Connecting the Open Array to the Distributive Property

The goal of this section is to think about ways that the open array can lead to a conceptual understanding of the distributive property.  There are three activities:

 

Part 1:     Read the classroom vignette describing how one child’s question led her and classmates on a search to understand multiplication of two-digit numbers.  They use their prior knowledge of open arrays to find out how their splitting strategy went wrong.

 

Part II:     Students’ use of various splitting strategies with open arrays can be captured using mathematical expressions.  In this section, you will be asked to match a variety of arrays all representing 12 x 14 to each of their corresponding number sentence.

 

Part III:   In this section, you will be asked to solve a related problem and explain your solution.

Introduction