4FN7 – Math – What is multiplication?

How do FreeNode lessons work?

FreeNodes are instructor-led schooling lessons with a unique approach, granting you the freedom to independently teach using a personalized lesson plan. This autonomy enables you to tailor your lessons to suit students’ individual needs, learning styles, and interests.

To use a FreeNode, read the provided class outline & follow the formatting provided for each class. Make sure to touch on the Theocratic Connection in each class. Follow the outline closely so it is aligned with our main at-home curriculum.

How Do I Use the FreeNode?

Read this lesson plan before class to familiarize yourself with the ideas and concepts you’ll be teaching the students. You may print this page out if you need to use it as a reference point during live classes.

This lesson is a guide, but feel free to expand on the content or decrease/increase what you teach depending on the learning levels of the students in your class or the amount of time you have to cover the material.

Can I show videos in FN classes?

Yes, feel free to include additional material to supplement the class lesson material. Videos, Physical Objects, Games, Activities, etc. are okay to share in live classes.

Videos should have no advertisements or logos and should be viewed by you before showing them to the students to ensure no offensive or questionable content is included.

The video should make up only 1-3 minutes of the live class and should not take the place of instructor-led instruction. Videos should be supplementary only.

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Bookmarks help you keep track of lessons you’re going to teach in future live classes. The bookmarks you see are for all your bookmarked lessons across all grades.

You can bookmark a lesson by visiting the lesson you want to bookmark and clicking the “bookmark” button in the bookmark section.

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Class Lesson Plan

Objectives:

Students will understand the concept of multiplication as repeated addition.
Students will learn about the history of multiplication.
Students will practice simplifying addition problems using multiplication.

Materials:

Whiteboard/Chalkboard and markers/chalk
Visual aids (pictures or diagrams of multiplication and addition problems)
Worksheets or practice problems (optional)

Introduction (3 minutes):

Define multiplication as a mathematical operation that represents adding a number to itself multiple times.
Explain that multiplication is a shorthand way of performing repeated addition.

Theocratic Connections:

The story of the loaves and fishes in Matthew 14:13-21, tells about when Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed thousands of people. It shows Jehovah’s miraculous ability to multiply anything. Use this story to emphasize that Jehovah can take what seems insufficient and multiply it abundantly.

Activity 1 – History of Multiplication (10 minutes):

Share a brief history of multiplication, dating back to ancient civilizations where methods like drawing lines or using stones were used for counting and calculating.
Discuss how multiplication tables and algorithms changed over time.

Egyptian Multiplication: In ancient Egypt, people didn’t have calculators, but they found a clever way to multiply numbers. They used a method called “Egyptian multiplication.” It’s like repeated addition, and it’s easy to understand.
Here’s how it works:
- Write the two numbers to be multiplied side by side.
- Divide the smaller number by 2 and write the result below it.
- Keep halving the smaller number until it becomes 1.
- At each step, double the larger number and write the result next to the halved number.
- Add all the doubled numbers next to the halved numbers.
- The sum you get is the answer, which is the product of the two original numbers.

Mesopotamian Multiplication: In ancient Mesopotamia, people used another way to multiply numbers, called “Mesopotamian multiplication.” It’s like drawing a table and doing repeated addition.
Here’s how it works:
- Write the two numbers to be multiplied at the top of the table.
- Draw a grid of boxes below the numbers, with the same number of rows as digits in the larger number and the same number of columns as digits in the smaller number.
- Fill in the boxes with the products of the individual digits, starting from the rightmost digit of the smaller number and working upwards.
- Sum the diagonal rows from the bottom left to the top right of the grid.
- The sum you get is the answer, which is the product of the two original numbers.

Both Egyptian multiplication and Mesopotamian multiplication are clever ways that ancient people used to solve multiplication problems without a calculator. They are interesting ways to understand how multiplication works and how it evolved over time.

Activity 2 – Multiplication as Repeated Addition (10 minutes):

Demonstrate the concept of multiplication as repeated addition using simple examples, such as 3 x 4 = 4 + 4 + 4.
Show that multiplication can be written in various forms, such as using the multiplication symbol (×) or writing it horizontally.

Activity 3 – Simplifying an Addition Problem (10 minutes):

Present addition problems that can be simplified using multiplication, such as 5 + 5 + 5 + 5, and demonstrate how to use multiplication to find the answer efficiently (e.g., 4 x 5).
Guide students in simplifying various addition problems using multiplication.

Conclusion (3 minutes):

Review the main points about multiplication as repeated addition and the history of multiplication.
Emphasize the usefulness of multiplication in simplifying addition problems.

Assessment:

Informally assess student understanding during class discussions and activities.
Ask students to individually solve a few practice problems involving simplifying addition using multiplication.