Teaching Techniques for Multiplication Facts

Teaching Multiplication with Manipulatives

• The term "manipulatives" refers to small items, such as beans, pennies or beads, that students may use to represent numbers when learning math skills. One way to use manipulatives to teach multiplication is to give each student a set number-- for instance 20--and then ask each to draw a number of circles on a piece of paper that divides evenly into 20. If the student draws five circles, she can divide the manipulatives evenly into the circles, putting four in each, and see that five sets of four makes 20. This is a good way to help students visualize the function of multiplication.

Teaching Multiplication with Real World Applications

• Another way to teach multiplication is to provide examples of it that relate to the child's real world. Give four students eight stickers, for instance, and ask them to share them evenly. Ask students to pay attention at home when they have to share with siblings, at how the sharing divides what is being shared evenly. Ask them to think about what happens when something doesn't divide evenly to get them thinking about remainders.

Teaching Multiplication Out of Order

• Multiplication tables don't necessarily have to be taught from zero to 12 in order. Some are easier to learn than others. The zero, one, two, five and 10 times tables are more simple, and your students may already have a good grasp on these numbers. This may help your students have confidence about learning the more difficult sets of math facts.

Teaching Multiplication Using Games and Tricks

• Some multiplication tables have games or tricks that make them fun to learn and easier to remember. For instance, students can turn their fingers into a calculator to learn the nine times table through 10. Have them lay their hands flat on their desks. To find the answer to nine times one, ask them to lift their left pinky. With zero fingers to the left of the lifted finger and nine to the right, the answer is 9. For nine times two, they raise their left ring finger. With one finger on the left of the raised finger and eight to the right, the answer is 18. This continues through to the right pinky, where, with nine fingers on the left and zero on the right the answer to nine times 10 is 90.