Introduction to Multiplication

A few years ago, I was perplexed by a class of fourth grade students who constantly counted by 2 to solve all of the multiplication facts of two.  I listened to students count 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 to solve 2 x 9.  I attempted to change student thinking about the concept of multiplying by 2 as it related to doubles facts.  Although students could see that it is quicker to think doubles and they could draw to illustrate this understanding, when it came to a testing situation or independent practice they always resorted back to counting by twos. After an entire year, I was convinced that this particular group of students had first learned multiplication as skip counting and this was going to remain their thought pattern.  As a teacher, I made a conscious decision to never teach students how to count by twos or to introduce multiplication as skip counting.  In my opinion, skip counting is truly an inefficient way to solve multiplication and as teachers we have been mislead by the Math Expressions Teaching Manual.  Below is a link to a presentation about how to integrate technology while introducing second grade students to the concept of multiplication.  Please forward your comments and suggestions.

 I believe the key to teaching students how to multiply is having them read the math symbol as "groups of" and then stop to visualize and draw the situation.  Stating a problem as two times nine does not lend to any sort of mental picture to help students understand the concept of multiplication.  I focus on just reading equations until it becomes a habit and then add drawings to support the problem.  When students say two groups of nine, they also need to pause to understand what they just said.  Just as with reading when we pause to comprehend, students need to pause to comprehend math as well.  Groups can be drawn as circles and then either dots or numerals in each group.  Once students can do this, they will never be confused with multiplication.

Introduction to Multiplication