Grid Method (multiplication)

[teachersaspirations]

as a parent have spoken to the school about this method and have been told that it is the method prescribed by M.Gove & co
being a bit older than M.Gove I was taught the old fashioned method
Is it true that methods of teaching now prescribe to this level of detail?

Apparently it was the method of choice from the old National Curriculum, but the new primary curriculum (does it come into force next year? I don't know) will be using more of the traditional methods, so proper long multiplication and long division etc.

I am a secondary Maths teacher and pupils arrive using this grid method (badly in most cases) in year 7 and we then spend the whole year teaching them a method that they will get right (our top sets do traditional column multiplication, with a different grid method for the lower ability pupils as it doesn't need as much understanding in order to get the right answer)

Grid method isn't a Gove method....the 2014 curriculum returns to formal methods (whether the kids get what they are doing or not). Schools can still teach partitioning and recombining methods if they wish but many will redraft their calculation policies.

Anti I am genuinely surprised by that. Do none of them use the grid method quickly and effectively? All my average and higher ability Year 6s can use grid correctly and quickly although I do agree column would be quicker. I can completely see why you teach them column but surprised that you feel that if you don't, they wont get the question right! What are the primary schools doing in your area?!

The higher ability ones can get it right but once you get into multiplying bigger numbers even they start getting confused with the number of zeros. Column is just quicker, and they make fewer mistakes. To be fair, we do have a LOT of feeder primaries because we're a rural area, and some of them are better at teaching maths than others, so kids from some of our feeder primaries are brilliant at the grid method, kids from other primaries barely even remember that they've got a method for multiplying.

Anti
that doesn't surprise me about the
...." we then spend the whole year teaching them a method that they will get right"
I asked the school about this method and it was taught and was met with great opposition and told that it was a dictate from on high

Perhaps secondary schools should feed back the implications of primary school methods

mamma
whippee, about time

The grid method allows you to visualise how the method works, and also enables you to do small calculations mentally (eg 32 x 62)
Once children have 'got ' this they can move onto column multiplication.This is a method efficient method and suited to bigger numbers, but is basically a 'sausage machine' technique which does not promote understanding but can be performed by a monkey!!

I actually think the grid method is an important stepping stone. It allows the learner to really understand what they're doing. Apparently the essence of Gove's new curriculum is get the kids doing it and hopefully they'll understand later. It was like that when I was at school and I didn't 'get it' until my brother tutored me at gcse level. Then the maths penny dropped and it all became less of a mystery.

Gove is a lover of facts. Children need facts and did if they understand why 3x3 is 9...doesn't matter if they can't tell you 3 groups of 3 cubes makes 9 cubes.

I think he's a tosser.

DD1 is dyslexic, she loathes the grid method. It's one of the very few things she gets really huffy about, it's

"Loads of unnecessary writing, and just looks a mess"

Since DH taught her the column method, before they did long multiplication at school, she had an armed truce with her teacher.

First couple of questions grid, rest could be column as long as they were right.

• sod it if they don't understand....typo

Yes star- every child should defo use the method they feel comfortable with. Tbh in her case, if the grid was just difficult for recording reasons I'd have said do the whole lot column. The ideal should be that's where all children end up but for some, who have trouble with place value and grasping what multiplication actually is, the grid method allows them to visualise what they are a really doing.

stasr So how is she going to be able to do multiplication mentally using the column method?

Just asked my Y4 how she would mentally work out teh example given above ie 62 x 32 .She immediately said 1800+ 180+4.I don't think she would have had a clue how to do it in her head doing the traditional method

Agreed, the grid method cements the understanding of multiplying by both the 10s and units.

From what I can tell from the new curriculum, it will be statutory to teach column addition, subtraction and multiplication and the 'bus stop' method of division but there's nothing saying they cant also be taught other methods.

being a bit older than M.Gove I was taught the old fashioned method

The grid method has been around for centuries, actually.

She's almost 16 now and likely to get a high B and quite possibly an A at GCSE. Like everything else, she muddles through in her own indomitable fashion.

The grid method is great to help with mental arithmetic, but CRAP for actually writing down to show your working - ds1 used to waste tonnes of his time insisting he draw out the grids in the way the teachers had shown him, as though these were a hugely important part of the whole process... Why teachers don't spend a little bit more of their time showing children why column multiplication works, I don't know, because it isn't as if it is an alien philosophy, it's just a far neater, quicker way of doing it... you don't actually have to teach column multiplication without explaining how and why it works, surely?!

Another secondary teacher here who hates the grid method. All those zeros, the huge addition, inevitably something gets lost. But I'm not a fan of the column method either, the kids who attempt to use it in Y7 seem to always forget to add the zeros (betraying the lack of thought about what they are actually doing).
The method that gets my vote for being the quickest, easiest and least prone to mistakes is Napiers, especially when it comes to larger calculations.

Just looked at the Napier method and can see how what works for some would be a disaster for others. I hope nobody ever inflicts that on my ds1 (or at least not in the form I saw, with diagonal lines, etc...) - he has a phenomenally good memory and understanding of place value so would never forget zeros, but has some significant oddities in his visual perception and I can see following those diagonals, writing neatly enough in that format and drawing out Napier's grid would be a complete and utter, time consuming disaster zone. Even worse than the grid method, where at least the grids he wasted time drawing out were really just squares.

They can use whatever method they like so long as they can reliably get the right answer. If the column method works for him then that's fine.

That's my two sorted, then. It's fascinating how many different ways there are of doing it.

Noble I much prefer Napiers method too. I've heard so many different names for it though, I never know what to call it, so my classes all call it the "grids with diagonals" method. I'm not allowed to get my top sets to use it though, as it's department policy that sets 1 and 2 MUST use the column method, and sets 3,4 and 5 are allowed to use whichever method they are most comfortable with, which is generally Napiers because that's the one they make fewest mistakes with.

you don't actually have to teach column multiplication without explaining how and why it works, surely?!

Actually in this day and age there is very little point in teaching a method just so you can get the right answer quickly - we all almost always have a calculator on us (in the form of a phone) that will give us that instantly. Therefore what is taught in maths should be about gaining a greater understanding of number and calculations.

Grid method is a great method for 2x1, 2x2 and 3x1 digit numbers as you get a good understanding of the process of multiplication. Once a child is able to do this competently they will be at level 4 (for multiplication anyway) and ready to move onto the column method which is much quicker and easier for larger numbers. I agree that is a pita for these larger calculations and the chance for error is high.

Feenie,
thanks, I didn't know or didn't think too much about it
I was taught the column method when I was in school and thought that the grid method was a new method
and now I learn of the Napier method
the history of multiplication....
the Napier looks like another grid method
I still prefer the column method

Catsnotrats
My issue with the grid methods is that they don't convey the magnitude that the column method does (in my opinion)

The question is are the primary schools teaching kids methods of multiplication that can be used in secondary schools (without calculators or mobile phones)
I don't know, but I would be surprised if kids were using the grid method for GCSE

I'm a secondary teacher and very few children use the column method in my secondary, where they have a complete free choice over which method to use. I think a majority would use the grid method, then Napiers, then column.

Napier's method has been around for hundreds of years, btw, it's not some new-fangled thing!

well I am swimming against the tide again
I am glad my kids use the column method and hope I haven't disadvantaged them for life