Introducing multiples and submultiples to pre-primary children

Abstract

We present part of an ongoing topic-specific design research aiming at enhancing pre-primary students’ multiplicative reasoning. We focus on an activity introducing vocabulary for multiples and submultiples with a view to enable children to express multiplicative relations verbally. We present the rationale and the design of the activity and findings of its first enactment with eight kindergarten children. The children appropriated the intended terms for multiples and, to a lesser extent, for submultiples as well, and used them to express multiplicative relations. The affordances and limitations of the activity are discussed, with a view to re-design it.