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THE PROBLEM WITH DIVISION

Sue Pope suggests that only by appreciating the mathematical interconnectedness of 'division' can
teachers begin to enable learners to understand what division is about, and how it works.

"Allparents want their children to be able to divide a three-digit number by a two-digit number by
the end of primary school" Nick Gibb (Minister of State for Schools, 10 July 2012)

O
n reflection I think I might like this too, replacing traditional pencil and paper algorithms
but more importantly I want children to does not damage numeracy (Ruthven 1997).'
understand what they are doing and to feel
From an early age children need practical
good about themselves as mathematicians. I want
experiences of grouping and sharing and
them to be resilient, willing to have a go, confident
opportunities to develop the notion of 'fair shares'
to use what they know to tackle the unfamiliar and
and 'equal shares'. Whilst sharing only makes
figure things out for themselves, to enjoy rising
sense when dividing by whole numbers, grouping
to mathematical challenges - all children need
generalises - it does make sense to say how many
challenge, not just high attainers, (CUREE 2009).
lots of one and a half in ten, whereas you can't
Derek Haylock says, 'The most important thing
share ten by one and a half, although you could
for children to learn in mathematics in the primary
share twenty by three. Learners need to link these
school is how to learn mathematics' (2010: 24).
experiences with the development of proportional
As Anne Watson makes clear in her recent MT reasoning through working on arrays and scaling
article (2012) division is fraught with difticulty. The and appreciating how to do and undo. I suggest,
draft primary curriculum for England includes long and research on the importance of connectionist
division for 11-year olds, despite Ofsted evidence teaching (Askew et al. 1997) supports my view, that
(2011 ) that even high performing primary schools, the formal representation for division is introduced
in both the state and private sectors, are unable with great care alongside representations for
to do this. So what is it about 'long division'? multiplication and fractions.
Many adults struggle with a poorly remembered
So, 25 H- 3 = Y, and is the same as asking,
procedure that they never understood, but could
do at primary school because they practised it 3 X ? = 25 or ? X 3 = 25.
many times. I believe the C21 citizen needs a
Children have little chance of being successful
better mathematical preparation than this. Not
at division if they do not have a good grasp of
least, that in most situations a quick estimate will
multiplication facts. However, they can develop
suffice, and if an accurate answer is needed then
their understanding of these through working on a
a technological aid is likely to be more appropriate.
range of problems that require both multiplication
Margaret Brown (2011) says
and division, and playing games that require
'Of course fluency in some number facts and
them to develop mental arithmetic skills in an
calculation skills is key to effective performance
enjoyable way. Yahtzee, the 24 Game, and Nubble
in secondary mathematics and many other
(Number Quest) are examples of games that can
school subjects as well as in everyday life, further
help children to become adept at arithmetic in a
and higher education and much employment.
motivating context. Throwing dice and maximising
Multiplication facts used for mental multiplication
the possible total using any of 'the four' operations
of single digit multiples of powers of 10 fall into
or working towards a particular result is far more
this essential skills category, .. .For anything more
engaging and enjoyable than worksheets of
complicated that cannot easily be performed
calculations. There are also many computer
mentally, students and adults would be well-
games, and adaptive leaning systems, which can
advised to use their calculator, in real life unlikely
help children to develop their arithmetic ftuency.
to be further away than on their mobile phone
and probably a great deal closer at hand than the To become fluent in arithmetic children need to
nearest pen and paper Beyond mental estimation, have excellent 'number sense'. That is they need
calculators are almost always faster and less error to appreciate the inherent structure and patterns
prone (especially given sound estimation skills in the number system, and be able to exploit these
to check for occasional incorrect digit entry). ... to solve problems. Understanding place value,
Indeed there is agreement based on research ten of these makes one of those, and its powerful
carried out in many countries that calculator use shorthand that means a digit can represent

42 Mathematics Teaching 231 JoumaloftheAssodationofTeachersofMathematics


THE PROBLEM WITH DIVISION

numbers of very different magnitudes simply by This inconsistent language is a result of our rich
virtue of where it is placed, is fundamental to this. linguistic heritage and represents a significant
The Gattengo counfing chart, ATM's Number barrier to learning. In 'Pacific Rim' countries the
software, Diennes materials, and arrow cards all language is uniform throughout for example, 12 is
provide valuable models to help children build spoken one ten two, and children tend to have a
conceptual understanding of place value, and to befter grasp of a larger range of numbers from an
understand what happens when multiplying and earlier age.
dividing by powers often. The 1-100 square is a
valuable model for exploring patterns in number, Despite research evidence to the contrary (e.g.
and particularly how numbers one more or one Nunes et al., 2010) there is a tendency to assume
less, ten more or ten less and related combinations that children need to become good at addition,
appear. The multiples follow distinct patterns which then subtraction, then multiplication, then division.
can help children to understand ways of checking Research suggests that additive and multiplicative
for factors, or divisors, and tests for divisibility. The reasoning are distinct and need to be nurtured
same patterns can be explored on a number line, simultaneously. Although repeated addition is
which is an invaluable aid for supporting children's a valuable relationship that children need to be
understanding of number and as a means of able to exploit, addition does not lead naturally to
recording informal approaches to arithmetic, multiplication. It is more important to work on doing
extending to negative numbers and visualising and undoing - inverse operations. Challenging
sequences. children to find alternative methods to check
solutions to problems is more likely to help them
Fingers are an essential, valuable and easily develop the mental agility andfiexibilitythey need
accessible tool for early arithmetic. For the vast to become confident and accurate calculators.
majority they are an enactment of complements
to ten. I shall never forget the excitement of a little In most other countries around the world children
boy when I was playing a 'complements to ten' do not embark on formal schooling until the age
game with a class of five year olds - show me with of six, or seven. They have access to high quality
your finger how many more to make ten when I pre-school provision which is child-centred,
say a number, who realised that he had five on practical and experiential which prepares them
each hand and so when I said five he could just for the formality of school. When they start school
hold up a hand. He may well have done it many they have the fine motor skills to form letters and
times before, but that day it just clicked and he numbers and despite this later start many children
was overjoyed to tell the whole class. Number do as well, or befter than their English counterparts.
relationships need to be exciting and interesting to It has long been known (e.g. Boaler, Wiliam &
children if they are to be memorable and useable. Brown, 2000) that English children are prematurely
Numicon and linking cubes in strips often, ideally labelled as failures, a self-fulfilling prophecy
five of one colour and five of another, also provide from which few escape during their subsequent
valuable tools for exploring complements to ten. In schooling. Where sefting occurs it is not unusual
our base ten number system it is the complements to find a preponderance of summer born children,
to ten that are most important as these extend children on free-school meals, children from
readily to hundreds, thousands, millions and all certain socio-cultural groups for example, working
other numbers with just one significant figure. class, travellers, or children for whom English is
These form the basis for calculating with numbers an additional language. If the government really
that have more significant figures. wants to 'narrow the gap'delaying the start of
formal schooling and ensuring high quality pre-
Insisting that children know their number bonds school provision for all would be a step in the right
to twenty, rather than ten can pose particular direction. In some countries it is illegal to segregate
challenges to learners given the irregularity of children on the basis of 'ability'. In those countries
the number words for 11 to 20. Of course the education has clear aims about both the individual
number bonds to twenty can be thought of as and society. Education is about preparing the next
number bonds to ten and ten more, and I am not generation and perpetuating the status quo is the
suggesting that these numbers are avoided - far default.
from it, however they should not be worked on
exclusively before progressing to numbers to A research informed and radical approach to
100 and beyond. There is far more likelihood that division would encourage explicit links to be
children will be able to deal with numbers greater made between sharing, grouping and fractions
than twenty when the language becomes more from the start. So dividing by three is the same as
consistent with the place value of the numbers. finding 'a third of, and when the formal notation is
Sixty-one is easily confused with sixteen as they introduced division would be written as a fraction,
both use the same digits and have the same onset. using the division symbol only as a short hand for

Naienber2012 www.atm.org.uk 43
THE PROBLEM WITH DIVISION

recording a calculation. Equivalence is a big idea to divide 3 by 5, you have to divide 5 by 3. By


in mathematics which is crucial to being successful making the link with fractions explicit from the
with fractions and division. Understanding 'a half outset, particularly when recording, children will
means recognising it in all its guises from 50%, have the chance to understand that dividing by 5
to 0.5, to anything of the form = a^2a is the same as multiplying by a fifth, or finding a
2a fifth of something, which is definitely not the same
as dividing by three. A scientific calculator is a
Through the use of number sense, many division
valuable tool for exploring links between division
calculations can be simplified to ones that can be
and fractions.
done without recourse to a formal method. Even
where there is a three-digit number divided by a The outcome of division is a fraction, which is a
two-digit number it is probably easier to rewrite the 'procepf (Tall and Gray, 1994) children need to
top, the numerator, as a multiple of the bottom, the understand the implicit process, that is one number
denominator, for example. divided by another, but also to recognise the
outcome as a number, which has many possible
representations. Early teaching of fractions tends
_ 290+145 + 2 1 _ . , j i ^ . g 21
to focus on dividing often circular objects such as
pizzas and quantities and the link with number, for
One of the biggest problems with division is example, as a location on a number line, is rarely
interpreting the answer when the calculation does made. Folding strips of paper can help to make
not have a whole number answer. In the example the connection between fractions as parts of a
above, should you give a remainder?, write the whole and fractions as numbers. It is particularly
answer exactly, i.e. the number you multiply the important to write the fractions at the folds, rather
denominator by to get the numerator?, or should than in the spaces.
you round up or down? If the question was: 'How
many boats that seat 29 people are needed for
456 people?, the answer would have to be 16,
otherwise there would be 21 disappointed people.
On the other hand, 'There are 456 sweets. How Another reason for making the link between
many bags of 29 sweets can be made?', the fractions and division is that it lays a befter
answer would have to be 15. foundation for later work in mathematics. Whilst
Although division and multiplication are inverse mixed numbers for example, 151^ are commonly
operations the use of a remainder makes division
used in everyday contexts, for the purpose of
significantly more difticult than multiplication. As
Anne Watson says 'it makes little sense to think arithmetic the vulgar form, ^ is often much more
about inexact division until you have gone beyond
useful for subsequent calculations.
whole number arithmetic and begun to be familiar
with the rest of the real number-line.'{20^2. 28). A crucial aspect in any mathematics pedagogy is
In the example above; laying foundations for subsequent development.
456 -=- 29 = 15 rem.2\, has as inverse This means drawing out general structures and
patterns and teaching in a way that generalises
456=15x29 + 21
to difterent contexts. For example, teaching
children to multiply by ten by 'adding a nought'
Whereas 456 ^ 29 = 15|^, has as inverse may work well for whole numbers but is hopeless
when multiplying 23.7 by ten. Children need
456=15x29. to understand that the digits change place
as they each represent ten times more when
If division is considered as 'multiplication with
multiplying by ten. This can then be generalised
holes', extending Ruth Mertten's 'subtraction is
to multiplication and division by powers often.
just addition with holes', then only the lafter will
Similarly if children are taught to find an area
do. However, children need to be able to cope
by multiplying two dimensions together they will
with all these different situations confidently and
struggle to find the area of any shape that is
appropriately.
not a rectangle. Learners need to understand
Division is fraught with misconceptions, because that they are finding the space contained by the
it is rarely associated with fractions, children shape and this is usually counted in unit squares.
do not appreciate that division is the same as This allows them to adopt creative approaches to
multiplication by a unit fraction. They also think finding the area of a range of shapes, and not to
that 'division makes smaller', so it isn't possible be thwarted if they forget 'the rule'.

44 MatJiematics Teaching 231 Joumal of the Association ofTeachers of Mathematics


THE PROBLEM WITH DIVISION

Whatever models are used to introduce children Teachers need to understand the connectedness
to mathematical procedures, they should be of mathematics and to recognise the potential
generalisable. The advantage of linking division barriers to learning (Chinn, 2012) if they are to
with multiplication, and fractions, is that this enable successful learners of mathematics.
extends readily to working with algebra. For

example, :
x-1
Rewriting the top to look like a multiple of the
boftom is a relatively straightforward process:
= 3x(x - 1) + 5x+7
= 3x(x -1) + 5(x -1) + 12 Sue Pope, University of Manchester

References
x-1 x-1 Askew, M., Brown, M., Rhodes, V., Wiliam, D., &
Similarly the area model for multiplication readily Johnson, D. (1997) Effective Teachers of Numeracy:
generalises to algebra. Report of a study carried out for the Teacher Training
Agency. London: King's College, University of London.
Boaler, J., Wiliam, D. & Brown, M. (2000) Students'
a
Experiences of Ability Grouping-Disaffection, Polarisation
and the Construction of Failure, British Educational
Research Joumai, 26(5): 631-648
ac be Chinn, S. (2012) The probiem with maths, London:
Routledge Brown,
M.J. (2011 ) Going back or going forward? Tensions in the
formulation of a new National Curriculum in mathematics
ad db
Curricuium Journai 22{2) 151-165
CUREE (2009) Building the Evidence Base:
Challenge literature review www.curee.co.uk/files/
(a + b)(c + d) = ac + be + ad + bd publication/1271161317/Year%202%20Challenge%20
Report%20FINAL%20from%20QCDA%20website.pdf
I believe in high aspirations for all young people,
Haylock, D. {20^0) Mathematics Explained for Primary
but also believe that procedural competence alone
Teachers 4th Ed. London: Sage
is a poor preparation for life and further study
Relational understanding (Skemp, 1976) is far Nunes, T. Bryant, P., Watson, A. (2010) Key
more powerful and more likely to result in secure Understandings in Mathematics Learning
foundations for subsequent learning. http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/key-understandings-
mathematics-learning
Ofsted (2011) Good practice in primary mathematics:
evidence from 20 successful schools http://www.ofsted.
gov.uk/resources/good-practice-primary-mathematics-
evidence-20-successful-schools
Ruthven, K. (1997) The use of caicuiators at Key
Stages1-3 (Discussion Paperno.9). London: School
Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
Skemp, R. R. (1976) Relational understanding and
instrumental understanding. Mathematics Teaching 77.
Tall, D. and Gray, E. (1994) Duality, Ambiguity and
Flexibility: A Proceptual View of Simple Arithmetic, The
Journai for Research in Mathematics Education, 26 (2),
115-141
Watson, A. (2012) Division - the sleeping dragon
Mathematics Teaching 230, 2.7-29

Ncwember2012 www.atin.Gng.uk 45
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