Justine Brinkworth S00115947

Assessment 2 Investigating Childrens Understandings of Mathematical Ideas and Concepts

21st May 2012

EDMA202

Justine Brinkworth S00115947

Justine Brinkworth S00115947

Introduction
This report focuses on the concept of whole number. This will discuss a particular year six students understanding of the chosen topic multiplication. The connection between multiplication and division is extremely important to understand. Therefore, towards the end of the interview some division questions were incorporated. This chosen female is a student who slightly struggles with mathematics. Although many of the questions she completed were very logically thought out. This child was able to demonstrate a variety of strategies whilst also showing many of her strengths and weaknesses. These questions are in relation to the Australian Curriculum and will determine whether or not this student is meeting the standards. Furthermore, this report will explain in more depth the students strategies, strengths, weaknesses, difficulties and her understandings.

Australian Curriculum
The Australian Curriculum will demonstrate the level of standards that students should currently be at. Although keeping in mind that this student slightly struggles in this area of mathematics. As the students were in second term, they should be competent with solving basic multiplication and division sums. According to ACARA students are currently developing skills of selecting and applying efficient mental and written strategies and appropriate digital technologies to solve problems involving all four operations with whole numbers (ACMNA123). When testing a students ability three main elements must be observed, Understand, Problem Solving and Reasoning. Students must firstly understand the different properties of sets of numbers to be able to make connections. Second is

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Problem Solving, which children are required to calculate questions using correct methods. Lastly, children must be and to justify and explain their Reasoning. All three elements must be utilised to determine if the student is at the current level according to the Australian Curriculum.

Questions

The questions were designed to gain an insight into the students knowledge of whole number. Within the Australian Curriculum the elaborations state that students are required to apply different strategies. With this being stated, the questions were planned to gain an understanding of the students capability to incorporate different methods. Therefore, instead of just simply asking 150 x 9 (refer to appendix q.3) this was put into a written form to determine if the student actually understands the question. When asked to complete question 1 (refer to appendix 1) she even used an array strategy which helped her solve the question. This will further be discussed when talking about strategies. Developing a strong understanding of multiplication and division in the junior years provides students with important tools for solving real-life problems and builds a strong foundation for proportional reasoning and algebraic thinking (Eworks, 2012). Therefore it is vital that students are able to make connections between multiplication and division. The end questions demonstrate if the student can make the link between the two concepts.

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Discussion of research literature topic

Multiplication requires children to be able to construct numerous methods to solve the problem. Van De Walle (2010) identifies four different classes of multiplicative structures (p.154). The first class is equal groups which are the most common class, multiplicative comparison, combinations, and product of measure. In relation to multiplication, being able to break numbers apart in flexible ways is extremely important. Students must learn to incorporate different methods to be able to achieve the highest result. Children should allow advice from not only their teachers but also peers and teachers to gain a variety of learning styles to figure out which one best suit them. Some students may be visual learners, and in this case the students learning style was unknown. To cover all aspects visual styles were incorporated such as using counters and drawing diagrams. When teaching multiplication it is significantly important that the children are provided with various approaches to enable them to have a full understanding. This will also allow different abilities of students to work with easier strategies if they struggle. Recent research has proven that the most successful methods in fostering an understanding of multiplication in children is not by rote memorization but is by allowing children time to construct their own understandings (Tirosh, 2007).

Justine Brinkworth S00115947

Interview results
Strengths
During the interview the student surprisingly incorporated different strategies. Keeping in mind the student sometimes struggles with this topic she did really well. Although she was not as strong in her mental computation she was competed in written language when assisted by visual materials. Referring to question 1, (appendix 1) the student was asked to mentally attempt to work out the question. She replied with I have no idea. She was then asked to demonstrate the question by using counters. Straight away she created an array method to solve the problem and constructed 2 rows of 20. This illustrated that the student relied on prior knowledge and chose to use a method thoroughly understood. The second strategy she used relied on her timetable knowledge. When she completed question 10 she was asked how she solved the problem so fast. She replied with Well if you are able to make 20 burgers in 1 hour, then you need to multiple 20 by 10 to be able to work it out and I already know that 20 x 10 is 200. This clearly demonstrate that the student understood the question and along with knowing her timetables. This allowed her to solve the problem quickly.

Weaknesses
During the process of the interview the child overcame a few difficulties. Her main difficulty was determining to use multiplication or division. At the beginning of the interview I explain to the student that the interview would be focusing on the topics multiplication and division although it was up to her to figure out which one was which. Referring to the appendix question 5 the student was very confused to which method needed to be done. To assist the student she was firstly asked to read the question aloud. The question was then slightly elaborated to her in a different manner. One roll of wire was placed in front of the

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student along with saying the measurement of the wire. Seven more rolls were placed next to the first roll stating that each wire is 417cm in length. The student then read the question again and was able to figure out the answer simple by realising the method was multiplication. This question not only demonstrated her ability but also that she is a visual learner requiring visual objects or diagrams. When this was determined a lot more visual methods were incorporated to assist her learning style. The student was given 24 lollipops and asked to share between 6 people (refer to appendix q.10). At first the student quickly read the question and was starting to make 24 groups. As she got up to 10 groups she then realised that she was supposed to create 4 groups. She was then asked the question of how she realised she was dividing the question wrong. The student explained that she realised she was making 4 groups not 24 groups, as there would only be 1 lollipop on each group. This demonstrated that the student firstly made a minor error by not thinking about the question before solving the problem.

Different approaches to improve or extend student knowledge

Throughout the interview the student showed a good variety of strategies along with some weaknesses. The only extension this student requires in this area of mathematics is to build on her mental computation and not rely on visual objects all the time. Although she is a visual learner and must be provided with visual strategies, to help build up her confidence when working out problems mentally. This student also requires more knowledge between linking multiplication and division. One possible way would be to provide a problem, for example the last question (refer to appendix 12). Allow the student to make an array of 5 x 7 or 7 x 5 then create groups of 35 7 or 35 5. This will allow the student to recognise the

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relationship between multiplication and division. The key teaching strategy is to emphasise that there are related facts that belong together (Deecd, 2009). Once a student knows one fact, they can use this to solve related number sentences with missing numbers

Justification for activity

Multiplication and division can be taught in a variety of ways. Many researchers believe that both concepts should be taught differently. Although this does not mean it best suits all students and some might not be able to make the link between the two. Understanding the link between multiplication and division is the same as understanding the link between addition and subtraction. Both concepts need to be understood so that the child can incorporate different methods and ways of thinking to problems. By understanding the link, will also assist children in self-correct their own work by checking both the multiplication and division answers. This is an excellent way to illustrate if the student is competent with the link.

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Conclusion
Overall, this student definitely met the Australian Curriculum standards. With a few more activities to build the students weaknesses, the student will be able to reach her goal of a high achiever. The student illustrated excellent prior knowledge throughout the interview whilst always staying engaged and on task. She developed good strategies such a drawing pictures, utilised counters and array methods. Furthermore this interview has extended the students mathematical ability in the area of multiplication and division whilst making connections. This report has demonstrated a clear insight into the child understanding of whole number.

Justine Brinkworth S00115947

References
DEECD. (2009). Fact families. Retrieved from: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/maths/mathsc ontinuum/number/N27501P.htm Eworkshop. (2012). Multiplication & division. Retrieved from: http://eworkshop.on.ca/edu/core.cfm?p=modView.cfm&navID The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Mathematics/Curriculum/F-10#level=6 Tirosh, A. (2007). Understanding multiplication. Retrieved from: http://understandingmultiplication.blogspot.com.au/2007/03/what-ismultiplication.html Van De Walle, J., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J. (2010). Elementary and middle school mathematics. (7th ed.). Boston: Person.

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Appendices
1. Molly needs 20 balloons for her birthday. Each balloon cost $2. How much will it cost all together? 2. A car travels 7308km a year. How many kilometres will it have travelled after 4 years? 3. A computer cost $150. How much will 9 computers cost? 4. There are 7 coaches, each with 63 passengers. How many people altogether? 5. A roll of wire is 417cm in length. How much wire would there is in 8 rolls? 6. A flight from London to Paris cost $80. What would be the total cost for a group of 52 people to travel? 7. The average height of an 8 year old is 130cm. What would be the total height of 24 pupils of average height? 8. McDonalds make 20 burgers in 1 hour. How many burgers do they make in 10 hours? 9. Julie has 24 lollipops. She wants to share her lollipops between 6 people. How many lollipops will each person get? 10. In Australia Zoo a weeks supply of 1256 applies is to be shared equally between 6 elephants. How many apples will each elephant get? 11. There are 12 eggs in a box. How many boxes will 192 eggs fill? 12. How many different sets can you make using the following 3 numbers and symbols: 35, 5, 7, x,