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double up

Materials: A dice, counters in two colours. Rules: Roll the dice and move along
A game for two players.
the track. Double the number you
Aim: To place four counters in a row, columnland on and place a counter on that
or diagonal.
number in the centre square. The
rst player with four in a row wins.

1 3 5 7 9 2 4 6
8
6 2 6 18 14 8 4
4 8 14 12 16 2 10
2 4 16 2 6 10 18
9 10 6 16 12 18 14
7 12 2 16 8 4 18
5 6 14 4 10 12 8
3
1 START

8
1
3
5
7
9
2
4
6
8

PAUL SWAN

www.drpaulswan.com.au

Double, double double and


double double double
Australian Curriculum Links
Typically students learn their basic multiplication facts in Years 3 and 4. Prior to this, in years 1 and 2, they
will have learned their basic addition facts, which include the doubles addition facts.
Specific links are:
Yr 3: (ACMNA056). Recall multiplication facts of 2, 3, 5, and 10 and related division facts.
Yr 4: (ACMNA075). Recall multiplication facts up to 10 10 and related division facts.

Teachers notes
Students begin learning addition facts in Years 1 and 2. When learning these addition facts they learn a set of
facts known as the doubles. These includes facts like 2 + 2, 3 + 3, 4 + 4, 5 + 5 and so on. In year 3 students
begin learning the basic multiplication facts. Essentially the x 2 facts in multiplication are the same as the
doubles facts in addition. When you add 4 and 4 it produces the same result as 2 x 4. When first learning the
x 2 basic multiplication facts links can be made to the doubles addition facts.
Use a known fact to generate a new fact
A common strategy for learning basic multiplication facts is to use a fact that you already know to generate
a new fact. This series of games is designed to revise the doubles facts, which should already be known from
having learned the doubles addition facts, and then apply a strategy called doubling to generate new facts.
Doubling Strategy
If you know that 2 x 3 = 6, then by doubling, you can generate the facts 4 x 3 = 12, or 2 x 6 = 12. Once you
have generated a knew fact it needs to be used in order to commit it to memory. A new fact needs to be linked
to other related facts, in this case 4 x 3 = 12, would be linked to 3 x 4 = 12, 12 3 = 4, 12 4 = 3,
1
/3 of 12 = 4 and 1/4 of 12 = 3. Strictly speaking the links to fractions of ... is not mentioned until Yr 6 in the
Australian Curriculum. Learn one fact and get 5 things free is really an application of use a known fact to
generate a new fact.
The doubling strategy may be extended to doubling and then doubling again. You begin with a fact 2 x 3 = 6
and double it to make 4 x 3 = 12, doubling again would produce 8 x 3 = 24. You could of course double it
differently, for example, 2 x 3 = 6, 2 x 6 = 12, 4 x 6 = 24. Note that the result is the same, but the route is
slightly different.
Initially you double a number, eg 3: 2 x 3 (this is called doubling) or the x 2 multiplication facts.
Next you double again, eg 4 x 3 (or 2 x 2 x 3, called double double) or the x 4 multiplication facts.
Finally you double again eg 8 x 3 (or 2 x 2 x2 x 3, called double double double) or the x 8 facts.
This method helps students learn the x 2, x 4 and x 8 facts.
Remember it involves knowing a fact and then applying a doubling strategy to work out new facts. It helps
students learn the x 2, x 4 and x 8 facts. However if a student understands the commutative property of
multiplication ( 2 x 3 = 3 x 2), then they will be learning a whole host of multiplication facts.
Finally if links are made to the family of related facts 2 x 3 = 6, 3 x 2 = 6 (commutative property of
multiplication), 6 3 = 2, 6 2 = 3, 1/2 of 6 and 1/3 of 6, then the students will be learning the associated
division facts.
A variation to this game could be the inclusion of a bump off rule should any player arrive at the same
number as an already placed counter.

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