Sharing With the Distributive Property
Sharing can be a
difficult procedure for a young preschooler. When I first encountered the
distributive property two years ago, I found the same difficulty in learning
how to “share” the number outside of the parenthesis with the numbers inside
the parenthesis. I had been away from college since 1995 and many of the math
concepts were foreign to me. Thankfully, I was introduced to an explanation like
the one here from http://www.northstarmath.com/sitemap/DistributiveProperty.html:
Definition of Distributive Property
- Distributive property states that the product of a number and a sum is equal to the sum of the individual products of addends and the number.
That is: a(b + c) = ab
+ ac
At first,
I copied down this definition and simply applied it to every problem I
needed to solve for the assignment. After working with the property, I started
to make other connections that helped me understand this property.
Look at the problem 4 (9 + 5) = x. Imagine that 9 and 5 are friends of our dear number 4. Let's imagine that number 4 wants to spend time equally with both friends. Number 4 will visit number 9 and multiply. Then, number 4 will visit number 5 and multiplies. Like the example in Danica McKellar's book, the number outside of the parenthesis, 4, needs to split it's time fairly with number 9 and number 5 in terms of multiplication. Here is the solution:
4 (9 +
5) = x
36 + 20 = x
56 = x
Here is a video that also addresses the distributive
property:
After tackling problems in algebra that utilized the distributive property, I was glad I had a good understanding of the basic concept. I happen to be someone who loves to share, so this helped solidify this concept in my mind. Teaching this concept may also require some creativity:
It may also require some stories concerning sharing and fairness that I have learned from the preschoolers in my life. After all, fairness is very important to a preschooler as well as to the distributive property!
Here are some additional resources and games:
