplication:
The grid method for multiplication
I love this method because all your child needs to be able to do is multiply by powers of 10 and add up. I also dislike this method because children make mistakes when they do the adding.
Draw a grid of boxes, and split the numbers into their hundreds, tens and units and then multiply each together. Finally add your answer up.
E.g. 23 x 43
This video explains the method:
Division
With division your child needs to associate division with multiplication. We assume that young people will just see and understand the link, but they often don’t. When you are getting your child to learn their times tables, get them at the same time to learn the associated division. As I said before, that’s one of the reasons I love TTrockstars.
There are a few methods for division, but not as many as multiplication. The bus-stop method is the same as short division, so you should recognise that. To divide by a larger number you can either do long division, or the double decker bus stop method.
I’m going to be running a free event at the end of April to teach parents these methods (and more!) so that you can feel confident with them. It will be in my Free Facebook group Education Support 4 Parents, so if you haven’t joined us yet, then what are you waiting for, hop over there now!