Multiplication can be a hard concept for some students to understand if they are asked to memorize a multiplication table, simply because they would not be able to grasp the main idea behind it. If we teach the students that multiplication is a repeated addition, things become much clearer. While manipulatives can easily be used, I find that cookies are a better fit for that. Most, if not all, students love chocolate chip cookies, so why not use something they're used to seeing and eating as a tool of learning. For instance, the teacher can show the students that to get the value of 2 x 5, it means that we have to have two groups of fives (or even five groups of twos). He/she can draw two cookies and show five chocolate chips on it. The students would be encourage to count the chocolate chips and find the total, which would be 10. Another example could be shown to make sure everyone understands. To obtain the value of 4 x 3, for example, four cookies should be drawn with three chocolate chips on each, for a total of 3+3+3+3 = 12.
I believe that there is no better way of illustrating multiplication other than using cookies, so go ahead start baking those chocolate chip cookies!
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