Multiplication and division - Multiple by 3 - Presentation

In Lesson 11, students are introduced to the concept of multiplication by 3. The lesson begins with a discussion around the meaning of multiplication and alternative terms that convey the same concept. Students are then encouraged to recall how to count in threes, which lays the foundation for understanding multiplication as repeated addition. The lesson's activities are designed to reinforce this idea by using visual aids such as towers of cubes and bar models, helping students to visualise the multiplication process. For instance, they learn that five towers with three cubes each result in a total of fifteen cubes, which is represented both as an addition sentence (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 15) and a multiplication sentence (3 x 5 = 15).

Further activities involve practical scenarios to apply the concept of multiplying by 3. Students are asked to calculate the total number of wheels in a group of tricycles or the total number of children sitting at tables, using both repeated addition and multiplication to find the answers. This approach helps to cement their understanding of multiplication as grouping and adding equal sets. The lesson also encourages reasoning by asking students to create their own problems and to explain their thought processes. For example, they explore how to find the answer to 7 x 3 by building on the known fact that 6 x 3 equals 18, thereby deepening their comprehension of multiplication and its properties, such as commutativity (3 x 7 being the same as 7 x 3).