> Is there really a difference between multiplication and repeated addition, or am I tilting at windmills here? You are tilting at windmills > Is it even nece

> Is there really a difference between multiplication and repeated addition, or am I tilting at windmills here? You are tilting at windmills > Is it even necessary for teachers to define multiplication? No, at least not in formal terms > Or is the teacher’s job to provide plenty of examples of multiplication in action? I think so > Should we let the students intuit their own definition(s)? Yes > Will it help students if we change our focus from “how to get the answer” and teach them to identify the multiplicand, the “this per that” unit? Or will that introduce new difficulties I haven’t considered? It will introduce new difficulties > Or do we already teach this way, only in different words? We don't, thankfully > If you are an elementary teacher, how do you teach multiplication to your students? I will let elementary teacher answer > Are some students clueless because, no matter how we explain it, they just don’t pay attention? While we can't always blame teachers when students don't pay attention, if it is systematic, maybe there is a problem with your teaching. > Have you tried using bar diagrams to model elementary arithmetic situations? And if so, how did your students respond? I will let teachers respond Ok, I hope you are still there and didn't just click the "downvote" button. I think the author raises good points for at least high-school level students in STEM fields. But in reality, the important thing in elementary school is that we want people to know how to count. 5 apples at $0.50 each is $2.50, this kind of thing. Dimensional analysis is very important in engineering, and I definitely think is should be taught, as well as everything in the article, but at college level, not in elementary schools. Teaching such abstract concepts too soon is a recipe for disaster, I know because it has been tried. The expectation was that it will make better engineers in the future, the reality is that while it may have helped a tiny minority get college degrees, it mostly produced kids who couldn't do simple arithmetic.