Teaching multiplication tables up to 12×12
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My six year old daughter is very fond of telling me what 12×12 is. She knows the answer is 144 and she loves telling anyone she meets. Although she might not understand what she is saying, I get the feeling that she won’t forget it. Her understanding will come later. She has simply enjoyed learning what she considers to be ‘grown-up’ maths.
When you start drilling into the new maths curriculum for lower Key Stage 2, you will find that the Year 4 programme of study states that pupils should be ‘taught to recall multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12×12’. The ‘old’ curriculum stated that children needed to know up to the 10 times table by the end of primary school. Many feel that learning up to 12×12 by the age of nine is a tall order, but it certainly shouldn’t phase us. In fact, it’s a great opportunity to learn some interesting concepts and patterns.
What order should you teach tables?
The times tables facts are important, and make a significant contribution to numeracy. However, there is no research indicating an ideal order for teaching the times tables from 0 to 12. The usual consensus about learning tables is as follows:- Start with children building up a table using physical apparatus such as cubes and rods,
- Move on to pictorial representation of tables,
- Symbolise the two types of table – for example, the table of 2s and the two times table,
- Practise the tables in both written and oral forms.
Published 16 October 2013
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