First Encounter

I am very happy that I was able to go to the elementary school with the Math Club for the first time!  This took place on Tuesday, September 27, 2011.

 

The Goal

Using an activity that the President of the club helped research and make into a worksheet, the goal was to teach the students about how to use the Egyptian method of multiplication. This method involves [[[finding the exponents and adding their answers together in order to get the solution.]]]  It really helps the student practice multiplication without the use of a calculator. The students we worked with were 4th and 5th graders from a local elementary school. 

Sudden Change of Plans
We were surprised to learn that the 4th graders did not yet have knowledge of exponents, while the 5th graders had already been introduced to them. In order to accommodate both groups, each Mount Saint Mary student took a grade with students to teach a slightly different lesson. I along with other MSMC Math Club math majors worked with the 4th graders to teach an "introduction to exponents" lesson, and other MSMC students worked with the 5th graders on the Egyptian multiplication sheet.


How Was the Exponents Lesson Received?
I would say that there was a mixed reaction to being introduced to exponents. Some students  did not understand the concept right away - I could tell by how they stared at the paper for a bit trying to understand, then writing the "doubling" of the numbers rather than the numbers by themselves. For these students, it helped to draw out the multiplication of each number, and make a tree-like diagram of multiplying each part which looked like this:

Image Credit: I made this image using Microsoft Paint.

This helped students visualize what was happening with the numbers.

I also noticed that the students who were better at multiplying or memorized their multiplication table chose not to draw out the multiplication, but rather to speed through it. I encouraged them to take their time so that they would not make calculation errors. One adventurous student asked, "What happens when it's 2 to the 8 [2 raised to the eighth power]?" Instead of telling that student the answer, I wanted to see how well they understood the concept. I asked him, "What do you think would happen?" He replied by asking if you would multiply the number by itself 8 times. This is how I knew he had a good grasp on the mini-lesson.

Final Thoughts

I believe that the MSMC students were well received by the students, and that they enjoyed the math lessons. It is a treat for them to have college students come in and give them a different teaching approach from the norm, but it is also beneficial to us as future teachers to get this experience with the elementary school students. We also were able to change up our plan in the event of an unexpected occurrence, which will show we are flexible when we need to be. Most of all, it was a very fun experience, and I'm looking forward to our next lesson with the kids.

Image Source: http://homepage.mac.com/shelleywalsh/MathArt/EgyptMultiply.html