QUESTION 04

Explain how would you give the concepts of subtraction and division?

ANSWER:

Exercise 1: Subtraction without Exchanging:

This exercise requires the same material as required in addition without exchanging. The

purpose of this exercise is to give an understanding of subtraction and to give the

vocabulary: subtraction, minuend, subtrahend, and difference. This exercise is

for children 4 and half years and onwards

This exercise requires a small group of children. The material is

arranged as for addition. One child is in charge of the golden bead material,

other is of the large number cards, and another the small number cards.

These subtraction problems will not involve exchanging. The teacher may

choose to use one or two subtrahends (the number being subtracted). Below

is how the following problem would be worked.

4326 minuend

- 2112 subtrahend

- 1103 subtrahend

difference

The teacher tells the children, "Today we are going to work subtraction

problems." The teacher makes the minuend, 4326, in golden bead material

and the large number cards, and places them on the mat. She makes the

subtrahends, 2122 and 1103, in small number cards and puts them on two

trays. She gives a tray to each of two children, Mary and John. She asks the

children to read the numbers on their trays. They do so in turn. As the

children have not worked subtraction before, she guides them through the

process. "How many units do you want?" "TWO." "Yes. You can take two of

these units." Student does so. "How many tens do you need?" "One." "You

can take one ten then." Student continues until she has subtracted 2112 in

golden beads. The teacher takes the small number cards 2112 off student's

tray and puts them under the large ones which form the minuend at the top

of the mat. "Now, other student may subtract 1103. How many units will
you take?" Other student continues until he has subtracted 1103 in golden

beads.

The

teacher takes the subtrahend off other student's tray, saying, "You have

subtracted 1103." She puts it under 1st student's subtrahend at the top of

the mat. The teacher then asks a child to count the bead material remaining

on the mat, and place the corresponding small number cards underneath.

"We have 1111 left." She superimposes the small number cards, and places

them underneath the subtrahends at the top of the mat to form the answer

of the written problem. The teacher then reviews the problem. "We had

4326, and 1st student subtracted 2112 from it, and other one subtracted

1103. We have 1111 left."

Introducing the specialized vocbulary, the teacher may tell the

children, "Today we did subtraction. 4326 was the amount we started with-our minuend. From that
we subtracted our two subtrahends, 2112 and

1103. We call the answer to our problem, 1111, the difference." Pointing to

each set of numbers, she reviews, "Minuend, subtrahend, subtrahend,

difference." She further clarifies the terminology by continuing with the

three period lesson. "Point to the minuend. Which one is the difference? Is

there another subtrahend?" Pointing to each set of numbers in turn, she

asks the students, "What do we call this?" The teacher will use this

vocabulary when working additional subtraction problems with the children.

Exercise 2: Subtraction with Exchanging:

This exercise requires the same material as required in addition without exchanging. The

purpose of this exercise is to give an understanding of subtraction. This exercise is for

children 5 years and onwards. The material is arranged as for addition

3273 minuend

- 1538 subtrahend

- 487 subtrahend

1248 difference

One child is in charge of the golden bead material. One child is in charge of the large
number cards and another of the small number cards. The teacher thinks of a problem, e.g. 3273

- 1528 - 487. She makes the minuend, 3273, with the large number cards and the golden bead

material, and places them on the dark green mat. She makes the subtrahends, 1538 and 487,

from the small number cards and places them in the upper right hand corner of the felt lined

trays. She gives a tray to each of the children who will be doing the subtraction and asks them to

read their numerals. They do so. The teacher, indicating the

minuend, says to the children,

"Here is 3273. Tim is going to subtract 1538. How many units

will you subtract, Tim?" Tim says, "Eight units." The teacher

says, "I do not have enough units. I only have three units. What

can we do?" She pauses and then explains that a ten bar equals

10 units. There are seven ten bars so one of them could be

exchanged for ten units. She gives a ten bar to one of the

children. He exchanges it at the bank for ten units. These are brought back to the teacher. She

takes them and puts them above the golden beads on the table. She says, "Now we have 10 units

and 3 units, so we have 13 units." "Tim you can subtract 8." Tim does so. Tim needs five

hundred. There are only two hundred. What can be done? The teacher explains that a thousand

equals 10 hundred, and that one of the thousands could be exchanged for ten hundred. One of

the children takes a thousand to the banker who gives 10 hundred squares in exchange. The

teacher puts the 10 hundred squares above 2 hundred on the table. She says, "We have ten

hundred and two hundred, so we have twelve hundred, now Tim can subtract 5 hundred." Tim

does so. There are 7 hundred left. There are 2 thousand on the table. Tim subtracts 1 thousand.

There is 1 thousand left. The Second child subtracts her subtrahend from the quantity remaining

on the mat. When necessary, one of a hierarchy is exchanged for ten of the next lower hierarchy.

Division with Exchanging:

This exercise requires the same material as required in addition without exchanging. The

purpose of this exercise is to give an understanding of division. This exercise is for

children 5 years and onwards. The material is arranged as for addition. The material is arranged

as for addition. One child is in charge of the golden bead material. One child is in charge of the

large number cards. Another is in charge of the small number cards. The teacher tells the

children that they are going to work division problems. The teacher thinks of a problem that will
require exchanging: e.g. 5672 = 2. The teacher makes 5672 in golden bead material and the large

number cards and places them on the mat on the table.

She tells the children, "I have 5672. I am going to divide it between two children. They

will each get exactly the same amount." She gives a tray to each of the two children. They stand

in front of her holding their trays. The teacher says, "Here are five thousand. I will divide them

between you." She gives each child a thousand, and then a second thousand. There is one

thousand left. The teacher says, "I cannot give this thousand to either of you, because then the

other would not get one. You each must have the same amount. What can I do with this

thousand?" Occasionally a child will suggest changing the thousand for ten hundreds

Otherwise, the teacher explains that a thousand is the same as ten hundred, and can be changed

for ten hundreds. She asks a child to take the thousand to the child in charge of the golden bead

material and exchange it for 10 hundred squares. The child does so and brings the hundred

squares back. The teacher takes them and puts them above the hundreds on the table, indicating

that these are hundreds obtained by exchanging

She says, "We have 10 hundred and 6 hundred which make 16 hundred. I am going to

divide the 16 hundred between you two." She divides the hundreds one by one. Each child gets

8 hundred and is given a small number card 800. The teacher says, "Now, I will divide the tens

between you." There are 7 tens. Each child gets three tens and there is 1 ten left. The teacher

explains that there are not enough tens and that the ten must be exchanged for units. She gives a

ten bar to a child who is watching and asks him to change it for 10 units. He takes the ten bar to

the child in charge of the golden beads and receives 10 units in exchange. He brings them back

to the teacher.

The teacher puts the 10 units above the units on the table mat and says, "We have 10

units and 2 units, so we have 12 units altogether. I will divide 12 units between the two

children." Each child gets 6 units and is given a small number card 6.

The teacher asks the children to superimpose their small number cards. Each child tells

her how much he has. Each child has 2836. The teacher takes the small cards off one tray and

puts them above the large number cards on the table. She re-caps. "I had 5672. I divided it

between two children. They each got 2836." More problems are worked in this way.

Exercise 4: Division without Exchanging:

This exercise requires the same material as required in addition without exchanging. The
purpose of this exercise is to give an understanding of division and to teach the

vocabulary division, dividend, divisor, and quotient. This exercise is for children 5 years and

onwards.

The material is arranged as for addition. One child is in charge of the golden bead

material. Another child is in charge of the large number cards, and another is in charge of the

small number cards. There are as many children to do the division as the divisor (for example,

two if the divisor is 2, three if the divisor is 3, etc.). The teacher tells the children that they are

going to work division problems. The teacher thinks of a problem that does not involve

exchanging e.g. 4862 = 2. The teacher makes 4862 in golden bead material and the large

number cards and places them on the mat on the table.

She tells the children, "I have 4862. I am going to divide it between two children. They

will each get exactly the same amount." She gives a tray to each of two children. They stand in

front of her holding their trays. The teacher says, "I will divide the thousands between you first.

There are four thousand." She puts a thousand on each tray; then, a second thousand on each

tray. There are no more thousands. Each child has two thousand. The teacher puts a small

number card 2000 on each tray. She says, "You each have two thousand. You each have the

same. Now I will divide the hundreds between you." There are eight hundred. She divides the

hundreds, one by one. There are no hundreds left. Each child has four hundred. The teacher

gives them each a small number card 400. She says, "You each have four hundred. You each

have the same. Now I will divide the tens between you. I have six tens. We will see how many

you each get." She divides the tens, one by one. Each child gets

three tens and is given the small number card 30. The teacher says,

"You each have three tens. I have no tens left, so I will divide the

units between you." There are 2 units. She puts one unit on each

tray. Each child is given the small number card 1.

There is nothing left. The

teacher asks the children to

superimpose the small cards on

their trays. They do so. She

asks each in turn to read his or

her
number. Each reads 2431. The

teacher says, "You each have 2431." She takes the small cards off one tray and places them over

the large number cards at the top of the table, forming the quotient. This is partition (equal

sharing). The answer is what one person gets. The teacher re-caps, "I had 4862. I divided it

between two children. They each got 2431. There was nothing left." More problems are

worked in this way. Note: Large number cards are used for the dividend and small number cards

for the quotient to give the impression that a larger quantity is broken down into smaller equal

quantities. The teacher stresses the fact that the division will be an equal one, because one can

divide unequally