Mauricio and Emily reflect on the meaning of multiplication in the formula for the area of a rectangle.
Episode Supports
Students’ Conceptual Challenges
In this episode, Mauricio and Emily explore what multiplication means using a groups of interpretation for multiplication. Building meaning for operations is a vital component of algebraic reasoning, and it can be challenging for students to move beyond procedural understandings of arithmetic operations. Consider providing opportunities for your students to discuss what they think multiplication means and to demonstrate their understanding using drawings, as Emily and Mauricio do in this episode
Focus Questions
For use in a classroom, pause the video and ask these questions:
[Pause the video at 3:20] Before watching further, draw a picture to represent 5 × 3, where 3 represents 3 cookies. What does the 5 represent in this context?
[Pause the video at 4:39] Using a groups of meaning for multiplication, how would you make sense of the area of the pink rectangle, which is 6 × 4?
Supporting Dialogue
At the end of the video, Mauricio and Emily are asked to find six groups of four. Instead, they circle four groups of six. Tell a partner how you might show six groups of four. Why does it work to show both six groups of four and four groups of six for this multiplication problem? Does this work for any multiplication problem?
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