This document includes instructional tips on: (1) Building on students' informal understanding of sharing and proportionality to develop initial fraction concepts; (2) Helping students recognize that fractions are numbers that expand the number system beyond whole numbers, and using number lines to teach this and other fraction concepts; (3)…

This article reports on a study in which researchers asked children to "make up as story and a picture about marbles for this number sentence: 3 x 5 = 15." Students in this study came from pre - dominantly low- to average-income families living in three distinct geographical areas within the United States. A similar division task was…

In this article, Lorraine Jacob and Joanne Mulligan discuss how arrays can be used to promote students' early learning in relation to multiplication and division. They provide examples of activities that can be used from Foundation to Year 5.

What does it look like to "understand" operations with fractions? The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) uses the term "understand" when describing expectations for students' knowledge related to each of the fraction operations within grades 4 through 6 (CCSSI 2010). Furthermore, CCSSM elaborates that…

Action research (AR) is defined by Macintyre to be: "an investigation, where, as a result of rigorous self-appraisal of current practice, the researcher focuses on a problem,or a topic or an issue which needs to be explained, and on the basis of information, plans, implements, then evaluates an action then draws conclusions on the basis of…

This article describes how the story of Alice in Wonderland helps students understand the operation of multiplying by a rational number less than 1 and related aspects of ratio and proportion. Included with this article is a "How Tall Is Alice?" Worksheet. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

Introduces addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions using area models such as rectangles and circles, or linear models such as the number line and fraction strips. (ASK)

Activities are presented that focus on attributes of numbers. The activities highlight such attributes as more than, equal to, greater than, less than, LCM, prime and factor. The activities provide practice in motivational game-oriented situations. (RH)

How to develop multiplicative magic squares is discussed. Various types of numbers are used in the examples. (MNS)

Discussed is the topic of least common multiple (LCM), a rationale for its importance, and suggestions for when and how to teach it. (RH)

Using factoring as an aid to mental multiplication is illustrated. Other suggestions for teaching mental computation are also included. (MNS)

Pupils progress through a relatively small number of key stages called growth points in numeracy learning. Identifies growth points in developing numeracy and suggests that better support can be offered to children when teachers are aware of the growth points. (ASK)

Presented are several suggestions for teaching elementary school mathematics with technology. Activities use calculators and microcomputers for teaching multiples. (RH)

A modern adaptation of the historic lattice algorithm which can be used for multiplication and division is discussed. How it works is clearly illustrated. (MNS)

Calculators can be used in primary schools in a number of situations. They are most beneficial when working with large numbers, dealing with real data that leads to complex calculations, performing repetitive calculations, developing concepts, estimating and checking, problem solving, and looking for patterns and/or relationships. But what if the…