6 Summary

This unit has explored ideas on teaching multiples and factors in order to illustrate how one idea is threaded through many parts of the mathematical curriculum. The requirements for teaching from the NCF (2005) and NCFTE (2009) are often seen as ambitious goals, but the ideas in this unit show that using textbook questions creatively will allow students to perceive relationships and to see structures. If the students use reasoning, argue the truth or falsity of statements, and look for similarities and differences, they will begin to understand and see the web of ideas in mathematics. Understanding that fluency with one idea met in the early years of schooling is necessary in order to work with much more complex ideas later helps students understand why they are being asked to engage with new ideas that seem to have no immediate application.