Multiplication and division - Make equal groups sharing 2 - Presentation

In a series of interactive lessons, students delve into the concept of making equal groups through sharing, which is a fundamental aspect of understanding multiplication and division. The lessons involve practical activities where students are encouraged to distribute a certain number of items, such as cubes or strawberries, evenly into a specified number of boxes. They are asked to calculate how many items would be in each box, reinforcing their division skills. For instance, sharing 12 cubes equally between two boxes would result in 6 cubes per box, while sharing 14 strawberries into 3 boxes isn't possible without dividing the strawberries further.

Further activities include dividing 24 children into 4 equal teams, with students using manipulatives to represent the children and find that each team would consist of 6 children. The lessons also introduce bar models as a visual aid to help students understand division. For example, a bar model dividing 20 into 4 equal groups shows that each group would have 5 units. Students are then prompted to think of other related number sentences, such as 20 ÷ 5 = 4 or 5 x 4 = 20. These exercises not only teach the mechanics of division but also encourage students to explore the relationships between numbers and the different ways they can be represented and understood.