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Revisiting Multiplication

If you watched my first multiplication video (here if you haven't yet), you'll remember that I said there was a high school application for the area model strategy of multiplying. 

 We're going to take a look at that today.  Since many parents are currently in this situation


trying to recall what they can remember about high school math. 
For many parents, who do remember factoring quadratics from their high school algebra days, it probably wasn't their favorite memory.  I would bet that most people factored using the tried and true "guess and check" strategy - which works great IF you have a really strong handle on your multiplication facts.  If not, students struggled and were likely told that "upper level math" just may not be for them. When in reality, many of those struggling students struggle because they need to SEE WHY something works. 

 When we connect multiplying (FOIL if that rings any bells) to factoring in 1 cohesive process, students can see that the two are directly connected AND they have meaning to WHY they work the way they do. 
Check it out.

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