Developing mental strategies
As mentors of learners we have to be very mindful of not accelerating our expectations beyond the stage of learning appropriate to the individual. Some of the concepts and strategies outlined below are potentially relevant for some learners in the early primary phase but others may find them more appropriate at a later stage.
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Mentors can gauge readiness for new strategies by listening carefully to the explanations of learners. A confident approach to a new problem may well signal their readiness to be introduced to a new strategy, however caution may prove to be the best recommendation rather than create undue anxiety in learners.
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Partitioning as a strategy
Some facts are to be learned for instant recall others can be calculated at need and will therefore require mental agility. There are common strategies that are used for both basic and complex calculations. Understanding how these strategies work in a visual sense can help learners grow in confidence.
Introducing multiplication as groups
This video introduces the idea that the two numbers in a simple multiplication "sentence" or equation have different meanings.
Tables Logik strategy
The strategy of learning used in the Tables Logik practice app (see Later Primary Phase) has been inspired by the successful Singaporean education system and other established educational research
The distributive law
Mentors should not be too concerned about using the mathematical terms such as "distributive law" and "commutativity". Using the correct technical terms is less important than understanding these properties of arithmetic. Being introduced to them in a visual sense will help learners use them in mental calculation and "see" how they work.
Commutativity of multiplication
Like addition, multiplication can be written back to front and still have the same value. The same cannot be said of subtraction and division. Seeing these concepts from a visual point of view can make a complicated sounding idea relatively simple to understand.
Shifting factors
Much more will be learned about factors in the Later Primary Phase however this useful mental strategy is one that some learners will find useful and help them to make links between some multiplication facts.