As a teacher, finding ways to engage and interest your students in learning is crucial. When it comes to specific math concepts, like multiplying 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers, you may find it difficult to make the subject fun and memorable. However, if you use activities that incorporate partial products, you can help your students to understand this skill better and even have a little bit of fun while they learn.

What Are Partial Products?

In mathematics, partial products involve breaking down a multiplication problem into multiple smaller problems to make it easier to solve. In the case of multiplying 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers, you can use the concept of partial products to break down the problem into simpler and more manageable steps.

Activities to Teach Students to Multiply 2-Digit Numbers by 2-Digit Numbers Using Partial Products

1. Create a poster or a worksheet that shows grids with 10-by-10 squares. Give students a multiplication problem, such as 34 x 56, and have them use partial products to solve it. Explain to them that the grid helps to visualise the problem and show where each partial product lies in relation to the others. This is a simple yet effective activity that can introduce students to the concept of partial products.

2. Use manipulatives to demonstrate the concept of partial products. Provide your students with a set of ten blocks and show them how to use them to represent the first digit of each factor. For example, if the problem is 24 x 34, the students would group the ten blocks in two rows of four to represent the number 20. Using smaller blocks (e.g. single cubes), they would represent the remaining digits (in this case, 4 and 4). Finally, they would multiply the three numbers (20 x 4 x 4) and add them together to get the final answer of 320.

3. Another activity to teach multiplication with partial products is to use pictures to represent the numbers. Ask the students to draw two rectangular arrays side by side, with the first array representing the tens and the second array representing the units. For example, for 23 x 45, they would draw two arrays, one with 20 and three lines of five dots (representing 23) and the second array with 40 and five lines of two dots (representing 45). They would then multiply the values in the boxes and add them together to reach the final product.

4. To make learning more engaging, you can create a fun board game that requires players to use partial products to win. For example, you can create a ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ style game where the students have to solve a partial product problem on a blank grid and place the solution on the grid by pinning a paper clip or making a mark with a pen. The student who fills their grid with the most correct answers wins the game.

In conclusion, the concept of partial products can be a useful tool in teaching students to multiply 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. By using various activities, teachers can help their students understand the concept better and make learning fun and engaging. From visualising the problem to using manipulatives to playing fun games, there are endless ways to teach multiplication with partial products that will benefit every student.