Mathematics

The Importance of Learning Multiplication Facts for Primary School Children

Many of us can remember learning multiplication and division as children. Chanting and reciting full sets as a class, revising the multiplication table at home with our parents; you might have even had a poster of them Blu-tacked to your bedroom wall.

But why Is Multiplication Important? You may be thinking, “a calculator can easily solve large sums, so is multiplication really that important?”. Learning multiplication facts by rote is one of the fundamental building blocks of a child’s education for a reason.

We all know how essential maths is for personal growth and success. Not only does arithmetic skill help ease the transition into adult life, but it can bolster one’s talent in other important subjects like science.

Creating familiarity with multiplication facts in the pivotal early stages of a child’s academic life will prevent maths from becoming a hated subject for them in future.

A good knowledge of multiplication can give children a sense of independence and teach them to think on their own by reducing over-reliance on technology. It can be considered a form of daily mental training that can considerably improve cognitive functions, boosting your child’s brain power to help them achieve goals and foster long term self-confidence.

Advantages Of Learning Multiplication

Although many of the methods of learning multiplication that you may have been exposed to have now become outdated, the importance of learning these mathematical basics is as important today as it has ever been. Key advantages include:

Application in daily life
Integral to developing basic mathematical building blocks
Building confidence with more complex tasks
Gaining a conceptual understanding of multiplication and deeper thinking process
Improving problem-solving abilities
Developing key skills and ‘number sense’

Multiplication is the main tool for many forms of maths such as algebra, calculus, equations and more. The ability to rehearse and understand multiplications up to and including 12 by the final year of primary school will enable your child to confidently and skillfully tackle more complex mathematical subjects.

It also helps children to familiarise themselves and feel confident with the teachings presented to them as they progress through education.

As a child becomes faster at recalling multiplications of 2 -12, they will be able to solve more complex maths in much less time. This is because the core understanding has already been established. They will exercise this skill like second nature, enabling them to focus on the more difficult aspects of the task.

Many children can find learning multiplication facts challenging; it requires a high level of both patience and dedication. So, supporting your child to develop their confidence and proficiency with multiplication is key to their success in high school mathematics. How can you help?

Below are three research-based tips to help support children from Year 2 and beyond to learn their multiplication facts.

1. Discuss strategies

One way to help your child’s confidence is to discuss strategies for when they encounter new multiplication facts.

Prompt them to think of facts they already and how they can be used for the new fact.

For example, once your child has mastered the x2 multiplication facts, you can discuss how 3x6 (3 sixes) can be calculated by doubling 6 (2x6) and adding one more 6. We’ve now realised that x3 facts are just x2 facts “and one more”!

Strategies can be individual: students should be using the strategy that makes the most sense to them. So you could ask a questions such as “if you’ve forgotten 6x7, how could you work it out?” (we might personally think of 6x6=36 and add one more 6, but your child might do something different and equally valid).

This is a great activity for any quiet car trip. It can also be a great drawing activity where you both have a go at drawing your strategy and then compare. Identifying multiple strategies develops flexible thinking.

2. Help them practise

Practicing recalling facts under a friendly time crunch can be helpful in achieving what teachers call “fluency” (that is, answering quickly and easily).

A great game you could play with your children is “multiplication heads up” . Using a deck of cards, your child places a card to their forehead where you can see but they cannot. You then flip over the top card on the deck and reveal it to your child. Using the revealed card and the card on your child’s head you tell them the result of the multiplication (for example, if you flip a 2 and they have a 3 card, then you tell them “6!”).

Based on knowing the result, your child then guesses what their card was.

If it is challenging to organise time to pull out cards, you can make an easier game by simply quizzing your child. Try to mix it up and ask questions that include a range of things they know well with and ones they are learning.

Repetition and rehearsal will mean things become stored in long-term memory.

3. Find patterns

Another great activity to do at home is print some multiplication grids and explore patterns with your child.

A first start might be to give your child a blank or partially blank multiplication grid which they can practice completing.

Then, using coloured pencils, they can colour in patterns they notice. For example, the x6 column is always double the answer in the x3 column. Another pattern they might see is all the even answers are products of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. They can also notice half of the grid is repeated along the diagonal.

This also helps your child become a mathematical thinker, not just a calculator.

The importance of multiplication for developing your child’s success and confidence in mathematics cannot be understated.

There are many ways you can help your child at home. I hope that some of these ideas will give you the tools you need to help your child develop these essential skills.

Melanie Norton

Mathematics Leader