Place Value--Why Teach It?
"What does the zero do in the number 107?"
"What are the values of 6 in this number 603.6?"
These are the questions we've been answering during math lately. Knowing the value and the place a number holds is a skill that must be taught and practiced. And it is more than knowing that in the number 348 there are three hundreds, four tens, and eight ones. Students need to know how it relates to the number system. Using 348 again students are asked if the number is greater than or less than 500. Where does the number fall in a sequence of numbers? Is it greater than or less than 350?
Knowing place value is so important to computational strategies. Which is our next step--adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing using the traditional algorithm. Knowing place value makes us more confident of doing the steps, and deciding if our answer is reasonable.
(From a student journal)
"What are the values of 6 in this number 603.6?"
These are the questions we've been answering during math lately. Knowing the value and the place a number holds is a skill that must be taught and practiced. And it is more than knowing that in the number 348 there are three hundreds, four tens, and eight ones. Students need to know how it relates to the number system. Using 348 again students are asked if the number is greater than or less than 500. Where does the number fall in a sequence of numbers? Is it greater than or less than 350?
Knowing place value is so important to computational strategies. Which is our next step--adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing using the traditional algorithm. Knowing place value makes us more confident of doing the steps, and deciding if our answer is reasonable.
