When you divide a circular pie into six equal parts, write this example as a simple division sentence: 6 / 1 = 6. The first number 6 is called the dividend, and it will be broken down into smaller, equal groups (or parts). One is the divisor, and it is the size of the group to be made. The second 6 is the answer to the division sentence, or the quotient. You can break 6 down into 6 equal groups of 1.
Another way to explain basic division is to explain that "to divide means to partition a quantity into sets," according to the authors of "Methods and Strategies for Teaching Students With Mild Disabilities." In the foregoing example, the quantity is 6, and it is broken into sets of 1. There are 6 sets of 1 in the quantity 6. If you give a person a pie and ask her to cut it into six equal parts, she should see that there are six slices of equal size. Each slice is a set of 1.
Help students get a better foundation for learning division, which is more complex than subtraction, by providing many opportunities to memorize multiplication facts. Then you get students to memorize division facts. These facts come in handy when students try to manually solve a division problem.
You should first teach division with numbers that are easy to use, such as multiples of 10. Start with a simple problem like 20 divided by 2. If a learner knows how to count by twos or by 10s, she can figure out that there are 2 sets of 10 in the quantity of 20. A student can also check the answer of 20 / 2 = 10 by stating that 2 x 10 is 20.