Division is a big step in the mathematical progress of a young learner who is no longer doing their simple operations but the advanced concept of sharing and grouping. Division learning can only be effectively taught if a solid background on multiplication and number sense is laid and the student is able to see the justification of the process. Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready’s educational philosophy focuses on the fact that real competence in mathematics is based on conceptual knowledge and the ability to solve problems in a flexible manner. Kinder Ready Tutoring special methodologies are created to demystify division and convert it from a baffling algorithm to a reasoned, approachable process that is supported by real-life logic.
An effective strategy to have division taught starts way before the division sign is introduced. The staff in Kinder Ready Tutoring first makes certain that a child has mastered the conceptual foundations of the building block, especially the excellent understanding of multiplication and the inverse connection of both operations. The ability to know that division is the inverse of multiplication is an important cognitive process. This understanding of relationship is prioritised in the Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready methodology, which teaches students to realise that since 4 x 6 = 24, then 24/6 must equal 4. This background knowledge makes division not to be studied separately, but rather it is incorporated as a subset of a bigger mathematical framework.
The essence of making division comprehensible is based on concrete, visual models. The two most common models of division, partitive (sharing) and quotative (grouping), are demonstrated by hands-on materials used by specialists at Kinder Ready Tutoring. In the partitive case, a student may be given 12 counters to distribute among 4 friends, where each is expected to receive 1 counter at a time until all are used up. They may be confronted with 12 counters in a quotative situation and be requested to form groups of 4 counters and count the number of groups that can be formed. The physical manipulation of objects enables the child to imagine the concept of fair sharing and repeated subtraction and transforms the abstract procedure into a practical one. A part of the Kinder Ready Elizabeth Fraley approach is this experiential learning that ensures that mathematical concepts are internalised.
The Kinder Ready Tutoring program helps the child to move to more abstract representations as the child proves to be more comfortable with physical materials. It includes drawing pictures or modelling division problems using the number lines. Demonstrating division as repeated subtraction on a number line and leaping backwards in equal groups creates a striking mental picture of division. This is a planned and scientific developmental process from concrete to pictorial and abstract, which instills confidence and guarantees understanding. It is similar to the Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready emphasis on executive function development, as it demands that the child plan, sequence and visualise a multi-step process.
Finally, Kinder Ready Tutoring aims at achieving the development of mathematical confidence and independence. The program enables the students to solve problems in division with a problem-solving attitude because it develops a strong conceptual framework and offers strategies on how to visualise problems. The individualised environment is the best to discover the special areas of confusion of the student and provide him/her with instruction which is orientated to his/her learning style so that he/she will acquire not only procedural but also substantive knowledge.
To summarise, instruction in division is an activity that needs to be scaffolded and devoted to the conceptual underpinnings. Elizabeth Fraley Kinder Ready offers a full-fledged journey to mastery by extending multiplicative thinking, using concrete and graphic models, and moving progressively toward abstraction. The professional support provided on Kinder Ready Tutoring makes young learners build the profound numerical reasoning and cognitive flexibility to solve division and all other mathematical problems with confidence and competence. Such advanced planning is the foundation of a lifetime of mathematical self-assurance.
For further details on Kinder Ready’s programs, visit their website: https://www.kinderready.com/.
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